Bliss Bee — Restaurant in South Burlington

I'm writing this while sitting outside the establishment, and just finished my meal.

I got the house crispy chicken sandwich with a side of coleslaw, fries, and an in-house brand organic soda. The presentation of the chicken sandwich was on par with what I would expect at this price range. Was served on an admittedly flat but nicely egg-washed brioche bun topped with sesame seeds which did not lack moisture. The vegetables on the sandwich seems to be fresh and we're still mostly crispy. One thing I immediately noticed about the sandwich is that it actually had an astounding lack of flavor. This did not necessarily mean a lack of quality as it seems the quality of all of the ingredients, once again were on par with the price. One would expect that when you put six ingredients onto a sandwich at least taste like something. In this case it tasted like something... but nothing else. I almost mistook The house ranch dressing on the sandwich for a tzatziki sauce or other (unflavorful) thin, yogurt based sauce, as it was lacking any bite texture or rich dairy taste one might expect.

Unfortunately the same can be said about the coleslaw. The ingredients seem to be fresh and we're still mostly crispy, but there was an astounding lack of flavor especially when I would expect a white vinegar or something of the sort to provide tang or zest. It appeared to be a watered down mayonnaise sauce with white cabbage, red cabbage, carrots lettuce, and absolutely nothing else. The fries were incredibly greasy and seemed to mimic McDonald's thin and slim form. They were lightly salted and could be described as mediocre.

Another member of the party I was with had the in-house turkey burger and said it was "good, not great. I would have it again in a pinch".

The tulsi rose in-house brand soda I got was rather good had a nice bite to it and was not overly sweet coming in at I believe 27 g of sugar and 11.9 oz container (90 calories).

The interior decor and design was actually very nice given what I expected after assessing their website, menu, and branding. It was modern but comfy, did not seem to be extremely expensive but did not emanate a cheap aesthetic either. Granted, the geometric design of some decor items and Edison-style slightly dim lighting is an aesthetic that I see a bit overused in this category of mid-range comfort orientated restaurants. The bathrooms were to my surprise, both labeled "gender neutral bathroom" and were very clean. This is something I do not see a lot, and as someone who advocates for gender equality and rights to be who you feel like, was pleasantly surprising.

The staff member who attended to our order seemed to be either new to the establishment (and was not handling it well), or was shockingly unaware of the things one would expect they should know as an employee at a restaurant. They also had an extremely uncomfortable approach to answering direct questions such as "How thick is the pattie on the burger?" and, "Is this item gluten-free?". They asked for their colleague when they did not know, but do not phrase the question exactly how we had, and ended up asking about the size of the burger rather than the thickness of the burger. The kitchen employee responded immediately and seemed to know her business a bit better. It ended up taking us asking three times in different ways to just to figure out how thick the pattie was. This entire situation could be due, as previously mentioned, to the fact that they might be a new employee, but even if this was the case they're training seems to be sub-adequate given the employees overall approach to handling the situation.

Overall I would rate Bliss Bee (Shelburne road location), a 35/100. Horribly unflavorful food accompanied by well done mid-budget decor.

I hope someone finds this review helpful! I am very committed to writing good reviews! If there is anything I missed, or you would like to add a comment, please reply and let me know!...

The food is great but I can't get over the customer service aspect of this place! The "order yourself" touch screens take up the entire ordering counter. They've taken the place of an actual employee who WOULD BE taking your order! My family put our large order in on the screen because there wasn't an employee in sight the first 10mins we were in the place (yes, it took us this long to find and finalize everything for our order). After realizing you can't pay cash on the screen, we flagged down the first random employee we saw to re-add the entire order on her screen. While this isn't the biggest deal, I would LOVE if those order screens were out of the way somewhere else where people in a rush could order fast. Then for those who need a little extra help with large orders and multiple food mods (which is not easy to navigate on the screen on your own), they'd have the option to receive that help... at the order counter... where there's currently tip jars but no humans... Again, the food doesn't often disappoint, but the service and vibe given by the employees almost always does. It makes me not want to come back for a while. I really wish that wasn't the case here! They aren't terrible employees, you can just tell they don't...

Wanted to support local business, but this is the second poor burger experience. -The 'America burger was so bad you could not even taste the overcooked patty. Was it beef? No way to tell. It was drenched in a ton of goopy sauce and stone cold. Overcooked to the point being hard and chewy. McDonalds next door actually makes a better burger- which is very, very sad. The Burger was thrown together and tossed in the container with all contents and sauce spilling out. Looked like a mess. -The sweet potato fries were also cold, damp, soggy and tasteless. Why would anyone serve something like this? The staff, largely young people, have no absolutely no interest in being polite, friendly or customer service oriented. They act as if it is your distinct benefit to patronize this eatery. No customer service skills at all- literally said 'here' when I went to pick up my order. Who does that?

Safely say I will not be going back. Plenty of other places to get a real local burger that is made with far more care. Hopefully the owners will read this and realize there is a really big issue on Shelburne Road that...