Pagoda Café — Restaurant in New Orleans

This is a complete rewrite of a formerly somewhat positive review. After mostly avoiding this place due to long lines, slow service, just ok coffee and tiny but pricey food portions, I decided to give it another whirl the other morning as it is literally the closest coffee shop to my house and we were out of our house supply. I walked my small dog over there and for the first time noticed signs around the place saying "please don't block the entry with bikes and/or dogs." By entry, they mean the rail leading up to the patio, not the actual doorway. For those who haven't been here, the service line runs past a kitchen behind the counter and there's a small space going in one door and out the other to order food. The doors are always open because you can't fit more than four or five people in that space at a time so the space extends to the sidewalk outside. There was one customer in front of me and when I went to order a coffee with my dog in my arms, the cashier said, "no dogs in here." So I tied my dog literally one foot behind me just outside the door (no way I'm tying her out of sight) and got my coffee and left. I believe it's every the right of every business to make their own rules (barring human discrimination, of course), but for a place that's outside (seating, doors open etc) to go out of their way to discourage dog owners (and cyclists!) seems foolish to put it mildly. There is no law stating dogs must remain outside in coffee shops on New Orleans. Fair Grinds up the street doesn't bat an eye at dogs in there and they have closed doors and air conditioning. This place is just bossy for no reason and so I will continue to skip right by and walk the extra few pleasant blocks to Fair Grinds from now on. Their coffee and service are both far and away better anyway. Dog...

These people make excellent food. However, they are always making excuses of why they cannot serve it. For a coffee shop - they are never open when they should be and soooo rude about it. They're often running late to open and instead of putting up a sighn, they watch you try and enter, and then block the doorway like a bouncer saying their not open for fifteen minutes. This has happened twice now where I have felt "bounced" out when they could have said something politely before I even got to the door - as they were clearly watching me walk up. I am a service industry person that works nights and get out at seven am - which, is an hour that a " coffee shop" should already be open.I am patient and try and be understanding and respectful that this place is not corporate and does not make their staff get up at unruly hours, but instinstead feel degraded, blamed for these people's poor excuse for work ethics,when I was just trying to get some decent food after a long demanding night in the service industry. Starving and exhausted, I feel so disheartened being treated this way from one of the only places I think the breakfast is worth my hard earned cash- and from people how are supposedly in the...

I've been a fan and patron of this place since they opened. I'm not, however, a fan of a misleading practice they have unfortunately adopted. Last time I went there to pick up a $20 takeout order, I put $5 in the tip jar. The woman working said thanks. Only later did I look at the receipt and see that they had added a 20% "service charge". Now, I am very much in favor of everyone making a livable wage, and would prefer to do away with the practice of tipping entirely in favor of decent guaranteed wages, as Europe has done. If you can't afford to pay your employees decently, why not raise your prices so your customers know what they are paying, rather than this sneaky, backdoor charge? You could put up a sign explaining that the price increase is to give your workers a decent standard of living, and I'm sure many people would be happy to pay a few dollars more. And why, if you are charging an automatic 20% gratuity, put out a tip jar also so that well-meaning customers wind up paying 40-50% extra on top of the listed prices, and then leave feeling...