Rock City Café — Restaurant in Rockland

Short version: If you are vegan don't even bother going to this place. No vegan options and very rude staff.

Long version: If I could give a minus 5 stars I would. We had THE WORST experience at this cafe on our last visit to Maine. My now husband and I spent 10 days in beautiful Rockland for our wedding and we visited virtually every single bar, cafe and restaurant in the area and nowhere were we treated with such disrespect. We are both VEGAN, so any vegans out there please don't even bother visiting this place (or any lactose intolerant person for that matter). We went there at 9am to have breakfast with our family the day after our wedding (our entire family came from all over the US and Canada to be there for our special day) only to realize they don't have not even ONE vegan option in their breakfast menu. Several members of my family are vegan, so we scanned the menu to see what we could order and there was a "Mexicali" wrap that was pretty much plant-based except for the cheddar cheese in it. So when it was our turn we went to order a few of those Mexicali wraps and we asked them to please remove the cheese from them and the answer we got (besides the annoyed face and tone from the cashier) was "that cannot be done", we politely explained again that we didn't want anything extra or outside the menu, we just wanted to have the cheese removed from the wrap and he (even more annoyed than before) repeated "that cannot be done" (no further explanation nor solution nor apology), we politely asked one last time the reason for that and, with clear exasperation in his voice, he turned to another employee who very rudely replied "that cannot be done" and walked away. We of course didn't order anything and then said "thank you" hoping to get an apology or something but he just ignored us and went to call the next customer in line....

The cafe itself was very funky with a cool vibe and parking was easy to find on a summer Saturday morning. Unfortunately, that’s the only positive thing I can say. The 16oz Iced Latte which includes a double shot of espresso with whole milk wasn’t strong and the espresso flavor was mediocre. The 16oz Oregon Chai Latte with double shot of espresso (which was an add-on) had delicious flavor, but the barista forgot to add the espresso!!! We were already on the road again before the drink had cooled enough to sip. We did not have time to turn around and go back. What a huge disappointment to pay for an upgrade and not receive it. Not to mention it left a mamma who needed caffeine without it. Lastly, we asked the cashier what a particular showcase item was, to which she responded, “it’s a scone.” We asked if she liked the scones and if they were popular, to which she responded, “I’ve never tried it.” Were were surprised by the short answers. As soon as we were directed to the pickup area and had stepped away from the counter, the cashier was scrolling on her phone (again). A better response to the scone question could have been “our baked goods are all made in-house, fresh daily; we have so many fan favorites.” A positive response like that would have led us to try a scone or other baked good. At almost $7 per drink, we were disappointed by our experience and...

I’ve had some time to dwell on my last visit, and I can honestly say that my visit two weeks ago was by far the most baffling and frustrating experience I’ve had of any restaurant in the area.

I was told that they weren’t serving iced coffees, and I saw roughly eight iced coffees leave the counter AFTER I ordered. None of the drinks I ordered were labeled. When I inquired which drink was which, I was met with a shrug from one of the people working the counter and a “I usually label them lol.” So now I have three hot mystery flavors. I take them back home and the coffee tasted so burnt but somehow watery and diluted that adding flavor shots became entirely irrelevant. This is really a shame considered that the coffee they use is such a great product at its core.

I’ve had experiences here in the past with counter people being not necessarily MEAN, but definitely not necessarily FRIENDLY, to the point I’ve been hesitant to even order given who’s working the counter.

Management needs to step in and do something. Rock City has made it very clear that they are having staffing issues, and what staff they have seems less than ideal, less than caring.

I’m giving two stars based only on the hope that they actually read this review instead of being dismissive and blocking reviews/critiques as they have done...