Il Caffe Latte — Restaurant in New York

Terrible place! Horrible Service!

Went to Il Caffe Latte simply to get a salad and coffee. I got yelled at by older Asian woman who's presumably the owner. First, she says there's no seating and there's a 45-minute maximum use of the table. Then she proceeds to yell at and lecture me - "we don't allow people use their laptop here". I have no idea what gave her the idea I was there to use my laptop.

Her wait staff was also very rude. Never brought me a menu, but came charging at me, "have you had a chance to look at the menu". I look at him surprised - I never got a menu and one would think that was pretty obvious.

Anyway, I wait 20 minutes to be grudgingly seated, ordered my coffee and salad. Coffee came in good time but waited nearly 30 minutes for the salad. Not once did she or her wait staff check if I needed anything else - water, drinks, anything.

As soon as I'm seated, the owner was quick to move chairs around and accommodate everyone else that came afterwards - no one waited 1 minute to get a table.

When my food finally arrived, the wait staff practically threw the plate in front of me. At this point, I had completely lost appetite and was definitely concerned about what else could have been added to my salad, given the attitude of the owner and the wait staff. I decided I wasn't touching the food. I simply asked for the check and didn't say a word to complain. Wait staff decides to bring me a take-away box. As he was searching for one, owner as wait staff begin whispering to each other but I could hear them. Consistent with her extremely rude attitude, the owner's words were less than polite. I simply paid, tipped and left without touching the food.

They both watched me walk out - no apologies, no questions about why I would pay for food and not even taste it. Instead, the owner frowned at and continued to mutter complaints about me to her equally rude wait staff.

I decided to try out this spot for the first time as I do with every local spot. Clearly, her definition of service involves yelling at patrons, offering terrible service and taking people's money in exchange for nothing. This woman must think she's doing folks a favor by running her business here. Worse, her definition of who's local is clearly thinly defined.

Terrible place!...

I’m not sure what’s going on here. I have been trying to be understanding given the incredibly stressful times we are all enduring but enough is enough. I’ve been coming here for 6 years. Was and has been one of my favorite places in Harlem. Not particularly for the food but because it provides a space in Harlem that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the neighborhood.

When Covid hit it turned this restaurants hospitable nature on its head. I understand the CDC guidelines well but within those guidelines it doesn’t require you to be rude to your customers.

I came in today wanting a drink. As soon as I walked in the owner asked me what I’d like, I told her. She said to stay or to go. I told her to stay. She told me they don’t do table service for beverages. To which I was confused why she bothered asking me then if I wanted to stay. I stared at her. She said ok ok you won’t be that long right? I said I have a book, I’m going to drink my drink and leave. So she allowed me to stay. While I was there however, a couple people came in wanting the same thing and she gave the same reply. She raised her voice at one woman unnecessarily and had a complete attitude with the other. I felt so uncomfortable I asked for my check so I could leave.

I’m trying to be empathetic. Maybe there are personal reasons she does not want to have people in her establishment. However, my patronage has slowed here over the last two years because the owner cannot seem to understand that by the looks of her establishment it gives off the vibe that you can come in, get a coffee, read a book, get on your laptop etc. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with not wanting people on their laptop. But the attitude, disrespect, and overall lack of customer service is something that needs to be examined here. Put up a sign, develop an elevator pitch upon customers arrival informing them of your new rules, SOMETHING.

I’m going to give this gem one more try but if I feel what I felt today and for the past two years they will have lost me which...

I had brunch today 8/17/24 and while the food was OK and service was exemplary, I had a horrible experience as I was leaving the venue. The owner completely humiliated one of her staff in front of everyone. It was horrible, made me sad, angry and uncomfortable. No one deserves to be treated that way! I felt so bad I apologized to the staff member and followed up with the owner as I was leaving. I asked if she was OK and told her that it felt really uncomfortable hearing her talk to her staff so disrespectfully. She raised her voice to me, saying she was tired and was sorry. I responded by telling her that it was completely inappropriate for her to talk to her staff that way and suggested she take a break when she felt overwhelmed. She raised her voice again, asking me to leave her alone. I will never go to this place again. She will never receive another dime from me or any of my friends. It seems this is typical behavior based on the other staffs' reaction to this event and that is just unacceptable. People need their jobs to take care of themselves but being put in situations where one has to negotiate on-the-job abuse is NOT OK!!! If she can't manage front of the house operations, she should find someone else who can, take a back seat while counting all the money she's making from community members! Taking care of your team who make your business work ought to be the #1 priority. Yelling at and demeaning your staff is not the way to go. I am so disappointed because the service...