PLG Coffee House and Tavern — Restaurant in New York

I have been living in the area for 15 years, and I have been client of PLG Coffee House and Tavern since they opened. In past, cafe used to have beer on tap. Anyways, that was in past. Food was always consistently great, since the day cafe was open. In my opinion, sandwiches still are one of the best in the area. But service, only so-so. During my last two visits to establishment, in both occasions I left unhappy. Two weeks prior my last visit, we had lunch in the cafe. As I understood, counter person stepped out and kitchen crew were filling in. Because person who serviced us at the counter couldn't figure out how to apply rewards to my order. I let it slide at that time. Same person prepared our sandwiches and send it out, one by one. Why entire order was not prepared and send it out at the same time, it's mystery to me. I had coffee which I think is good, and my guest wanted to have decaf tea. Problem was that person serving us was clueless which tea in their selection (which is decent), were decaf. That we had to figure out ourselves. On second occasion, I made take out order over the phone. I tried use their mobile app, but that thing been not functional for some time. When I got to cafe to pick up my order, food already was prepared. We got The Club sandwich, The Farm System, I also added two plain croissants( for next days breakfast) and two pieces of Lemon loaf. This time again, person at the counter couldn't figure out how to apply rewards. After I told him that I have some rewards on my account, and I would like to redeem it, he ensured me that it will be applied at the end when payment will be processed. It didn't happen. When I got home and checked the receipt, no redeemed awards were showing. Why PLG Coffee House running their rewards program, if no-one trains the staff how properly apply it to costumer's orders? And like I mention before, mobile app is not functioning at all. For some people this may be minor issue. But in my opinion: either you doing good, or don't do it at all. Now about food. As I mention before, sandwiches are still one of my favorites in the area. Croissants were good as well. Lemon Loaf was old and dry. Definitely not that day's baked batch. And if you charging $4.50 for relatively small piece, at least have decency to sell ONLY freshly baked. I didn't get any beverage on my last visit. But I think their coffee is good and teas are delicious. On both occasions we visit cafe around 3pm. That said, I don't think I'm going there any time soon. Luckily, there is more cafes and sandwich shops opens in the area. I probably will explore some new ones, before I order from this...

It feels like the owners might currently or may have once cared about food quality. They have good ingredients and nice variety, but I don't think the kitchen staff cares much.

I ordered a bacon egg cheese bagel. It came out with an un-melted slice of cheese on a cold bagel under a not-so-hot fried egg. I took it back for the missing bacon and I asked if they wanted me to request a toasted bagel if I wanted it hot in future in case maybe they intended it to be cold or something.

They explained that they toast bagel sandwiches in the oven to melt the cheese so I said "Oh good so they probably just forgot to toast this one, can you throw it back in and melt the cheese?".

I got it back and the outside of the sandwich was toasted and the inside was still cold. I think they closed the sandwich and put it in the oven to heat up the outside instead of cooking it open.

Bacon was also room temp and hard. Pretty sure they pre-make it and let it sit out on a counter.

And they don't even butter the bagel or put a sauce on either. I honestly don't think they've ever eaten a sandwich back there before.

You can pre-make bacon, you just have to undercook it a bit in the oven for a pre cook and then pop it on the hot grill for a sec just before serving. If you pre cook it the whole way or on a griddle it gets too hard after like 30 mins out. The final quick sear warms it uo and puts that pan fried flavor back. That part can be done in broiler if need be too.

You can also melt cheese in the oven but you have to do that with the sandwich open and the cheese on top, ideally broiled, but it has to at least be open, and the cheese has to be on top.

Also probably better to go scrambled instead of fried eggs if you can't do an over medium to order. Over-cooked pure yolk is not great especially when the sandwich is dry cause there's no sauce or butter.

Both the execution and the planning just feels really careless and lazy. And a waste of good food. Could have made a great sandwich with these ingredients. It's actually a quite nice bagel and I've never met bacon i don't like. But you can't just chuck ingredients together any old way cause you can't be...

I am not a delivery driver. But the owner of this establishment decided to assume I was—based on the color of my skin—after seeing my photo in my review. This place is atrocious and a downright health hazard. The air quality is extremely poor. I have included pictures as evidence. The NYC DOH should investigate the cleanliness and hygiene of this place.

I hate giving elaborate bad reviews because running a food establishment is a very hard job, and bad reviews can be crippling. My primary reason for leaving a single star originally was that, as the only person in the coffee shop, it took them 20 minutes to fulfill my order for a simple bagel and coffee. So, I initially left a single-star review without any words.

But the owner, who, in addition to being incompetent in running a food establishment, is also a textbook bigot. My review is public, so it would take five seconds to Google me and see that I am not a delivery driver. And even if I were, the audacity of this owner to assume I would be so stupid as to not know the correct party to review is mind-boggling.

It appears that the peace signs and LGBTQIA paraphernalia on the storefront are merely avenues of virtue signaling to pander to progressive clientele in Brooklyn, while the true foundations of this establishment are rooted in general incompetence and blatant racism. If this were the only place left in the world for sustenance, I would gladly starve to death.

(I suspect the owner will edit their comment after seeing my edit, so I am including the original comment I received in response to my single-star, no-comment review. For good measure, I am also including the pictures that demonstrate the abysmal air quality of this...