Bluestone Lane Rittenhouse Café — Restaurant in Philadelphia

I had a very bad experience at Bluestone this morning. My husband and I started our "date day" with breakfast here - he chose this place because I'd not been there and the menu offered vegan options for me. He was right - the menu looked lovely upon arrival. We were seated and my husband asked our server which was better, the zucchini bread or the banana bread. The server replied that the banana bread was "hands down" the best. So, to start my husband ordered a banana bread and I ordered a green juice. The server returned to our table to report - get this - there is no more banana bread and they are out of that green juice. He then recommended an alternative green juice which I was fine with. Guess what? Moments later he tells me there is no alternative green juice either. OK, so I order another juice altogether, my husband gets zucchini bread, no big thing. I order as my breakfast the pea and mint "smash" over toast - it looks delicious when it arrives and I dig in. The yogurt topping on the toast is described on the menu as coconut yogurt since the dish is also marked "Vegan." I realize as I'm eating that this is maybe the first coconut yogurt I've had that has not even a hint of coconut flavor and I ask a nearby server if she knows what brand they use. You can guess what's coming, right? She reports they "just use Chiobani greek yogurt..." Now, I am fuming. I don't expect any restaurant to pander to my vegan diet, but DO NOT pretend to pander to it and then lie to me about what you are serving - that is wrong on so many levels. I flagged down the manager to tell him about all of the service missteps and this blatant lie on their menu. He was pleasant enough and apologized, but went into this whole story about how their vegan options are changing and he cannot get new menus printed quickly enough. I proposed to him that ALL of the things we experienced this morning could have been solved with simple communication with the wait staff prior to their shift. I worked in food service for decades and even at the lowest class places I worked, I was always briefed each day by management about which menu items we were out of, etc. He also told my husband that the server telling us they were out of banana bread was inaccurate - there was plenty of that. So, overall, the staff is poorly managed, and there is no communication. I would have been fine with my server saying, "If you are ordering the pea mint smash because you are vegan, please be aware that we are now using dairy yogurt and it's no longer vegan. If you would like a vegan breakfast, please try these options _." I would have been completely fine with that but now I do not trust them. I told the manager that we had enough of a bad experience that we would not be paying for our meal, and he did not argue about that. I hope he understands that no amount of menu misprints or inventory problems cannot be overcome with simple training and communication with the wait staff. That's just being a professional. Very disappointing. Overall, the food quality looks good as it should because it is not inexpensive to eat here. My husband's food was very good. I have gone to P.S. and Co. across the street from Bluestone many times and it is a totally plant-based restaurant that also serves breakfast. I think I'll just stick with that next time.

UPDATE - It appears this establishment deletes negative reviews on their Facebook page. What a shame that they do not know how to use the online review platform as an opportunity to respond in a positive way to customers who've posted less than 5-star reviews. Many other businesses know how to do this effectively and when I see professional replies offering solutions, I am much more likely to overlook the original...

I attempted to dine here on the morning of Friday, May 17th, and while the menu looked wonderful, the staff was not at all experienced enough to understand the needs of customers beyond small-group business breakfasters and the coffeehouse laptop set. I attempted to procure a table for me, my wife, and our 3-year-old son but was given little to no (or even conflicting) assistance by the servers, eventually feeling as though I had to fend for myself to find seating. To an experienced and less-smug staff, it would've been clear that counter/stool seating may not work for a 3-year-old, but such was not the case here. Finally feeling as though we were a burden to even the on-staff manager, we finally left when we were actually BLAMED for our poor experience by being told "all you had to do was ask" for help in getting seated. I'm sorry, sir, but: first of all, I did ask for help and didn't receive it. And second, I shouldn't have to ask to be treated with the same dignity as all of your other guests. A parting "have a blessed day" offered by this manager was clearly an attempt to: a) dodge any shortcomings he might experience in the eyes of his currently-dining customers and b) place all blame on me as an unreasonable patron, worthy only of shoulder shrugs and eye rolls. Anyway, believe what you want, but I promise you that I WANTED wanted to be a customer here. I WANTED to eat here but was not treated as though I was welcome there with my family. I don't doubt that the food is delicious here, but I'll just never know, and neither will anyone who needs any level of...

Look guys, your restaurant has so much potential yet it falls short in a few key areas that really affected the experience. Price justification per amount of food and service. You could get away with these prices if the portions were larger, and waitresses were around. We sat outside and had no service other than dropping off the food. I think you're trying too hard with the online ordering system. The website had several UI issues making it difficult to navigate, and putting in my CC info on my phone is annoying when a server could just swipe it. Also, there's a reason people like to sit down at a restaurant other than for the food: the service. It's part of the experience of eating in-house. If I wanted takeout, I would have ordered online. But sitting down and ordering online is bizarre, just give me a menu and let me actually interact with the server. Again, if you want to charge 15-18$ for a 5inch egg skillet, service is absolutely essential. If I'm sitting down at a restaurant, don't make me pay, and especially don't make me leave a tip, before I eat. Even Denny's doesn't do this. It goes against every incentive the server has to offer good service for a good tip. I pay beforehand--this incentive is taken away. And it was, we only saw the server 1 time.

I really wanted to like this place, however these key areas really need to be addressed by the management. It's the difference between 4 vs 5...