Kismet Cafe & Go — Restaurant in Maryland

This should be interesting.

So, I've been meaning to visit this place for a few months now. A friend of mine visited and raved about it.

Day of visit... I walked in, checked out the menu and headed up to order. I ordered the Pesto Chicken Panini no cheese. Also ordered the Fresh Brewed Tea.

I must say, everyone there was really nice and polite. They speak when they walk by and/ or if they happen to make eye contact. I love that!

The environment was cool. The cafe is located in a shopping center at the corner which allows for outdoor seating and plenty of parking.

They have a lot of stuff there. They sell bagels, sandwiches, soup, specialty beverages, reusable cups, freshly bagged coffee, you name it!

They have a couple of those signs saying that time basically isn't of the essence. Everything's made to order. That's cool, but I never thought my panini would take 30 minutes, but it's ok. ... I had plenty of text messages and games to get updated on.

Let me start with the panini, it's not your average panini. It's not on the flat sourdough bread that you anticipate. It's on a small roll. It's delicious! Fresh and soft. The pesto, delicious! My chicken, it was a little tough and difficult to chew. I would say a 3rd of it I just couldn't chew. I want to return back for a Reuben sandwich but I am afraid it may be tough as well so I think I try a breakfast sandwich. Specifically that Bagel BLT.

Fresh brewed tea can be a handful and a hassle to sweeten to liking but this fresh brewed tea was worth it. They have a nice condiment station where they have several types of sugar to choose from. I put a few of the raw packets of sugar in and it was perfect. The fresh brewed tea had a smooth taste and actually probably would have been good without the sugar. I just couldn't go without.

Although the food didn't win me over, the customer service certainly did and I am dedicated to returning back into a find that perfect match for my tummy.

I'd definitely...

The operational systems is the primary reason for this rating. I called 20 minutes before arriving with my order. (2 bagel sandwiches) When I arrived, the clerk asked my name. She reviewed the tickets and said it would be another 20 minutes because there were several tickets before mine.

I waited six feet from the counter for 20 minutes. When my name hadn't been called, I went to the counter and spoke to another clerk and requested to cancel my order. I was already running late. He looked at the tickets and came back to the register. He began asking me questions about my order and acted as though he was confused about how to refund my order. I asked him if my order was even close to being finished. He replied, "Honestly, I don't even see your ticket."

As this point another clerk came over and asked if I had called my order in. I answered, yes. She looked down at the counter and said, "Oh, here it is." It seems they don't have a system for dealing with call in orders. When I got the car and started to eat my sandwich, it was room temperature.

Two side points. There were so many people working and the systems looked like a train wreck. No clear roles. No direction. No leadership. Also, they cook their eggs in a microwave! What?! Fresh made bagels and microwave eggs? Come on.

What a wasted opportunity for...

Edit based on response: I called in to order bagels. Told person who answered that i was allergic to cinnamon, and am fine if its made in the same environment, but not ok if they touched, so i asked if she could just verify if the bagels i wanted were mixed with other bagels, as the last time i went in, they mixed multiple flavors together in the front display. She said she'd have to check with her manager. She came back on the phone and said that she was told everything is mixed together in the back in the same bins. I said the last time i ordered they said it was all fine, they just pulled the bagels while i was on the phone to verify which were safe. And she said that i cant order day of, i should call before they make the bagels to special order. And i responded asking if basically everything is cross contaminated and she just said "I'm sorry ma'am". I said i thought it was weird that everything was cross contaminated all of a sudden, when it hasn't been a problem before and it seemed kismet took extra care with that kind of stuff since they promote different dietary items. And she just said "sorry ma'am" i said its fine, i just won't be back and i hung up. Either way, something isn't adding up because up until now, I was told I would be fine, so were the bagels i ate previously...