Gold Lion Community Cafe — Restaurant in Richmond

Ah what a shame! This place should be so wonderful. But the knowledge that the staff has about the menu is non existent. There are unfamiliar names of food on the menu and if the staff doesn’t know what they are, then there should be a little information graphic at the counter so that we can all learn and feel confident to try something new, Right?!

My husband and I ordered 2 omelets, one with chorizo and one without. The person taking our orders, instead of double checking that my husband (who is not a native English speaker) is sure he wants a plain omelet, which isn’t actually an omelet at all, it’s just 2 eggs cooked together. He wanted the omelet with all of the listed ingredients, as did I, but also with Chorizo. I understand that this is our misordering, but it is part of good service, or just being helpful, to double check that people ordering omelets for 13.00 each actually just want 2 plain eggs cooked together in omelet form. They also took 40 minutes to come out to us?! And there wasn’t ANY SEASONING on them. Zilch. No salt, no pepper. Nada. Also the toast didn’t come with any butter and nobody asked us if we wanted some. Bizarre.

The place smelled dirty, the sink in the bathroom I used didn’t drain, and the toilet didn’t flush. And the floor was sticky giving the impression that it hadn’t been cleaned in weeks.

And upon entering the restaurant one is met with unorganized, trashy piles of clothing just haphazardly laying around which is odd. I get having a clothing exchange, great idea, but it has to be organized, right? Like someone should be in charge or there should be instructions as to how to hang or leave clothing that is being left/taken.

Seemed like none of the staff had training or interest in being there/making it the best place it should be. I get working a holiday that people don’t want to be at work, but these seemed to be compounded issues.

A bit of training and motivation would go a long way. The Gold Lion is a beautiful idea and should be treated as such. We want people to want to come there and feel good about being there. It’s up to the owner, by way of the staff, to ensure that...

I went to Gold Lion as part of a Drag Brunch and birthday experience as suggested by a friend, and I have to say it was wonderful. From the start, the staff were helpful and informative and worked well with the event staff. We easily found seats enough for myself and my wife as well as my friends with plenty of room and comfort even for bigger people such as myself.

The menu was clear and easy to read, providing many wonderful vegetarian and vegan options. Personally, I am neither, however, everything the wife and I had was amazing. I had a Hot latte with a caramel flavor and Buddy's Dosa, while my wife had the Chick'n & waffles and the Mango Magic smoothie. Personally, I had not tried dosas before. However, this one was wonderful both from texture and flavoring to the Sambar and Chutney served with it. Every part was wonderful and worked well together. My wife also told me hers was delicious as well as her go-to is usually chicken and waffles, and the meat alternative for the chicken was pretty good in her opinion. Later on I had an iced latte with mocha which was just as good as the first one and my wife got the Pinapple Bliss smoothie and got some chocolate brownie samosas as a dessert as a nice birthday treat. Everything was delicious, and I truly commended the plating and service.

The event itself went off wonderfully, and I hope to see Distant Echos and all the queens there again next year if not before. I will keep an eye out for any more events at the Gold Lion because all together from service to the general vibe of the Cafe it was amazing and I could not have asked for a friendlier more welcoming environment to spend my birthday at. I would recommend it if you like cafe spaces to check out the Gold Lion even if it's a quick stop...

I really wanted to like this place. The atmosphere was welcoming. However, I spent almost an hour waiting for food that never came. My boyfriend received his food relatively quickly and enjoyed it (he ordered the BBQ sandwich). I had ordered the butter chicken entrée (also ordered a smoothie that was nice). We needed to get back on the road, so my boyfriend went up to get a box for his leftovers, but also to ask how much longer my food would be. We were informed the food had been ready for a while, but they forgot to bring it out. They apologized and my boyfriend asked if they could put it in a to-go box. We get to our car and I knew something was wrong when I heard small, hard pieces moving around in the container. I opened it to find that the rice wasn't done. It was crunchy and inedible. I couldn't even eat the chicken because it was coated in crunchy rice. I let my boyfriend try it and he had to spit it out. Around $16 for something I...