Santa Chiara Caffe — Restaurant in New York

I don't visit Santa Chiara often, I've been there a total of 4x and it is always with months in between. I always remember once I enter, why I bypass this place. Yesterday was definitely my last time as I won't continue to make the same mistake again. Each time from the very first experience, I have encountered staff that is either not very friendly or they don't know their responsibilities for customer service or both. Each time, they have gotten my order wrong, which is literally only a hot chocolate or my friend who goes with me, her order wrong and they are never apologetic. First time I went, they overcharged me and acted like they didn't know how to fix it. Either refund me or give me something that totals the value of what I paid. Second time, they get my order wrong again, it's hot chocolate. 3rd time, the order was correct but the staff didn't say hello, thank you or anything just rude. Last night, my friend asked for an iced tea, the cashier says "what flavor" my friend says "oh, I didn't see any flavors" the girl rudely points to the back for her to read the flavors. Like she couldn't be bothered. I just say "can I have a hot chocolate." Mind you the last time I was there was end of April, so I had a hot chocolate then. I ask and she rolls her eyes and says they don't sell hot chocolate. I said, you mean you're out of hot chocolate because I've bought it from here before. She looks at the blue and gold menu to the side and says "where do you see that?" but in a condescending manner. She could've just said "yeah, we do but not during the summer. Only in winter." Then says the winter portion but again with an attitude. So I of course am no longer friendly back to her. If you can't handle simple tasks, don't work customer service. Oh and my friend's iced tea order....WRONG! I blame management for this, as clearly they don't strive for good service or promote that/they must not train their employees very well. So while I have encountered a few rude employees here, it starts from the top down. And the same cashier was rude to the guy ahead of me, he paid cash and she rudely says "I don't have $2 to give you change." Girl, you don't know if you have cash in your drawer or not. Also, the guy just said "oh ok" but had a stunned look on his face." Like no, I'm sorry sir, I don't have change etc, do you have a card or can I offer something else to make up the difference." This happened on...

My fiancé & I have been excited to try Santa Chiara, hoping it was a new walkable option for great coffee. Our first experience went very poorly. Stepping up to the cash register to order, the cashier couldn’t be bothered to look up from her phone, even when asked a question about the menu. Still distracted and not looking up, she responded with an answer that made it clear she had not heard the question. Once I clarified my Fiancés question ( which was -what did the very first item on the menu come with), the cashiers response was I don’t know. Not let me find out or hold on one minute, just I don’t know and silence. After a bit of awkward silence, a coworker from the back jumps in and explains the answer to the cashier. Moving on, I ordered the eggs, Swiss, & ham only to hear a few moments later that sorry no they were either out of eggs or were not making them.(1:15PM Saturday). Next she ordered Prosecco which is on the menu, the cashier had to step away to check if they still had any. Lastly, my fiancé ordered an Iced Mocha coffee. Big surprise, they don’t have that. By this time it was obvious things were going poorly, a nice co-worker jumped in and said that’s okay we can use some chocolate powder to make a mocha. We intended to sit for a little while to experience the new place, but by the time we finished ordering it felt like we were the inconvenience to the staff for walking into the empty shop and ordering off the menu. We took our items to go. The shop looks great inside and out, it’s obvious someone spent a lot of time and money getting it ready to open. It’s unfortunate that just a few weeks after opening it’s being represented to potential customers by such unprofessional /...

Just bought a $93 panettone, and the princess girl on the second stall from the entry showed attitude throughout the process, I know the owners are nice so I ignored her, went to pay, came back and she continued to give me attitude with 'here' for my panettone, then I asked 'you have a bag', she said 'here' and handed to me. I had to stand there awkwardly, open the large bag, put the panettone and left feeling disrespected as a customer when I spent $93 for a panettone that should be half the price or lower than that. I almost wanted to walk to the owner and ask for refund and not take the panettone but instead walked out. Next year, I won't be buying a panettone from here and just go to Eatley.

Tip : Hire people who are respectful to the customer the same way they would want to be treated as a customer somewhere else or train them. Also, I read other reviews where the responses to dissatisfied customers are counter arguments, please STOP THAT as this feels disrespected twice. Acknowledge that they didn't have a good experience but gracious enough to share, and show how things would change in the future.

Aside from this, their cafe interior and location are cute but service is a hit or miss. If workers are nice, they seem disorganized and figuring things out. A serious customer service training or management is needed...