The Bridge Cafe on Elm — Restaurant in Manchester

I have never left a review before, but I feel this needs to be said. I have never felt so terrible and shamed by staff as I was here.

I work at a job where I have a disabled client that I take out into the community. We had stopped at this establishment for coffee and hot chocolate a few times before this incident. The staff was always fine and pretty friendly and the drinks were good.

But this time was apparently different. I had stopped with my client to grab coffee and chat. I bought a hot chocolate, and my client purchased a coffee. He ended up purchasing two additional refills, each priced at $1. I had gotten in line to purchase him a third refill when an older man behind the counter (I did not catch a name if he was wearing a name tag), called out above the crowd and workers "you're going to have to actually buy something, you can't keep getting refills". Keep in mind, I had bought something. I don't have a lot of money and neither does my client, or I would have bought us food as well.

After I'd been "called out", patrons were staring and staff were looking between me and him. I mumbled a quiet "sorry" before hurrying into the room my client was waiting in. Being publicly shamed for buying refills (refills the café posted everywhere) was a horrible experience that nearly left me in tears (I have horrid social anxiety). If there was a posted limit on refills, I'd understand saying something. But to my knowledge, there was no such limit. The coffee is also self-serve, so it is not like a staff member had to take the time to make the coffee each time. Not that I think either of these things are reason to speak to anyone the way he'd spoken to me. I will never be returning here, and I'd warn others about coming here as well. Maybe he was having an off day, but to me, that kind of behavior is unacceptable, especially when I was not rude or belligerent to staff. Perhaps I was purchasing too many refills, but...

The Bridge is my default lunch spot. The food is fresh and delicious! Strawberry feilds salad w chicken is my favorite or the chipole chicken sandwich on gluten free bread. They offer gluten free bread for all sandwiches and note on the menu what IS gluten free or vegetarian. Occassionally they have vegan specials. The juice bar is awesome. You can order single juices, one of thier blends or create your own. The smoothies are equally as awesome and in they offer add ins such as protein, greens powder and others. The peanut butter power is a great pick me up for the afternoon or even as lunch if you are short on time. The coffee selection is great. They have almond milk and soy milk as alternatives to cream or milk. They just added non sweetened ice teas in a bunch of flavors. My favorite is the ginger peach. The owner Dave, his kids and the rest of the staff are friendly and go above and beyond to create happy customers.... its nice to go into a place and be greeted by the owner using your first name. The only negative is that Lunch time is INSANELY busy. But if you order by 11:30 am you should be allset. If you order ahead you go right to the front to get your order *Insider tip.... fresh out of the oven chocolate chip cookies around 2ish...some times you can get one right off the cookie sheet. * the gluten free peanutbutter cookies are delcious too. Currently only do breakfast and lunch.... but.... THEY DELIVER .... YESS THEY DELIVER BREAKFAST TOO!! Back in the day they had poetry slams and open mic nights.... it would be great if they brought this back monthly or bi-weekly. Pretty...

I was not impressed at all. I'm pretty upset especially after reading the reviews . I ordered a Ruben on rye a side salad as my side. I placed my order at 11 am didn't get my food until 12:30. I was told it would be a 30-45 minutes. I called after an hour and 15 minutes and was told that the driver just left. 15 minutes I got my food. My salad was a warm because they put it in with my what was suppose to be Ruben sandwich. My sandwich was cold and soggy. I was so hungry skipped breakfast this morning as i was running late and I couldn't even eat my lunch. So I wait until I could calm down and grab some chips to snack on before I made my call. I called and asked to speak to the manager in which she got on the phone. I explained my problem and she said she was sorry they should have told me at least an hour and that the reason my food was soggy the drive must have dropped someone's food off before mine. Really because if he is that fast this man better be getting paid more because he left the store and made 2 stops in less than 15 minutes all with going though down town with finding parking. She offered to have another sandwich delivered I declined and she said that she would just refund my money that was 2 days ago still haven't received it. This was my first and last time...