Cia Cafe — Restaurant in South Portland

This is one of those dumbfounding instances where I just wish the business was better. Their coffee is fine, their storefront is clean, but that's just not enough for 5 stars.

My experience:

I went to the Knightville Cia Cafe near my place for a month straight. At least 5 days a week, same time every time, same people behind the counter every time. I ordered a medium black coffee, no room, and even brought my own mug, the same mug, every time.

The point is.. at the end of the month they were still greeting and asking me what I wanted like they'd never seen me before. Never once did they act as if they remembered me, or remembered my drink order. So.. what's that about?

In this day and age, when you go to a local coffee shop at 7am in the morning, every morning, and greet the staff with a smile, and pay $2.20 a cup, in a mug you brought from home to save them money on paper, etc., when you could have saved the money and made coffee at home, yada, yada.. the LEAST they could do is start to remember your face. As hard as I've tried I refuse to believe that I am the problem here. But it's not really about me and my experience with Cia Cafe, it's about yours.

I won't be going back. At some point you have to make a value judgement, and I am just here to tell you I've made mine.

And since I consulted a few other locals..

..Lily responded with, "honestly it's way more memorable that they don’t remember you, as opposed to if they couldn't remember your order."

So, to Cia maybe I was just a number. If that is so, I am a number they can subtract.

All the best, go to BARD or spend a few extra minutes at home and make your...

I work in the neighborhood and order from here weekly. I'd say 50/50 my sandwich comes as ordered, and mostly they routinely forget that I've ordered it on a wrap. Also, whenever I add extra cheese or another extra, it is always missed, even though they have charged me for it.....not worth getting money back, but it does add up and is annoying.

But today, I placed my typical order and went to go pick up. The counter girl said she couldn't accept cash as payment - I usually pay with a card, but I left my card at home today, and only had cash. I checked the website and no where does it say "No Cash". I was frustrated because this was not posted anywhere until right at the cash register, right next to a huge jar of CASH tips...had this been posted on their website, I wouldn't have ordered, knowing I didn't have a debit card on me. So I had to leave without picking up lunch, wasted my entire lunch break and had to leave a wasted sandwich behind that probably got thrown out. I've heard of other businesses not accepting cash, but it is posted clearly on their websites, and also that is standard for curb-side only businesses - Cia you can walk right in and order, and have been able to this entire time. I'm sure this has inconvenienced other people when they go to pay and without any notice are told they can't use cash. The young cashier was also not very friendly and didn't seem to understand the inconvenience of not advertising this on their website, a website that caters to to-go orders! Between that & the fact that my sandwich orders are wrong 50% of the time, I won't...

I have been coming here for a few years now and everything is great except for the service. The owner is incredibly rude and condescending towards both staff and customers. I asked for a specific size lid for my drink as there were none on the sidebar and was told, "They're definitely over there unless someone stocked them completely incorrectly." Another customer grabbed the wrong sandwich by mistake, and in an attempt to correct the problem, this owner walked over to someone waiting for their sandwich and very loudly blamed another customer nearby for taking their food. After this incident, he said to everyone at the counter to make sure they were taking the right order. It is abundantly clear that he makes everyone uncomfortable. I sat outside and could still hear his remarks from out there. Everyone else who works here is very nice and accommodating, food is great as well. You are better off going to an establishment that creates a welcoming environment and values their staff...