Aroma Cafe — Restaurant in Springfield

On JANUARY 25, 2020, I visited this place. A friend of mine catered from it and the food was very good !!! So, while being around St James for a tournament my family and I decided to go there.

I ordered a "Café con Leche" as soon as I arrive. We also ordered a Small Cappuccino, a Tinto Grande, a Pupusa de Loroco con Queso, an Arepa Perico Queso, a Tequeño, an Empanada de Carne, an Empanada Queso Plátano, Panes de Bono, Dos Cocosettes and a Jugo de Naranja. All was very good, my kids loved it and the price was just $32.05 tax in.

So why I do not recommend this place?

Bad customer service.

When we arrived we were first to the counter so as I said before, I ordered my Café con Leche first hand. When I tasted it, it was weak coffee and very sour. Maybe the milk was 2% also. It did not even tasted as Colombian coffee. It tasted awful compared to other places,-like Juan Valdez-, so I decided to tell them that the coffee was subpar and tasted like water. It was not a guayoyo, which is a watery coffee. It was a café con leche and it was bad.

So, the person waiting on me offered me another one but I did not accept. I ordered a cappuccino instead but he told me that I have to pay for it. I told him that it was not a problem. After, he made some mistakes in our order he was able to set it right, he told me that I had to pay for the "café con leche". I was baffled by his bad marketing decision because that means he does not stand by his brand. This is the mentality we find in my country of origin, in general. "You sipped the coffee you have to pay for it ! you opened the magazine you have to buy it !". Third-World country mentality. Since I was with my family and they were hungry and we have some goods in our hands we ate there but I told him that that was his business and he would do with it what he wanted but I was going to give him a bad review. He did not care. That day he got his $1.65 for his "café con leche". Good job. He did not lose it. When I signed the credit card slip he gave me the "café con leche" and told me to take it, I pushed it towards him and told him "keep the coffee it is yours". He could have lost 0.17 cents (the cost of it to put a make-up amount). The cappuccino I paid for, -which I kept-, was good but not excellent. I lost $1.65 but I won the feeling of having done well scratching this business from my list of places where to spend our family well-earned money.

I will never set foot in this place, I will never recommend it because if a friend of mine have to deal with what I dealt I am pretty sure their experience will be as bad as mine. My wife and children will never eat or spend money in this place when they are with me. Having worked in a melting pot such as an international organization in DC and being part of the "latino" community in the area, I am very happy not recommending this place to anyone.

There may not be another place like this one, but I definitely will try another place to eat.

I forgot, most of the tables were dirty and it looked understaffed. But if that had been the issue I would have given them 4 stars.

1 star only because I cannot grade it...

I’ve been going here since this place opened years ago but about 3 years ago I stopped coming here due to not the best customer service experience (again years ago). I even sang here with a friend’s band a few times.

About 6+ months ago I started coming here again and have loved it since. I’m here so often I now budget to come here 2-4 times a week, this is not an exaggeration. I come for breakfast and dinner sometimes in one day.

The employees are very patient as I usually can’t make up my mind because the entire menu is literally delicious. I’ve ordered the Bandeja Paisa (a lot of food, honestly can feed 3 people) I order everything from the bakery area (pandebonos are my fav), I’ve ordered their seafood tilapia and shrimp (delicious), I LOVE THEIR SOUPS OMG, I’ve had the carne asada, meat, dessert, snacks, and everything on their menu for breakfast.

I’ve ordered large orders for my family for Holidays and some random Fridays from 20+ empanadas to desserts and birthday cakes.

All employees are SUPER nice, they even know my name, that’s how often I go 😭. But they treat everyone like family. I love all the cashiers and runners, they’re incredibly sweet and kind. I get a taste of my food, my people, and culture. I get a little bit of home every time I visit this restaurant.

Their reward system is also pretty generous in my Opinion. I get a few $ off every time I purchase something based on the points website.

Only thing I found a bit annoying was they don’t usually answer their phone but if you come here often you’d understand how slammed they are literally 24/7. I figured out how to order on the website, click “order” tab and it solved my need to call anyway so it’s fine. It’s not really a big deal.

Overall I figured I give them an awesome review. Especially after seeing some nasty reviews. They’re understaffed and slammed 24/7, at anytime of the day: morning, afternoon, or evening so cut them some slack. Mistakes are bound to happen but they make it right EVERY TIME and put a lot of love into serving the community with their work. Like I said I come here OFTEN and my experience is amazing EVERY TIME. I bring my partner often (doesn’t speak Spanish) and they’re always respectful and hospitable towards him as well. I’ve been able to introduce him to a little bit of my culture and food by visiting Aroma Cafe. Thank you!!! We...

Our family went there on Sunday May the 22nd for a brunch. We ordered two fried eggs, 2 huevos pericia wit arepa con queso, one bistec a caballón for dine one and an arepa con carne to go. We waited over 40 min for the food. When the food came out they brought the to go food before the dine in food 🧐( as a previos restaurant owner I would of never done that) when we checked the to go food we realized that the order was wrong. They had instead cooked an arepa de huevo con carne. So we told the waiter, the poor guy had no idea what to do. So I requested for the manager. He took over 20 min in coming to our table. Once he came and explained it that they did not have the ingredients for our original order and that the Cashier had said that we ordered that arepa de huevo con carne which was a lie since we literally pointed at the picture in the menu to the cashier to make sure she understood our order.the Manager then had the nerve to tell us that his cashier would never offer us something the kitchen does not have. I really felt like this guy was very conflicting with his patrons. To accuse your customer of lying instead of actually trying to deal with the problem in the best way possible. We ended up ordering something else to go but had to pay the difference since the manager requested for that to be done. Food is average. Nothing especial. Line is long and it takes for ever to orders food takes over 30 minutes to come out to your table. So if you are hungry don’t bother going to Aroma. You will be hungry and grumpy. Cashiers DO NOT a know the menu nor the ingredients in the menu. Management sucks plain and simple. Manager is rude and has zero customer service orientation. All management cares about is that bottom line and not the customers experience. After that experience I will never go to that place again and I will make sure all my friends know about it. Very disappointing to see this place go downhill only due to greed.

If si could give...