Café Bastille Downtown Miami — Restaurant in Miami

Please check your receipts before leaving this place. DOUBLE CHECK YOUR RECEIPT BEFORE YOU LEAVE!

I came in here on a Tuesday morning and ordered a cup of tea and a turkey and brie croissant. It came out to over $33 for the 2 items. Now, I know Miami is pricey and I also added a little extra for service, but this caught me off guard. I asked the cashier if that $33 was for only the tea and the croissant, as I thought she might have accidentally double charged something and the cashier immediately replied that it was correct.

Granted, I didn't look at the prices before I ordered. I also know that Miami is an expensive city. $33 still seemed high to me so I grabbed the laminated menu that was right by the cash register and I see that the tea was $7 (it was $6 and they charged me an extra $1 for a little oat milk on the side) and the turkey and brie croissant was $14. At this point, I wondered if I ordered the wrong thing but they bring the sandwich to my table. I asked another cashier, who wasn't the one who rang me up, how $7 + $14 with taxes and service fees amounted to $33. This woman double checked and saw that the prior cashier rang in a service charge of 20% and also a service charge of 10%, doubling the service charges. I ordered bakery items so the service charge should have been 10% only. The 2nd cashier offered to correct the charges.

I don't really understand how their system worked and I was handed a new receipt for $28. I took a look to be sure that this wasn't a double charge and realized that the croissant rang in at $16, despite it saying $14 on the menu.

At this point, I'm honestly annoyed that the bakery overcharged me twice. I'm trying really hard not to believe that there was no malice, but 2 overcharges is a little hard to believe. The entire time, the 2nd cashier kept telling me that there was nothing sneaky going on here and they are honest and things will work out, but I'm having trouble reconciling her protestations of honesty with 2 over charges on 1 transaction. A man came to introduce himself as a manager and asked me how he can fix this, but I think a full audit of their cash out system might be the only thing. I asked him how he thinks it should be fixed and he kept asking me what I wanted. I just told him a to-go box because this was leaving a bad impression. The 2nd cashier came over again to apologize and offered me a free pastry, which I declined. They are very confused at how the prices in their system didn't match the printed menu price.

Truth be told, I am too. I don't know how the 1st cashier charged me double for service charges and didn't even bother to check when I questioned the amount. I don't know how their Toast system overcharged me for a sandwich. Therefore, all I can say is PLEASE DOUBLE CHECK YOUR RECEIPT BEFORE YOU LEAVE!!!! As the manager repeatedly said, mistakes happen and people are only human and they don't know how prices in their system are what they are. So it pays to double check your receipt!

I have the receipts to prove this happened. I am sharing a picture of the sandwich. It was okay. I only ate a quarter of it before getting out of there but I might be biased by...

I was extremely disappointed. It wasn’t until we were seated that the server told us there were no eggs Benedict available—on a Sunday brunch, no less. We waited a long time to be seated, and during that time, as well as before the server took our order, no one informed us about the lack of eggs Benedict. They could have told us earlier but clearly didn’t care. At one point, the server seemed to get upset with us for no reason. The busboys and male servers were rude and condescending, treating us poorly while providing normal, professional service to tables of young women.

Our server only came back with a big smile at the end, clearly just to get his tip. It’s worth noting that a 20% tip is mandatory and added to the bill, as indicated in small print on the menu. However, the server acted like we still needed to tip on top of that, showing us only the total on the payment machine without clarifying the gratuity was already included. The only decent service we received was from a female busboy. Otherwise, the staff handed us plates across the table, making us reach for them, instead of properly placing them in front of us. At the price we were paying, we expected better service—it’s not McDonald’s.

The Israeli brunch itself was very disappointing. It was advertised as including mushrooms, but the portion was laughably small, barely the size of a dish containing three cherry tomato halves. The portions overall were tiny, and an extra side of potatoes (which was minimal) cost $6. The food was overpriced, and the poor service with a bad attitude ruined the experience. They clearly don’t care about their customers and are only after your money. It’s a shame, as the restaurant appears to be different and beautiful from the outside.

Answer to the Café Bastille answer: It's a bit surprising as a suggestion. It’s uncomfortable to return to a place where we received mediocre service. How can we trust you? Furthermore, you’re not offering to invite me back to make up for it, but simply suggesting I return and pay again. So, I’d have to pay another $110 USD + $21 in service fees to see if what you’re saying is true? Moreover, I don’t even know when I’ll be back in Miami, so this review is particularly relevant for foreign visitors. Thank you nonetheless for...

We visited Miami a few weeks ago and stayed at our favorite spot, the Epic Hotel. Although we’ve been there several times before this, I’m truly sad we didn’t discover Cafe Bastille before this trip! Look, the bottom line is if you’re exhausted by the lack of customer service literally everywhere these days and only simply just wanted to visit a place of business with EXCELLENT customer service from every single person on staff, you need to visit Cafe Bastille. The fact that seriously every thing on their menu is amazingly delicious on top of the great service is just icing on the cake these days. Really - how many times lately have you shopped or eaten somewhere that the (lack of) customer service dampened the experience? You won’t find that here, and it is such a breath of fresh air. This is why they have lines around the building every day! We were lucky enough to time our first visit between the breakfast and lunch rushes and didn’t have to wait. After having such a difficult time picking one thing to order, instead of the whole menu, and then after taking one bite we said we’d be back every single day during our trip. The last day we visited was right before they closed on our way to the airport. Google had their closing time listed incorrectly and they had already shut down their kitchen. So bummed, we tried to find somewhere else nearby and struggled to find something as delicious. Seeing the defeat in our eyes, the hostess had such compassion on us and allowed us to sit and make a quick order. Even then, their service and food quality was still incredible and not even rushed.

Photos are of some of the amazing goodies we loved. The Dulce de leche pancakes were out of this world delicious. So fluffy and so good! Every croissant i tried was also amazing and very filling! The bacon and eggs were cooked to perfection. You can’t go wrong with anything on their menu, and if you’re not local, we highly recommend you make time to visit more than once. It’s easy walking distance to most of downtown and...