Café Eclectic — Restaurant in Memphis

My boyfriend and I were really looking forward to eating here. We waited 30 min for a table, which is ok because that happens everywhere. But once we got seated outside, we waited another 20 minutes for our waitress (with the purple eyeshadow, long hair in a ponytail, slender body) to come to our table and she brought some water, as well as took our order. I asked for a straw, which she never brought. I finally asked one of the waiters that walked by us several times, who appeared annoyed by me stopping him. We waited a considerable time for our food, which again, I’m fine with—my boyfriend and I eat out often and understand that many factors contribute to the timing of seating and receiving our food. But not one time did our waitress come by to refill our water nor either of the other two waiter/waitress that walked by us several times. When we finally got our food, we had no silverware/plasticware which wasn’t a huge deal because we both had sandwiches. However, the sandwiches were very messy and we didn’t have any napkins at all. I finally stopped the male waiter again, who once again appeared very annoyed that I stopped him, and asked for some napkins. Considerable time passed before he brought any—and he brought ONE napkin. Literally, one napkin. During that time, I was able to stop our assigned waitress to ask for napkins, who also took a long time to bring some; we were almost done eating by that time. Earlier during our dining experience, we had decided to order some of the specialty coffee drinks after we ate and was very much looking forward to that treat but by this time we knew that was not going to happen. Now, during our visit, our waitress (and the other waitress/waiter) passed by us several times but walked by so fast, it was hard to notify them of anything. At one point, our assigned waitress stayed at another table and talked/laughed with the guests for quite some time—she even sat the water pitcher on their table right beside one of the guests and LEFT IT THERE unattended as she walked inside the building to do something. We got done eating and for 30 minutes, no one came by with our ticket, even though we sat our debit card on the table where it could be noticed (you know—universal sign for “I’m ready for my ticket”). We finally walked inside to pay our bill at the register. The woman at the register literally would not take our money and said she’d send our waitress outside to us. We went back out to our table for another 15 minutes and no one came to us. At this point, my boyfriend took enough cash that we knew would cover our bill inside the cafe and handed it straight to our waitress, then we left. The food was decent (we probably would’ve enjoyed the food even more had we not experienced such terrible service). The ground on the outside dining area was very messy—masks, crayons, etc. all over the ground. A waitress was cleaning a table from the guests that left before us and POURED THEIR REMAINING WATER INTO THE PLANT DIRECTLY BEHIND ME. It’s possible that wouldn’t have bothered me in normal circumstances but the combined circumstances of this experience made that particular act very appalling to me. I absolutely love leaving good reviews about my dining experiences and rarely ever have a reason to leave a bad review. In fact, even when I encounter not-so-great service, a big tip is left and I don’t feel the need to leave a bad review. But the service here was so bad I couldn’t NOT leave a review about...

Tried it, maybe it was a bad day for the kitchen and our waitress? Although it was at 10:30 am and the day had just begun. The McLean location has a nice inviting interior and exterior seating area. Chalkboards flank the walls with specials and large original art hangs on the walls. The tables and chairs are pretty well worn and the dessert case showcasing pies had several large flies in it! Our waitress Karen told us that breakfast and lunch were both available. I inquired if the special fish and chips was available and she returns with " no because the tarter sauce isn't ready" but I didn't care about the tarter sauce. I would have ordered it, but she seemed very annoyed that I even inquired. So I ordered Sunny Hash and my husband ordered the bacon waffle and a side of hash. The atmosphere was truly cacophonous. There's no soft surfaces so everything has an echo or reverbs on all the hard surfaces. Also loud electronic music was playing on top of this. I'm thinking it's more pleasant earlier in the morning or in an afternoon lull, but at 10:30 am it was a bit much. It took quite a bit for our food to come out and when it arrived he said to me that it was sitting in the kitchen window for over 10 mins. And it arrived cold. By this point we were hungry and just wanted to eat and get out. My husband's waffle was cold and quite skimpy. The menu said the bacon was in the waffle mix. There was just bacon on top. My meal was of good filling and proportions but again it was cold, to the point where the melted cheese was so cold I couldn't scoop the hash with my fork but had to cut it with a knife. Karen was quite unpleasant. She was curt and she never refilled our drinks and at the end of our meal she asked about the check. I said one, and took out my card and she snatched it out of my hand and in trying to return my card I was looking at my phone. She never said " here's your card, sir. She just shoved it into my face and actually did like a mic drop with the cc receipt! It was strange! We were never asked how our meal was either, she didn't care and maybe she didn't ask because she knew her service was below par.

We actually tried to go to their highland location b/c it's closer to.our house but there wasn't any parking for blocks so we made this a destination and it just didn't pan out. Lots of people have told me they're had good and bad experiences there. It does seem...

Been here twice on my recent struts around the South. Anytime I travel I try to keep an eye out for any vegan options I can find. Usually you're lucky if you can find a cheese-less salad, and you're really doing big things if you can wash it down with some pond tasting tap water #yum. That's why Café Eclectic hit the spot both times I've been.

The first time I was there I had the Vegan Pancakes and they were great. Took me back to my pre-woke sinner days, back when I was still sleep. When I would eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, and however I wanted (which was usually with my hands and a fork). Then like a chump, I finally let my horrible conscious and desire for sculpted abs get the best of me. Now all that's left is an Adonis, with the resting heart rate of a sleepy athlete, and the appetite of a starved alpaca.

The second time they were out of the Vegan Pancakes. Audible gasp, I know. I guess I wasn't the only sexily sculpted individual visiting, because they were all gone a bit before 10am. With that horrible knowledge, I went for the Black Bean Wrap and the Tater Hash. The Hash was pretty good, but the wrap was the star of the show. They didn't just put their foot in it, they broke their whole leg off in that tortilla. Coffee-wise, they have a bunch of specialty options, but I settled on The Cinnful Jim with soy milk. Let me tell you, with the first sip of that coffee, I was transported to the cinnamon groves of Indonesia...or however they're grown. Using a cinnamon stick the size of a child's arm to play fetch with my Frenchie/Labradoodle mix named Jakarta.

It can get pretty busy, but you kind of expect that early in the morning when people are out to stuff their faces with some breakfast food. The wait staff were also very nice and attentive both times I went. Even during the breakfast rush. Will definitely be back one day when I'm back in the...