Muffin House Cafe — Restaurant in Medway

On Tues., April 19th I dropped in for lunch. I tend to like the food here but am not always crazy about the service or the way in which the place is run. After a customer before me placed his order the counter person disappeared. After waiting conspicuously for service for about three minutes while 3 or 4 employees moved around the area behind the counter or engaged in conversation with each other, a woman who appeared to be supervising the crew came to me and took my order. She was very nice to me and helpful. I paid for my order and sipped on my coffee while waiting for my sandwich. While waiting, some guy who appeared to be holding court at the end of the counter attracted the attention of 3 or 4 of the staff, some of whom, I believe, could have been waiting on customers. Despite all of the seeming help available, the supervisor wound up having to work the grill with one of the employees. The same woman who took my order rang me up by handling cash. She also went on to handle food. The MH uses a pager system to let you know when your order is ready. When my pager went off nobody called out my pager's number. The supervisor just placed my order on the end of the counter opposite to where I was standing. Finally, I had to walk over to the supervisor to ask her if the white bag in front of her was my order. Turned out that it was. My biggest gripes with the MH are that there are too many people behind the counters which appears to make for confusion and wasted energy and being ignored by waitstaff who seem to lack focus and attentiveness. I believe that the restaurant could be better operated with fewer counter staff and counter staff who are assigned to specific tasks and stick to them. Also, it's unsanitary to have food preparers handling money. Have one person operate the cash register. That way, any shortages can be attributed to that person.

Respectfully,

A Salary...

Here’s my 2 cents on the muffin house. It’s a cool place - very New England. Good muffins and decent coffee. Super creative when it comes to bakery items like cakes and cupcakes. Love the new Barbie items! Definitely not the healthiest place but has healthier options like salads, breakfast sandwiches, and avocado toast. So if you’re looking for the more stereotypical quiet quaint coffee shop where you can grab some quality brewed coffee and hunker down to do some work - this is not your place. It’s very lively in here, which some people love and some people hate. It’s typically pretty loud, not in a bad way just lots of people having conversations over meals. The wait times over the years has become slower and slower. I credit the staff, they are always working hard and fast. They are never just sitting around. The kids work hard to make the sandwiches and coffees but I think the wait times are largely due to online orders. I don’t think they’ve totally figured out how to manage online orders while handling in person orders especially during rush times. The way they have things set up is a bit disorienting. The “cashiers” seem like they are always running back and forth and are never in one place. They have you pick up your food smack in the middle of the line (despite waiting long after you’ve ordered and paid and moved out of line) so it’s definitely not an off to the side and easy to grab place. Love the outdoor seating and plentiful parking. I think with a few minor fixes this place could be even better than it already is! Ps just because you have multiple locations doesn’t mean there’s no room for...

Having visited one of their other locations a few weeks back and having an acceptable, though not engaging customer service experiance, I wanted to stop by this location for an afternoon treat (Labor Day, around lunch time). Customer service was perfunctory, but it was fairly busy and staff were working hard to keep the line moving.

However, I was strongly disappointed to see that none of the staff were wearing masks. There is still a pandemic going on - and even if you are vaccinated, wearing masks is still a good idea, ESPECIALLY if you are working in close quarters. They are relying on teen/young adult workers to staff their location, and I'm disappointed that the owners are not taking better care of their younger workers by ensuring that they wear a mask. Though masks are not mandated, and vaccination rates in Massachusetts are high; the pandemic is not over.

Wearing a mask is a simple accomodation to help minimize the spread and help get us closer to normal once again. It would truly be a shame if conditions worsen here again because people do not choose to wear a mask indoors/close quarters.

About a half of the customers in line were wearing masks.

Please encourage your staff to wear a mask - and provide extra disposable masks to your staff if they need to change their mask during the day.

Though I would love to support a local business with VERY yummy food (the peanut butter brownie was delicious!) ... I cannot in good consciousness support a business that does not protect its younger employees (and the customers!), and do not plan on returning until these...