Tatte Bakery & Cafe | Westbard — Restaurant in Somerset

The new Tatte that opened up in Bethesda is something the area desperately needed. The rundown, old and quiet neighborhood has been getting some massive upgrades along with a new Giant earlier this year and now a great bakery and cafe in Tatte that is sure to succeed.

I visited during their test run earlier this week. Staff were friendly for the most part although some were misinformed which led to customers being confused. This included myself. At the register I ordered an Iced Americano and a Pistachio Croissant. The staff member at the register told me my name would me called and pointed to a general direction behind them. That was the first point of confusion. The second point of confusion is that I was given no indication of where to wait, no receipt and wasn't told how my name would be called. Just that it would be called.

Confusion on where to pick up orders seemed to be a universal thing impacting all customers as well. Some were standing next to the register where they ordered, others were standing near the Online Order Pick-Up area and a few were standing in front of the open kitchen area where many staff members were busily moving around. Chaos.

Eventually after walking around the entire middle square where they take your orders and prep coffee, I made my way back to the register to inquire to the person who took my order on where I should wait. They once again just said "your name will be called" and walked away.

Just a piece of constructive criticism: Have a designated place to wait for in-store orders. Better yet, have a speaker system for names or a screen to see when an order is being prepared and ultimately ready. The cafe is going to be popular, no doubt and I'm sure service will improve as time goes on. But with the busy open kitchen area, customers all around enjoying themselves, and people chatting with one another, it's pretty hard to hear names called whether it's for in store or online orders. If you have an online order pick up area, have a sign for an in-store pick up area too. Or adjust the sign. Simple.

The second issue I had was with the coffee. I'm not sure how they've trained their baristas, or if it's correct to call the staff who prepare coffee baristas. But the Iced Americano I received tasted extremely over extracted, watery and chalky. That strange chalky mouthfeel is usually an indication that the the espresso machine itself needs to be deep cleaned as there's a lot of build up affecting the brewing process. It's just unpleasant. I took a peek at how they were brewing the espresso and it looks like there's little to not controls put in place. I saw the "barista" weigh the grounds but they proceeded to tamp the grounds with zero leveling. The tamp was incredibly poorly done too.

Last piece of constructive criticism: If you're going to operate as a cafe and have coffee beverages be one of your leading pulls - train your baristas better. Most people who order milk drinks or mixed coffee beverages probably won't be able to tell. But for those who want to enjoy espresso or americanos, they should be able to do so without having a weird chalky aftertaste in their mouth.

Otherwise, this Tatte seems great. The interior was fairly well done although the space usage leaves a bit to be desired and again, other than that one confused individual, the staff was generally helpful and kind. The Pistachio Croissant was really tasty and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves inside.

TLDR: 1) Have a better, more specific and clearer system for in-store pick up orders. Make sure your staff are trained in sync to know where to direct customers for in-store orders. 2) Train your baristas better. Dial in the coffee. Make sure the machine is clean. And taste the coffee before opening. I want to frequent this Tatte more often and support it and adjust my rating to a 5. But if everytime I go and order an americano or espresso, I'm going to receive a chalky overextracted coffee, I'd rather just go to the Starbuck next door.

Good luck to Tatte and the team. Hope to see...

As for many Tattes, service is generally slower than in other leading coffee shops. However, this one beats them all for its incapacity to understand the difference between a coffee to go and a coffee to enjoy on site. At Westbard, it took them 30 minutes to serve my husband's coffee at our table, but only 1 minute to serve my daughter’s coffee to go, which I specifically asked to have ready only when we would be done with ours. As a result, my husband didn’t get his coffee by the time I finished mine. No more date moment. Just a series of hopeless, disagreeable talks with x number of managers who were all as appalling as one can be. Not to mention that my daughter’s coffee was all cold by the time she got it.

We tried to be understood, but the branch manager refused to speak with us. She is the former manager of the Tatte on Wisconsin Avenue downtown and I have always seen her very bossy, overconfident and bitter to both her staff and clients. By opposition, the manager under her wants to play it cool and tries to round things up with, sadly, poor efficacy and words not kept. The manager of the bakery is equally behind, having shown dryness in speech and no sense of client communication whatsoever. If you want to experience waist of time and energy as you treat yourself, go there.

One more point, which is by far, the most questionable, and the reason why I will not come back to Tatte at Westbard — although I have been a Tatte points collector for several years now. The ceiling. This is no joke, the ceiling indeed. A serious quantity of white foam has been applied to the roof beams in such a way that Tatte’s architects have advised to insert a large, hanging sub-roof to protect food and drinks from forthcoming filthy particles that will inevitably fall off in a matter of months. This is a miserable concealer, shortcut version of a poor brainstorm of designers and engineers all combined. How on earth can anyone working in the food industry in 2024 open a place which is « new » and already damaging client health?

This place needs a complete refurbishment for health concerns and a deep re-management of its teams. Not to Tatte standards. At all.

In the meantime, go to...

I love the fact they opened a Tattes next to me! However this one lacks in service compared to the one off Wisconsin Ave. In my 5 times being to this location here is a brief summary of how it went

Visit on Opening day : It took over 20 minutes to receive my to go order , keep in mind I came around 6-7pm , when it was not busy at all. I ordered a pastry and a wrap , whenever I tried to check up on the order , the person in the so called pickup who was not too busy from the looks of it kept saying it will be out shortly , without taking my name or order number. So I waited and waited , until I had to grab the manager , who was apologetic about the unnecessary delay. Got my food and it was warm inching to cold , a little upsetting considering we pay a premium for better quality ingredients and service .

Visit 4: This one was memorable, mostly because of the rude tone I got from two separate staff members on the same day. I dont understand what it is but in a hospitality setting I feel any rude tone is completely unwarranted, especially if its a genuine question. I had asked the cashier about the order number , I had received no receipt , and payed with cash. She responded they will call your name , pointing and in a condescending tone. I decide to not confront the rude tone because I know this is a newer establishment and this will reflect on their reviews. The gentleman next to her behind the cashier definitely acknowledged she had a rude tone and responded politely by printing me a receipt, and letting me know when I should expect to he called.

After that , the second encounter was with the pickup person (again … ). He didnt like I had walked past the area behind him ( there is no signs or stantions blocking this walk way ) where the staff prepare orders. At this point I just want my coffee and wondered if I should've just went...