Alaina's Cafe — Restaurant in Palm Beach Gardens

Local Friends and Occasional Florida Visitors,

Marty and I have found our new favorite “go to” place to eat, or snack or have great desserts with a little wine or coffee in North County - Alaina’s on Northlake in the Strip Mall on the NE Corner of Northlake and Military Trail.

Alaina’s Bake Shoppe & Cafe has been in this mall for some time but they found themselves a real Chef who used to be at Regional Kitchen in WPB who puts together a great menu and pulls-off every item with excellence. They just doubled their space, did a very nice job with a casual but sharp look and now it is truly an excellent restaurant with a great Bakery!

More good news! In addition to serving good food, the prices of the food, wine and baked goods are very reasonable. Marty and I absolutely love the Meat Quiche and the Tomato soup. The two of them go together great and for a total price of only $10. On our first visit we loved "The Farmer" - a lightly fried chicken breast sandwich bursting with flavors. Today I had the Truffle Mac ’n Cheese ($10 and $2 for Truffles) and it is rich and I mean rich and filling and ever so creamy and delicious. Marty was intrigued with the fried chicken tacos but we didn’t want tacos so they gladly served the crispy fried chicken with many flavored accompaniments on fresh lettuce. For our friends who want a healthier lunch they offer lots of salads and they make their own dressing in house. A good friend of our swears by the “Clacker” - their version of an all in chicken salad. They have a full menu and each day have a separate "daily specials" menu as well.

Did I mention the Baked goods! I can’t decide if they taste better than they look or if they look as good as they taste. There are too many varieties for me to cover but we absolutely loved the “Mini Key Lime Pie” for only $6 and after lunch it was beautiful and plenty to split with a delicious cup of decaf.

I have enclosed their website so you can see the menu for yourself. The food is every bit as good as it looks.

Alaina’s has a modest wine list of about 30 choices, 4 draft local craft beers and 5 bottled beers and of course tea, coffee and complimentary water. The price of their wines are nothing less than a bargain. We had a bottle of fine French Champaign that sells everywhere for well over $100 and they are offering it for $75. This is their most expensive wine offering and all of the wines on their list are very competitively priced.

Finally, on Sundays they are open from 9 to 3 and serve a Special Sunday Bruch menu, that adds a few new items each week to their core of favorites. Alaina’s is open Monday through Friday from 8 to 10:30 for Breakfast and 10:30 to 4 for lunch. If you live in North County Alaina’s is close, has great food and baked goods, looks sharp and has a very friendly and helpful service staff and kitchen.

Enjoy,

Uncle Larry...

Completely disappointed in the utter lack of customer service and managements inability to be of any assistance whatsoever. I just had surgery and was finally able to eat something for the first time in almost 16 hours . As soon as I got my phone back the first thing I did was call to place a Togo order for the roast beef sandwich. The hostess answered and told me they were closed and would not be taking anymore to go orders. (They close at 9 tonight as listed on Google) When I reiterated the Google hours she suddenly said they were infact open and could do togos. (Why lie in the first place?) She said they would not be able to make the sandwich as it was 5 minutes after they stopped serving that menu. I explained the situation and kindly inquired if they could make an exception as this was essentially my reward for getting through my surgery. She told me no and that it didn’t matter what the situation was. Completely cold and indifferent. I requested a manager because at this point I was in tears out of utter disappointment and frustration with the way the situation was being handled. He told me the same thing, absolutely not. Didn’t matter what the situation was. I was heartbroken. I’ve been in service industry for over 10 years, I’ve dedicated my life to customer service, at all levels. As a manger I couldn’t imagine responding to a guest that way, not even a recommendation of a similar dish to try instead. Just “not my problem”. Over a 5 minute window. I absolutely never leave reviews but Alaina’s needs to do better. It’s a $20 sandwich which is already so expensive that I only get it one or two times a year. The ingredients are present the entire day. I could understand if they were actually closing but they weren’t, again they are open for 6 more hours. I would never allow my staff to blatantly shut down a guest without offering some semblance of a resolution. Again, just a recommendation for another dish. But it was clear the manager was beyond impatient and just didn’t want to deal with the situation. When you are part of a customer service industry, it isn’t too much to ask to provide just that. I hope that the staff is encouraged to handle situations like these with empathy and understanding rather than cold indifference. Management needs to do...

In the past I never approved of takeout food that wasn't pizza or Chinese, and during Covid-19 I have been proven right time and again with this theory, until that is, last Saturday. My family ordered form their new Family Meal take out menus they offer on Friday and Saturday nights. WOW!! I felt like the chef had served the food straight from my own kitchen. Plated and packaged beautifully, from the time I opened the bag , I knew I was in for a good meal. We ordered for four of us, so we got one of everything and shared. Again, a great move. Everything was PERFECT. I cannot believe this food had been cooked and packed for 30 minutes and was still on point. I feel they go into the weekly changing menu design with the concept of high-end takeout going in, understanding the pitfalls that come along with takeout....like over-cooked meats, mushy pasta, etc. Not here. After eating a little of 4 different apps and 4 different entrees, I can honestly say that everything was done perfectly. Everything in the Poke Bowl was fresh, even the avocado was still green, the Pork Belly Sliders were PERFECT, not dry or fatty, the meatballs were so good we had a hard time sharing them....I could go on and on.

Alaina's, you have given us a reason to look forward to the weekend again...see you Saturday!! (And every Saturday for...