Volunteer Park Cafe & Pantry — Restaurant in Seattle

Cute place. Friendly service. Amazing breakfast sandwiches. Usually.

Sometimes the buns are excessively fluffy and you get a huge carbs-to-yummy bacon, egg, and cheese ratio, but they don’t even make the buns so can’t hold it against them too much. Generally, the buns are perfectly made, and the American cheese is perfectly melted into a decadent layering with crispy bacon and a fried egg, and it’s absolutely heaven in your hand.

Sometimes, we’ve gotten undercooked eggs (like the whites were runny), but it’s not super common. Maybe ~ 4 times out of 25? If you leave the sandwich in the foil wrapper a few minutes, I guess it would keep cooking a bit, but if you unwrap and eat as soon as you pick it up, sometimes the whites are still runny.

Mind you, this is an $18 sandwich (with bacon), so it’s worth being critical of the full experience. I don’t think runny egg white is ever acceptable (or ever desired), but I can only speak for us. This wasn’t one time. We got runny egg whites several times - months apart, though again, it’s not a frequent occurrence.

But you can only get these amazing sandwiches if you are there by 10 am. Maybe 10:15. They never, ever, EVER make enough (except maybe mid-week?). I don’t know if they don’t buy enough buns or what the deal is, but we live on the Eastside and sometimes don’t make it over there till 10 or 10:30 (workouts, dog walks, life) on a weekend day, and while we don’t mind the 25 min drive (each way) to each indulge in an $18 breakfast sandwich, it’s super disappointing that we have to rush to get there or run the risk of having to pivot. Not 1 pm (still a “brunch” hour!), not noon, not 11 am, but 10:30, 10:15, or even 9:59 am. WTH? Of the last FOUR times we’ve arrived at the building on a weekend day (10:11 am - 10:37 am), we’ve missed out on the breakfast sandwiches. So yeah, it’s getting a bit old.

They just can never make enough to stay selling breakfast sandwiches through any kind of “reasonable” hour. Wish they would figure out a way to make the customer happy by preparing properly so they can sell their most famous and popular item through 11 or 11:30 on weekends (at least!!!). Leaving profits on the table and repeatedly pissing off loyal customers who aren’t there by 10 am is, well, their choice, I suppose. Seems so obvious to me they have room for improvement in serving the people who have made them successful.

Coffee / espresso items are ok. Not out of this world, but it’s hit or miss. Depends on who’s operating the machine.

Carrot cake is amazing. Don’t leave without trying a slice.

They used to have a cute courtyard you could sit in out back, but I think the City closed them down because it doesn’t meet building codes / ADA requests or something stupid. Too bad because it was really cute to hang out back there.

Check it out, show up early, and good luck.

Oh, parking is very limited, so walk or ride your scooter / motorcycle /...

As a Seattle native, I have really wanted to like this place, quaint little cafe tucked on a residential street just down from Volunteer Park. I used to frequent this place multiple times per week because it was near my son's school and I loved the Tomato Bisque so much. However, I had to stop because it was such an unpleasant experience. I am not usually one who even cares all that much about customer service but this place is very frustrating. They have almost NEVER had my order correct. I just went back today for the first time in about a year and they charged me for a cookie, but did I receive one? Nope. I had to call and tell them and get a refund over the phone. What?! I usually order soup with the side of bread that it comes with AND a baguette, but they almost NEVER got that right. I'd end up with just the baguette or just the side of bread, sometimes the wrong size soup. How can you not get that right, every time? "I would like a cup of Tomato Bisque, the side of bread that it comes with, and a baguette." Is that a foreign language or something? I even started making a joke out of it, smiling politely and saying my order really slowly with pauses in between each item, but it made no difference. This does not happen to me any other place. If this happened just once or twice, who cares, but it's pathological! I just can't believe that I went back today for the first time in such a long time and they STILL messed up my order. The ambiance of this place is also terrible. It's extremely loud--music, chatter, bussers carrying/clanging tubs of dishes and the dishwasher clanging the dishes/silverware in the back is LOUD. The ordering process is also ridiculous--the line is often so long and you have to wait just to get your order in. Even if the line isn't long, I have definitely had to just stand by the register while I wait for someone to take my order, despite there being multiple folks behind the counter. Today I stood and waited while the cashier chatted with the barista until I finally said something. Anyone who has worked in food service knows that you get the customer's order and money as quickly as you can, except for these people. I am at a loss as to how anyone can stand to go there. The area to line up is also awkward, as the walk-through for the staff to enter/exit from behind the counter cuts right through the line. There's no place to wait for your to-go order, if you wait by the counter that's right where the line is. The only reason it gets any stars is because the cookies, salads, and soup are really good. But customer service/getting what you actually order is terrible and the ambiance is terrible. So....

The secret recipe that the ponytail guy uses to make the sandwiches is attitude and subtle racism; I have never been so badly disrespected by a worker at a cafe and won’t change my one-star review as long as he works there.

I went up to the counter to ask about my sandwich because it had been 30 minutes and my boyfriend had already gotten his grilled cheese and eaten most of it. The ponytail guy immediately whipped out his most vile tone and the interaction went like this:

Me: “hi, is my French dip sandwich being made?” Him: “everything that’s been ordered is being made. If you ordered it, it’s being made. ” Me: “ok, I was just checking because it’s been 30 minutes” Him: “some people wait 30 minutes, others wait MUCH more than that. You have to wait for things, did you know that??? we are busy. That’s how it is.” Me: “so you’re sure...” Him: “yes im sure. I’m a professional.”

After his one-liner he spun around and kept making sandwiches, but he thought it’d be super witty and e d g y to make disparaging comments about me to his coworkers while I’m standing in line a few feet away.

He kept looking over at me and saying “ugh, hurry and get the French dip done, we have an impatient customer who can’t wait more than 5 minutes”

Excuse me? I said I waited for 30 minutes. Not to mention the fact that I’m from VENEZUELA, where people have to wait HOURS to get food and water due to the humanitarian crisis. You think I care about 5 minutes?

Ironically, I finally got my sandwich 5 minutes after asking him about it, so you know that he forgot to make it but got mad at me for his incompetence.

The subtle racism by this guy made the experience even more upsetting, as I am a queer person of color. Imagine my surprise when I saw a white girl approach him in the same way as me to ask about her order, and he suddenly becomes friendly and responds with a smile, saying “sorry, we we are a little backed up :) we will get it to you as soon possible :)”.

What?? This guy clearly needs to get a new job, the service industry is not suited for rude, racist people like him.

I was so upset at this point I brought it up to the cashier and she was super nice and understanding about it, I really loved her receptiveness and she even gave me a free cookie! I hope she has a chat...