Shambala Ancient Grain Bakery Inc. — Restaurant in Mount Vernon

NEVER AGAIN. If I could give this place zero stars, I would. It has officially been a year since first trying Shambala. Initially, I was thrilled to have a local place offering so many vegan options. So thrilled in fact, that I chose to ignore the poor service, excessive wait times and food that was often served burned or cold and not to forget the overpriced and almost always STALE baked goods from the case. After my last terrible experience in January of this year, in which the cake I ordered was missing half it's top layer and they tried to cover it up with 4 inches of frosting ( no exaggeration see photos) I vowed to never set foot in there again. Until last night. After a long day of running errands etc. and against my better judgement, we went to Shambala. We were coldly 'greeted' by a woman behind the desk who said " Do you want menus? " She handed them over and let us know that we needed to order at the counter, pay at the counter and get our own water. So much for customer service? I suppose that is one way to solve the issue I have always had there of extremely inattentive waitstaff. There was only one other table in the house, consisting of two people. We ordered our food and sat down. Due to there only being the one other table, I assumed that our appetizers would be out shortly. 20 minutes in to our wait, a party of two walk in and order. 45 minutes into the wait I hear the bell, signalling that food is ready. Not our food. It turns out the first table still had not gotten their food. 10 minutes later, I hear the bell again. Finally, our food was ready...except it was the food that the people who came in AFTER we did had ordered! Incredible! 8 minutes later, and yes, I was actually checking my phone, I hear the bell. Our server comes out and literally says "Here's some cheese bread" and plops it on our table. We ordered two appetizers. Meanwhile 5 minutes later I get my food, still no second appetizer and the other two people at my table do not have their food. I see the owner walk by after we have been there well over an hour and select a pack of pizza crust off the shelves. It was then that I put it together that it was for the pizza that we had ordered! She had not even begun to make it! The second appetizer comes out. We are all sharing my food as well as the second appetizer at this point because everyone is so hungry. 20 minutes later the rest of the food comes out. Everyone hurriedly ate to get out of that miserable environment. Around 3 am this morning, one by one we were throwing up. Stabbing stomach pain, fever and vomiting. FOOD POISONING! NEVER, EVER AGAIN SHAMBALA. I will happily drive to Seattle or Bellingham to eat a high quality, expeditiously served meal by people who actually value...

Really cool place! They are not only gluten-free but also free of many common allergens AND extremely vegan friendly. There's a health-conscious theme here with the grain blend they use and also a whole line of adaptogen drinks. But the vibe is not "health food bar", it has a very warm and intimate, and a little quirky, cafe feel. The staff was really welcoming and helpful with all the questions I had. Order at the counter, and they bring the food to you if you're eating in. Not inexcusably slow, but they seem to take their time with the food, so this is not the place to order a meal if you're in a rush. The drinks come out much faster and if you order a baked good they'll grab it for you on the spot. I had a Red Pepper Reuben with Coleslaw, Carrot Cupcake, and Chaga Latte. I went with the vegan option for the reuben - if the vegan cheese option had just been one generic flavour, I would've gone for the "regular" version so that I could get the Swiss for my reuben, but they actually had different flavours of vegan cheese (the worker mentioned cheddar, swiss, and provolone) so you can actually get a suitable replacement for the standard recipe when you veganize here! Anyway, this sandwich was delicious! A little messy to eat because the roasted pepper and sauerkraut made it very juicy, and I think vegan cheese doesn't hold things together as well as real cheese, but the mess was worth it. The gf bun was quite good - not as tender as traditional bread, but the wholesome flavour was very nice. Their coleslaw was very interesting too, it tasted like there might've been tahini in the dressing and I was into it. The cupcake was indistinguishable from a non-gf carrot cake and the coconut frosting was really good. Finally, the latte, which I got with hemp milk, was also very nice. I'm not sure how much of the subtle nutty flavour came from the chaga and how much was just the hemp, but it was a nice change from the usual hot drinks I get. The only thing I have to criticize is why do they not have house mugs for drinks when you dine in? All the food was served on ceramic plates, but my drink came in a to-go cup, which was very disappointing. Otherwise this was a great experience - I doubt I'll have the chance to stop in Mt. Vernon again but I'll have to make a beeline for this...

My wife and I visited with high expectations because there have a gluten-free bakery. We ordered the beet salad and the Mediterranean style pizza. There were several customers ahead of us, so we imagined we might have to wait a bit. The salad came to our table 30 minutes later and it was tasty, to say the least.

However, the pizza did not come even after an hour of waiting. I asked the waitress if my order had been placed. When I asked her to check with the kitchen, she replied, "We can't make it because we don't have any dough. “ “Why didn't you tell us that earlier? ” I asked, "Because you didn't say anything about it. “ The waitress replied incredulously.

How could three waitresses be waiting for over an hour for a customer to place an order and no one even noticed? The family eating next to us also complained that their salad had not arrived.

From this point on, the exchange of disbelief grew even more. They asked me if I wanted a refund or if I wanted to wait longer. When I asked how long it would take for the pizza to arrive, she replied, "20 minutes.” You told me there was no dough! Of course I chose the refund option, and when I went to the cash register, the waitress gave me back only $26 for the pizza. I asked her, "What about the tax?" I asked her, and she replied arrogantly, "We don't return tax. I further complained, "You guys take tax just for asking an order?" and she returned the tax.

I was very disappointed in the lowest level of customer service for a restaurant that operates under a very good concept. It was clear that the staff was not trained considering that they had to deal with more customers than usual during the...