821 Cafe — Restaurant in Richmond

I have a lot of words for this place. The only good ones would be trendy and accessible. We went to this place on a recommendation from someone we met from the area. We were driving from NJ to Florida. We planned it out so that we arrived around 9:30 am to have breakfast. I will not be returning. Our server was nice and he was clean. I can't say the same for the other server and host. The host had a notebook for writing down orders (which I never saw him take orders but did see him use the book several times) that he kept shoved into the back of his pants. Not in his pocket but down his waist band in the center of his back. It was pressed up against his skin clearly in the crack of his butt. The other waiter seemed to be high the whole time. He came to our table twice after we ordered asking if we were ready to order. He smelled like he just came from a night of working on a pirate ship. There were a few patrons that fit the same description. The seating is a bit odd. All the tables in the middle of the room are end to end so you sit with a row of people. That would be fine if they recognized they were sitting next to families. There were girls on each end of my family that had such trashy language that I had contemplated leaving before our food came out. Then our food came out and I wished we had left. The food was very bland. No seasoning was used whatsoever. Fortunately they have salt, pepper, and an array of hot sauces on the table to doctor it up. No one in our family enjoyed any of the food. It was like eating a meal just to put calories into your diet. The restrooms are generic non-specific rooms but are loaded with all sorts of graffiti that appears to be encouraged since there are markers in them. This is not a place to bring family or kids. Nothing about the description of the place or the websites would warn you of this. So here's is your warning. If you like to sit with your family and not have to listen to foul-mouthed, smelly people then skip it. If you like your food to taste good, then skip it. If you are just looking to hang with a bunch of trendy people that roll out of bed, get dressed in a Salvation Army drop off bin and smell of body odor and weed, then this...

I remember this place being much better once upon a time, with both their service and their food.

I will on occasion stop by here for takeout, and usually am picking up lunch for one of my coworkers along with my own. In the past they have never had an issue with splitting the check, and allowing me to use my coworker's card for their bill.

Today I was told that they have never allowed this, and will not allow for it if the cardholder is not present. This I can understand -- The liability of having stolen credit cards used there is a real thing. The person who was taking payment and getting my order together was all too eager to run both cards until someone who I assumed was a manager, eating a meal at the bar, so informed me that this was not allowed. There are no signs in the restaurant nor is there any mention of it in the menu, which is also fine as long as their employees know the policy. It appears at least some of them do not.

The fact that the employees don't understand their policy regarding payment is a glaring oversight, and makes me wonder if their employees understand necessary policies regarding cleanliness and hygiene if something this simple yet so important is overlooked. The aforementioned possible manager also informed the employee that there was no butter or jelly in the packaged food, and to add it as one of the dishes was off the breakfast menu.

Lo and behold, as I returned to the office these were not added to the packaging. As it turns out I didn't need them, the toast that came with my omelet looked as if it was thrown in the toaster for maybe 10 seconds and then placed in the packaging -- It was as soft as normal bread and soggy. Now I understand, toast doesn't stay well in packaging with everything around it throwing off steam, but in the past it has been wrapped in foil and came out just fine.

This isn't the first time I've had issues with the food, nor with the service in the restaurant. With the added inconvenience of today, this will likely be my last time giving this place...

They forgot our French toast, but the waitress (blonde) never came back to our table after we got our food, so we never had the chance to ask her about where it was until after we completely finished eating. My boyfriend was left hungry :/ The waitress didnt apologize for the mistake, just said oh we can take that off. That was fine, becuase people make mistakes, although it was disappointing. The other issue I had was the waitress charged me $3.50 for my side of turkey sausage then said I was wrong and seemed annoyed when my boyfriend said I shouldn't have been charged for it. On the breakfast menu on their website, the one the QR code in their restaurant took me to, it clearly says under omelet that I can get two sides and then it lists the sides. I got potatoes and turkey sausage with my veggie omelet, which were both listed underneath "Pick two sides." It says nothing about extra charge for the meats. So I paid $3.50 for two burnt turkey sausage patties...okay. Really, it's fine because again people make mistakes, but the waitress said "Oh we got a new menu 2 days ago. Protein cost extra. If you want, I'll take it off." My boyfriend tried to say the menu does not clearly state that meat costs extra, but he gets cut off and is told "So there's some kinks we're working out, but I'm happy to take it off." He decides it's not worth fighting and says it's fine, but we were all annoyed that she seemed imply through her attitude no, you're wrong, but if you really care that much then I'll take it off. No in the end I don't care about a sausage, but it was frustrating that what we were saying about an error in the menu and her mistake of not coming to check on us so we could get some of our food was never acknowledged. The food itself was great and the hostess was great. Disappointed in...