Hello Bistro — Restaurant in Monroeville

I wish I could give 0 stars. Horrible customer service! I placed a large online to go order for my family consisting of 2 adult combos, a sandwich with soup and drink and 2 kids combos with white milk. When he arrived to pick up the food there were 2 bags, 2 chocolate milks and 2 cups. He went to the counter to ask if they had white milk, they said no. He also let them know he was missing a cup. The response he got was there should be only 2 cups for the 2 combos. He had to go through the receipt with them to show there was another drink added before they would give him a cup. When he arrived home and we separated out the food we were missing the 2 bags of fries and 2 cookies that should've been with the kids meals. When I called to explain I was asked to hold for the manager. All I wanted was to come pick up the missing food so my family could eat. The manager David got on the phone and I told him what was missing. He made me walk through the entire order twice and asked multiple times how many bags there were. He then proceeded to say he could understand how the cookies would be missing but not the fries. I have never in my life been accused of lying about missing $2 fries. I was not upset when I called, I just wanted to come back and grab the missing items. After speaking with the manager I was becoming livid. I explained multiple times that there were 2 combos PLUS 2 kids meals all of which come with fries. At this point I said, look, we've gone over this order multiple times and my child is diabetic and already had his insulin for the meal and half of it is missing I'm not lying to you about a $2 bag of f* fries. I did swear which I should not have done but I have never felt so insulted by a manager when their establishment made a mistake. There shouldn't have even been a question. I was already inconvenienced having to go back and instead of an apology, I was being accused of trying to scam them. He was now saying he doesn't need to speak to me because I'm swearing at him...to be clear I did not swear AT him. I swore when referring to the fries he was accusing me of lying about. He is now continuing to say he doesn't need me calling there to swear at him. I called because I am missing 4 items from my $40 order and I would like you to complete the order without having to argue with you. I was so angry that he still wasn't offering to have the order ready. I hung up. I called back and apologized for swearing. I told him having been in retail management myself I would never expect this reaction from a customer prospective. I told him I am very frustrating that he's making me explain the order multiple times to prove that I purchased the 4 bags of fries. Again, he said he didn't need to be sworn at and he didn't need to speak to me. I asked him for the number to corporate or his boss. He responded by saying he's getting my order ready and he didn't do anything wrong and I was out of line for swearing and proceeded to hang up on me! When you think that a customer is out of line and you did nothing wrong, you would never hang up on them when they ask for a number of your supervisor... it took all of that just to get to the point where he said he would get the rest of the order ready! At that point I already had to find alternative carbs to feed my son before his blood sugar dropped, my food was soggy and cold and I had lost my appetite. There was no way I was going to go back up there and expect my food not to be tampered with by a manager that would treat a...

On August 31, 2024, after completing an intense workout, my guest and I decided to refuel at Hello Bistro, located at 4100 William Penn Hwy, Monroeville, PA 15146. What we anticipated to be a quick and efficient visit turned into a drawn-out ordeal.

Ordering Experience: The restaurant has shifted to a kiosk-only ordering system, which proved to be more of a hindrance than a convenience. With only two kiosks available, navigating the menu was time-consuming, taking us a frustrating 15 minutes to place our order. The system is not user-friendly and lacks the simplicity of the previous walk-up ordering process. Additionally, many items visible in the display behind the counter were either missing from the kiosk menu or were difficult to locate due to poor interface design.

Wait Time & Service: Despite there being only about 12 other customers in the restaurant, our order (a chicken wrap with salmon, crumb blue cheese, dressing, and a mixed salad with salmon and chicken) took an excessive 30 minutes to prepare. The delay was baffling given the relatively low customer count at the time.

Cleanliness & Hygiene: While we waited, we were forced to sit at a dirty table that had clearly not been cleaned in a while. To make matters worse, the restaurant had a noticeable issue with spotted lanternflies—some dead, others flying around, particularly near the windows and main floor. My guest also reported that the women’s restroom was out of soap, raising concerns about hygiene, especially considering the "All employees must wash their hands..." sign in the restroom.

The Food: When our meal finally arrived, the food was a pleasant surprise amidst the otherwise disappointing experience. The wrap and salad were both flavorful and delicious. However, the wrap had structural issues, with the contents falling apart as soon as it was picked up, requiring me to request a bowl and eat it as a salad.

Overall: While the food at Hello Bistro remains tasty, the overall experience was marred by poor service, unclean conditions, and a cumbersome ordering process. I would cautiously recommend this location, but improvements are desperately needed in cleanliness and customer service, particularly reconsidering the effectiveness of the kiosk ordering system. Returning to in-person ordering could streamline the process and...

My friend and I were in Monroeville for a funeral. We had just enough time to grab lunch and were happy to find this place. We waited in line about 25 minutes which seemed long since there were just a few people ahead of us but it didn't seem to be anyone's fault, except that only one person was staffed on the line and the cashier seemed new and unsure about a few things, so we were just patient. When it was our turn finally, my friend, who has Seliac disease, asked the cashier to just substitute quinoa for the ancient grains in one of the grain bowls. The cashier rang up the order and, at my encouragement asked her coworker (who later said she was the manager) to make sure the substitution happened. The manager then replied, and became adament, that such a substitution couldn't be allowed. This was surprising, of course, from a customer service standpoint, and, because the quinoa seemed to be sitting in a container right next to the ancient grains in the service line . This was frustrating but my friend just decided to change her order. The manager took her over to the cash register and did stuff (we assumed just changed out whatever charges). My friend got back in line behind me for the new salad she reordered but the manager told her she would have to go back to the end of the line (which was now even longer than when we arrived) to order the replacement order?!. She had apparently only refunded the grain bowl and didn't exchange it for anything. My friend protested a moment but, given the already stressful funeral situation, just declined to get food there and let it all drop. I was in the midst of getting my salad made by the manager and so I tried to reason with her about the situation but she simply overtalked me, told me she understood - it must be frustrating- but my friend would just have to go back to the end of the line- PERIOD. At that point I wanted nothing to do with such a place and asked for a refund myself. We never got lunch that day and just went to the funeral hungry. Obviously I will never return to, or recommend, Hello Bistro. Something is really wrong with either their customer service policies, or with their...