The Neighborhood Cafe — Restaurant in New Haven

I never leave negative reviews but today is Father’s Day and I told my husband he would like it here because the only other time i ate here i thought the food/service was good.

When we arrived i politely asked where the high chairs were, the girl working at the counter pointed to the bathroom- so i grabbed it myself.

We ordered a single blueberry and a single chocolate chip pancake, two hash brown patties, a philly, a side of home fries, a veggie sandwich, and a small tossed salad.

The girl at the counter was so unfriendly- I worked in the service industry for over 15 years, and when you don’t smile, don’t apologize when you make a mistake, and don’t enjoy taking care of people and creating a good experience then why are you even working in this industry? Go be a meter maid or something that doesn’t require social skills.

You pay at the counter in advance- then the hand buzzer goes off when your food is ready and you grab it from the counter and carry it to the table yourself. Totally fine with that style of dining, and wasn’t expecting anything fancy. They forgot my salad, and the hash browns, and gave us the wrong sandwich (my husband’s). When i walked in to let her know, the chef (who i assume is the boss/owner) told the counter-worker she gave her a philly so clearly she mixed up the sandwiches. Listen, it happens- we are human and all make mistakes. It’s what you do after that is important. I wasn’t rude, angry or demanding. When she brought our the correct sandwich she didn’t even apologize, and she looked inconvenienced by the fact she had to walk out from behind the counter. Our kids liked the pancakes but everything else was just ok- the decor is cute but we will never be back. The customer service left us with a bad taste...

Went here a few months ago with some friends (got a cinammon swirl pancake; delicious!) and experienced some alarmingly bad service.

It all started after we ordered, when the owner personally came over to scold us for talking too loudly because they "couldn't hear the customers" (we were having a conversation at normal volume, we were just a party of 4 and our table was directly in front of the register). A friend and I ordered the same item, and due to a misunderstanding the kitchen only made one of them, so I was the only member of my party still waiting for my food. (Keep in mind it took over 30 minutes for the food to reach our table at all, which is crazy; we all ordered pancakes, bacon or eggs, these do not take long to cook, and there was no party ahead of us)

This was not a huge deal, these things happen all the time and slow service is not the end of the world, and I generally try to be understanding about service issues, but after about 15 minutes of my party eating without me with no sign that my food was coming, I went up to the counter and told them that I believed they forgot to make my meal.

Instead of apologizing for the mix-up, the owner was dismissive and rude, cut me off, lied and said "we burned it" and then told me it was coming without asking what it was. We were sitting 10 feet away from the grill, there is no way I wouldn't have smelled burnt food from where we were sitting. Then I Overheard the owner telling the girl working the counter to apologize for the mix-up and she just ignored her. It was over 50 minutes before my food (pancakes!) reached the table, and all I was able to do that whole time was drink coffee that tasted like dishwater. Can't say I'm in a...

I am speaking to you as a faithful patron of the neighborhood cafe this little family operated breakfast and lunch location gives you excellent service as best and as quick as they care everything is individually prepared and it's not fast food and these mother and daughter combination work so well together and the customers today are just so irritable because of discovered 19 dilemma and the people having to wear masks when they walk in and keep the masks on until they sit down at a table I certainly do wish that the people that are reading this tribute to this little restaurant will frequent them as much as possible thank you...