Cafe Madeline — Restaurant in New York

Here is the story. I work in restaurant business more than 10 years. And it was difficult for me to find good place in Brooklyn to eat. Our friends recommended cafe Madeline. We were so happy. Food looks healthy, taste good, nice crowd around. Everything was great. We became regular customers. Even tho it’s quite far from our home, we didn’t mind to walk 30 min to have breakfast. Last two times just made me unmark the place from my list on Google. First time we had poached eggs which were full of vinegar, with undercooked whites and in general were not as good as usual. We told the cashier, the apologized properly and even gave us 10$ gift card for next time. Which was nice and appreciate way to apologize. But today it was something what I would never expect from this place. And spoiled Salmon, which was the beginning of the conversation, would not be a big deal, if only they could just normally say sorry and give me the food I’ve ordered instead. The lady, who makes coffee, brought new plate to me (I returned plate with salmon, told them that the fish smells bad and asked for grilled chicken and the same base bowl instead). So she brought it and said that “actually fish is fresh, we got it every ... day (I don’t remember which day) and you just don’t know the difference between lax and smoked salmon” I answered her that I eat salmon at their place quite often, she said that they constantly changing producers of salmon and this one is just not the one I used to eat. I tried to explain that fish shouldn’t taste spoiled if they changed the company, but she waved her hand and left with “that’s it”. I was like.. what? I came to the counter and told her that it wasn’t the appropriate way to talk to the client, returned the plate and asked for refund, (same time my boyfriend came with plate with salmon on it and said it was spoiled) but lady didn’t stop her passionate protection of freshness of their food but waved her hand again, trying to show me that my opinion she doesn’t want to hear. Then the “manager” came out. He was trying to apologize (coz he saw that I’m taking sample of “freshest” salmon with me in to go container, and was probably scared of Department of Health and Hygiene to come after that) but he was not sorry, he was just telling me things which he thought I wanted to hear, not even letting me explain that in the first place I wanted to help them not to serve spoiled food to other customers and second to let him know that he should explain his staff members how they should apologize if something went wrong. But he was just too busy with his speech. We got a refund, but we would never comeback and of coz we would never recommend this place to anybody (as we did before) except people who want to check how strong their stomach is or how far can staff go to fight for the “fresh” reputation of...

The food is great and always consistent! I recommend the one-hander with eggs and bacon!! But sigh... This is usually one of my favorite spots but I went there last night and the staff was a little lukewarm and then passive-aggressive. I met with a client during the last hour of service, as I have had other work-from-home sessions there. Typically I have no problem, but noticed when I first walked in the cashier was pretty cold and then had a "hurry up" energy when I was trying to order. There were only 2 other individuals (also Black) there, so they weren't busy. Then some patrons ordered and left. All of a sudden the staff started blasting music. It was a bit weird because the two remaining customers were working. I'm all for having fun at work, but I politely asked if they could turn it down as I picked up my food because we were having to yell. Then 10-15 minutes before closing they started blasting the music again even louder and we took that as a sign to wrap it up. Just say you're closing... no need for all that. I also wanted to try their lemonades because that was the first time I saw all those flavors on the menu and it was around $8 and some change for a regular-size cup lol. I would give it a 7/10 though. They also didn't have A/C running, just the door open. It's June in Brooklyn, so keep that in mind if you run warm. It was sad because typically this has always been a great spot to visit over the years... not sure if it was because we came an hour before closing but it left a bad taste in my mouth. Their service has never been extremely great (typical for BK/NYC), but this just made us feel a few microaggressions....

It was my first time at Cafe Madeline. My best friend recommended them very highly so I was excited to try their mango lassi. The first thing we noticed was the lack of customer service, the two individuals behind the counter, predominantly the shorter one in glasses, were not very kind to my friend and I.

I ordered the mango lassi and ended up not liking it but I was hungry so I took a few sips while my friend and I were waiting for our food. I went back to the counter and asked the shorter individual if I could kindly get a refund or a remake because the drink did not taste like a lassi, and believe me I have had my fair share of lassis at various different spots across Manhattan and BK. I used please and thank you as needed.

He proceeded to tell me that, “no one else had ever complained about the drink” so he didn’t see why I was complaining. I told him that it did not taste like any lassi I had had and could I please get a refund (cause at that point I had had enough of him and the chef talking about me in another language). He told me the mango was fresh so maybe that could be the reason why it tasted the way it did. I told him, regardless of the fresh mango, the lassi did not taste like a lassi. He rolled his eyes at me, went to the register and basically threw the $13 on the table. Another gentleman who was standing behind the counter, picked up the money and handed it to me. I thanked the gentleman who handed me the money and left.

The food is apparently very great but unfortunately (for me at least,) great food and good customer service go...