ALESSIA Patisserie and Cafe — Restaurant in Santa Barbara

The food was delicious and the pastries also. The croissants were still good the next day. The wait staff had very good service. I’d give a 5 start but one of the young ladies at the counter that was getting the croissants I wanted seemed like I was bothering her. I asked for 3 croissants and she said she’d put them in a bag. There was a large wall display of pretty pink boxes right behind her so I asked if I could get a box. She told me I’d have to get 2 more items for a box. So, I said ok and picked out two more. Then she grabbed a plain white box and began putting my items in there. So, I said, wait, I wanted a pink box. Then she told me those are only for the cakes. 😳🥴 I’m just assuming, but being that the pink boxes were displayed right behind her and the only ones I could see, I think it’s safe to assume she should have had a very strong idea that I wanted a pink box… 🤔 and she just didn’t want to be very helpful. I think it would have been very helpful if she would have just clarified what i needed to buy to get a pink box. It would have sped things up. Especially, because I was feeling like I was taking too long and again as if I was bothering her. So, I said never mind then I won’t buy the extra croissants if I’m just going to get a plain white box. Which caused her to call out to someone at the register to cancel my order… which was ridiculous because they could have easily figured out how many items I had in the bag… 🙄 i got the feeling she did that to embarrass me, although I wasn’t. Anyway, we ordered, spent $85 for breakfast and few pastries and macaroons. Which is very expensive compared to other patisseries. I had resolved to not go here again after this because of the not so great service and the surprise at the price for a breakfast i had to at a counter. But, then I asked our server what was up with the boxes and then not being used for every customer? He said they are running low on them. So, I totally got it. Had the girl just said that in the beginning or explained what I had to buy to get one I wouldn’t have felt so slighted. I might have just bought a cake also but after the unhelpful attitude she had I just wanted to get on with ordering, eat and leaving. I felt underwhelmed and like i was just wasting money at a place that didn’t value my patronage. But, after talking to our server about it he actually got me a box for my 5 items. So, he saved the day. I think it’s very important to choose your first point of contact staff carefully, they really set the tone for customers’ experiences. And although she was not actually rude she just wasn’t very helpful. I don’t know, maybe she was tired because it was a busy morning. Everyone can...

The staff ruined it. We came for the croissants and left with this incredible lemon tart. Croissants were decent but not as good as reviews made it sound like. But that lemon tart was incredible. I’ll happily give them that. But like I mentioned, staff ruined it.

We stopped in from a road trip because it looked nice and it had good reviews. We had a small bag we were looking to throw away (literally a ziplock bag with two napkins inside) and asked if we could throw it away at the trash can. The manager gave the heaviest eye roll and said “just this one time!” and huffed as she walked by. Whoa.

Then the guy behind the counter was the strongest mix of condescending and rude. Grabbed pastries we mentioned and asked for latte’s. He asked if we wanted them iced or hot, I answered iced, and we waited.

He made them hot and I, knowing I said iced, apologized a few times and said I believe I asked for iced and sorry if I misspoke.

He acted like I slapped him. We remade them after a few snarky remarks, then we said thank you and said bye and thank you. Then my wife said it. Then my daughter said it. He ignored all three. Realizing he was ignoring us for the audacity over iced lattes I said goodbye to the other worker behind the counter instead and she gave a sort of apologetic look and wave as we left. She was nice, at least.

But man…the manager. Take it easy on paying customers. The guy behind the counter, we were kind and pleasant the whole time just out having a nice Father’s Day family road trip. There was zero reason to be so rude and purposefully ignore us. Do better.

Alessia’s was the only bad part of the otherwise really great weekend. Too bad. Maybe we caught everyone on a bad day? At least the pastries were good. Again, the lemon tart was amazing. Wish the...

Big sign saying "please wait for host" (no details on whether it's for seating only or just in general). Host was absent for 20 minutes.

Paid $4.50 to be handed a cup and directed to a big dispenser in the corner.

Menu said "Butter Croissant". Receipt said "Regular Croissant". When asked, staff said "oh, they're the same thing".

Wife was told by the young lady behind the counter that she'd get a hot, fresh croissant right out of the oven. She got a cold one from behind the glass (which is usually what we'd expect, but not when told otherwise).

Disappointed in our experience of this "high class" cafe.

[EDIT 2020-07-09 in response to business's response]

I didn't specify which weekend (or if it's even a weekend) I visited. I don't believe you actually reviewed every minute of footage of multiple days. $3.50, my bad. Doesn't change the fact that I'm paying and asked to tip to serve myself. "Hot croissant": no, we didn't ask for one, but we were offered one. Initially, we thought "oh, how nice", but then we didn't get it. So our hopes were raised and then not met. Your staff member said your butter and reg. croissants "were the same". If it's a POS system issue, then train them to say so instead of making customers think they're not getting what they're paying for. Edited the last line of my initial comment as it was unnecessarily snarky. Clearly, the vast majority enjoys your cafe. You could have chosen to ignore my review and write me off as an outlier. Instead, you chose to reply, but not constructively. You chose to question not only the accuracy, but also the authenticity of my recounting, effectively calling me a liar. Not a good look for...