Cafe Luluc — Restaurant in New York

I originally wrote this review on Yelp last year and was told to bring it here to Google. Since then, nobody has reached out or gotten back to me regarding this illegal situation. Please see my review from last year below:

I'm really sorry to have to write this, but it almost makes me wonder if the waitress was doing this just to us or to everyone. My fiancé and I have been loyal customers here for years. They serve some of the best pancakes, fish burgers, and chicken sandwiches hands down. However, this review is about the service, particularly that of one waitress. Over the years, we've seen several changes in staff, but we've continued to visit regularly. We come for weekend brunches, weekday breakfasts, and sometimes lunch or dinner during the week. About six months ago, when we started coming more during the week, we encountered a waitress who was quite off-putting and rude. Despite this, we didn't mention anything because we enjoy the food and have had better experiences with other staff members. However, I noticed that this particular waitress consistently added a 20% gratuity to the bill. Now, I've been coming here for a very long time, and they've never added a 20% gratuity before. But with her, it's always there. I noticed it months ago but never addressed it until yesterday . When I brought it up to her, she said, "Oh, I just started adding it last week." I responded, "Ma'am, please do not lie. I always come here, and you have been adding it for MONTHS! But yet, nobody else here adds it." She then replied, "Well, I don't know what my co-workers do." I said, "At the end of the day, if you add a tip to the bill, it should always be like that. You don't pick and choose when or who you do it to, and that's not right." The hostess, who has been working here for a while and knows us, heard what happened and apologized to us. She said she will be informing the manager. I just hate that this happens, and it always makes me question her intentions. I wonder if she was just doing this to people of color or if she does it to everyone to get her money. Either way, it's wrong, and honestly, I don't know if I will be returning here...

So crazy thing but I must say, worst thing here is the pancake. I know it gets all the hype and the other reviews are true, crispy edges and fluffy inside but that’s literally it. The actual pancake has no flavor and needs syrup. I am a fan of specialty pancakes with the fruit in flavor baked/cooked in. If you want a classic pancake that requires copious syrup, here you go! Otherwise skip that. Otherwise the food was shockingly good. We got a couple sunny side eggs and sausage (delicious of course), the open faced grilled chicken sandwich and chips and guacamole….that might have been the best chips and guacamole I’ve ever had. And based on the comments about the chilaquiles I think the sleeper here is the Mexican food. The grilled chicken sandwich was good, great sauce and stuffed once you tried to close it. The sourdough was delicious and toasty. I saw another table order chips and guacamole and clearly got more chips than us so they aren’t standardized with that unfortunately. Our service was also incredibly slow. I saw people who sat after us get food, drink, and get order taken before us. We waited about 20 min to get our orders taken and the food took long to come out. Unfortunately sandwich is not pictured. The Shirley temple was quite good per my bf but I gave up soda for lent so didn’t try. But it was so good he ordered two. I got apple juice and I’m not sure why I got a smaller cup, that’s always a pet peeve of mine, different size cups for juice vs soda or tea. Anyways I would definitely come back for Tex mex night or something else. Menu was extensive and a lot of things (salad, sandwich, pasta) looked good. Once again MUST DROP A STAR IF YOU’RE CASH...

So we visited Cage Luluc today, it was my son's Birthday , he turned 15 so we had lunch. Our son have severe allegies so we are very picky about where we eat. I got him his favorite gluten free vegan cake from the city and then drove to Cafe Luluc. Whe we got there we were seated, and I asked the host if she could please put our tiny cake in the fridge for us because it would melt in the heat while we ate. She said sure, yes Happy Birthday! I went to wash my hands and notice she was standing there with the box in her hand when we I came out the restroom. She proceeded to tell me that to cut our cake they charge $15 dollars, so I said well we're not cutting the cake here, I just would like it refrigerated so it doesn't melt, while we ate. She took the cake to the back and brought it back to us and said..oh we don't have space..A tiny cake? I mean you certainly were going to find space for $15 to cut it right, but then when you learned you weren't making that extra $15, you suddenly don't have space? How convenient Cafe Luluc. This is very distasteful of you, and shame on you..You ruined my son's Birthday cake because of your insensitivity..When we bought the cake home to celebrate at home, the whole cake melted..This is terrible.You will never see another dollar of ours again. You should be thankful that you still have a business for people to come to, when many other businesses have closed due to covid..Be humble, be grateful, show gratitude, be good to the remaining guest that you have coming in your establishment, because in the blink of an eye it could all be gone..Look around at the sign of the times..Horrible Horrible!!!...