Hayes Barton Cafe & Dessertery — Restaurant in Raleigh

Good pork medallions, great award-winning coconut cake, and fast service. A homey environment with the restaurant’s history all over the walls, it certainly felt like a great spot for a nice, casual bite to eat in Five Points. We had high hopes from the get-go because of the ample amount of good reviews. I live fairly close by, love the neighborhood, and it seemed like a place I would eat at again later, perhaps with my spouse or visiting friends, etc.

I wish I could leave it at that, but only in an attempt to leave an honest review for others, and in hopes the management would try to avoid this next time, I’ll share the unfortunate part of the experience, too.

We felt rushed from the start by our (to be fair - otherwise kind) waiter who came to our table so frequently to check on our next move that it was pretty obvious she didn’t want us to take our time and enjoy the meal. Then, at the end of the meal, soon after we paid, the manager stopped by with a brief greeting, and asked us to “do him a favor”, telling us he needed our table because he had a big party waiting. Indirectly but oh so obviously, he was asking us to leave. Not even an “I’m sorry to have to ask this”, or an “I appreciate you choosing to dine with us”, not even an offer of one measly slice of complimentary pie to ease the fact that he had just asked customers to leave for no good reason except that he wanted to more comfortably fit in some later arriving party. We are all respectful and friendly people, and we had already tipped well after buying big entrees, drinks, and desserts (5 desserts for a table of 4, I’d add), and none of us made even a little bit of fuss. No weird extra requests, no complaints. I can objectively say we were pretty good customers to have. However, we’re also not going to stay where we aren’t wanted, so we just left and spent more money getting more drinks elsewhere.

In my several years working in restaurants, I have never EVER told a customer to leave or even heard another coworker or manager do so. (The exceptions being obvious - i.e. a customer outright harassing someone.) My issues with this are many in number:

Incredibly tacky and rude to ask your customers to leave because you didn’t plan your reservations well. So if you make that call, at least express some self-awareness and apology. One “sorry” and slice of free pie could’ve made a world of difference. It was a special occasion (a birthday) for which we made a reservation in advance. We had been there for an hour and a half, and were already wrapping things up, had paid, etc. I don’t think it’s unreasonable that we would stay there for that amount of time, or even if we had stayed for two hours since we had paid for multiple courses and extra beverages. I might’ve sympathized a little more if we had only had water and some light food, and sat around for an hour after.

With all that being said, I don’t really feel like we should need to justify. I merely included all the fine details so you, the potential customer of this business, could make a more informative decision about where you’d like to pay to eat. And hopefully, you, the manager of this business, better plan your reservations and avoid asking good...

Do you know that exciting feeling when you've lived in a place for a while but discover a new hidden gem? Tonight some friends suggested we check out Hayes Barton for an epic slice of cake. We've been in Raleigh for nearly 2 years - How had we never heard of this place before?! The unassuming Hayes Barton Café & Dessertery is a 1940s-themed diner and cake shop that feels like an institution, yet it's only been serving up food since 1998. Named after the Hayes Barton neighborhood, which includes the nearby Hayes Barton Pharmacy opened since the 1930s, this place has a laundry list of homemade cakes dished out in huge slices in a cozy space that will have you yearning for days gone by. We got a slice of the blueberry lemon cake to share! It was good, not too sweet and the portion was enough for us to have some and take some home. If you live in the Raleigh area or visit, check this place out or take a friend or family visiting from out of town. It's sure to give you all the nostalgic feels.

Additional tid bits you should know:

Parking is street parking which can be a challenge, if you have an appointment to meet here, do give yourself time to find a parking space and walk if needed.

While it was recommended to us to go here for cake, it does appear that there are a number of people dining in for a full meal. We cannot speak to the quality of food outside of the cake in the present review. However, due to the small space and myriad of diners, it was quickly packed at 8:30 on a Saturday night. If you are going to just get cake, you can get it to stay or go. Line up in the queue for the cashier at the cake counter to the left upon entering. The line moved quickly and we got our slice of cake in a to-go container. However, by luck, in no time, a small table freed up and the host was happy to sit us and provide water and proper place settings for our albeit short time devouring our slice of cake. If you come with a larger party and are hoping to be seated, you may face more obstacles in your pursuit.

You know this is a good place because speaking with the people in line, they had all been there before. One man who was buying cake said he lives across the street and has gotten cake many times. He recommended the coconut cake.

The actual list of cakes fills an 8.5 × 10 piece of paper, however, when we were there many options were blacked out. We still had easily between 7-10 options, so we aren't sure if we were missing any of the more spectacular cakes. All this to say, do be prepared that they may run out of something!

It's not THE MOST AMAZING CAKE you've ever had, but it's pretty darn good and, moreover, the whole thing is an...

We had high hopes for this place given the reputation, but were sorely disappointed. At $80/person for appetizer, entrees, and dessert, I expected it to be at least decent.

While the appetizer we had, crab dip with toasted pita chips, was good, we have had several recently that were better. Unfortunately it went down from there. The filet was dry and tasteless. You can get a better and less expensive filet just about anywhere around town. The scallops were bitter and paired wrong with the rest of the dish flavorings. Again, much better and less expensive scallops just about anywhere else. The "famous" meatloaf was just plain weird tasting. We all ate a bite or two out of curiousity and were done. Basic brown gravy and potatoes accompanied it. We thought it was very strange that the waitress raved about the mashed potatoes when they were so basic. Best thing on the plate was the green beans, but again a basic sauteed green beans, not quite as good as we do at home. To s of good restaurants around town with better food at half the price.

Finally, we thought maybe dessert would redeem the very expensive meal, and were disappointed again with very packy basic cakes. Good chocolate, but we can get better cakes at the local grocery store.

Oh, and the atmosphere left a lot to be desired as well. Uncomfortable, cramped seating, warm and moist A/C, and slow, inattentive service with lengthy delays for orders, drink refills, and the check. Crazy for such a small place with so few customers.

I realize this review is harsh, but don't want others to make the mistake of paying a hefty price to celebrate a special day, and being severely...