Aviary by Lavender Falls Cafe — Restaurant in Springfield

Just left 9/24/2020 about 6pm about 4 tables seated and group came in after us behind us, was celibrating my wifes birthday/our 3erd anniversary, got seated fast, got our drink order in, me my wife and our 1 1/2 year old son. Got my drink quickly, my wifes coffee sat on the pass for about 15 minutes until the manager grabbed it and asked another waitress who ordered coffee? That waitress didn't know, then the manager threw it out. Our waitress then grabs two cups of coffee for a table that was seated after us, i stop our waitress and said "excuse me m'am my wife ordered coffee with creamer". Got the drink promply after that. During that 15 minutes got our food order in, my wife ordered the fruit crepe with marcapone, i ask for the steak and eggs crepe, was told thats not served on the evening menu, i say ok then i will have the black and blue crepe, was told that wasnt on the evening menu as well so i order the morning crepe. We wait my crepe was sitting on the pass 5 mins after i ordered it, my wifes crepe was sitting on the pass about 10 mins after ordering it. Once my wife gets her coffee, and i get a sweet tea and we ask for sugar and get it the waitress is catering to the table behind us, then gose and talkes to the manager, then the hostess for about 30 mins. I can see our food on the pass getting cold. After the waitress sees me eyeballing her she then gose to grab our now cold food, and dropps it off at the table and promtly walks away. We eat our meal it wans't bad would have been better hot i belive. After we finish our meal in about 20 mins (i eat fast from being in the army) i sit looking at the waitress talking to the host, she then gose and grabs the check and sets it down on the table, i already have my card out and put it to the clipboad that the check is on. she says "you will be paying me, I'll be back to get that" as i am handing her the clip board.my wife takes our son to the car. Our waitress and the manager then go and grab food for the table behind us she drops the plate and the manager grabs it to take it back to the kitchen and say's i need a refire for a black and blue crepe... i'm sitting there with the check in my hand waiting, after the table behind us gets served our waitress grabs the clipboard from behind me runs my card then comes back with the check and says have a nice night. I should just take it and go but today was not the day for this i go up to the manager who was quite startelded that some one was approching her is how it seems and i ask her "excuse me m'am are y'all serving the black and blue crepe tonight?" She told me that it wasnt on the menu but if you asked for it they would make it, i say " ok thank you" the manager then asks me " was there something wrong?". I said "there was a lot wrong", i talk to the manager outside about the lack of service/menu iteams and what all i have just described i give the manager props for tring to make it right and i hold nothing against her, but our experance with that waitress was very sub par to say the least. My wife said maybe we got such bad service was because of the way we were dressed... i was wearing a polo shirt and dress shorts, my wife was wearing a black and white t-shirt and jeans.... been there several times in the past and never had this...

There is a lot of hype and a very long wait time whenever you visit this place. Regularly have to wait over an hour for a table.

Short Summary: You'll get more food, better food, and better service at a much cheaper price at most diners than at Aviary.

Something positive I suppose is the aesthetics of this place. It's very trendy both in the decor and in the way the food is plated, but that's about as far as it goes. After a long wait we were seated and it quickly became clear that The Aviary is well named, it is so loud in there everyone is shouting to be heard. You have to speak quite loudly to hear the person sitting right next to you. I noticed that even though our party of 3 had to wait an hour to be seated that when we sat, there were tables scattered throughout that were empty. That made no sense. Our waitress arrived and had to ask multiple times for us to repeat our coffee orders because she couldn't hear us. My friend ordered a latte which was delivered and she said it was basically flavored milk, no coffee taste at all. My cappuccino was good, but I asked for chocolate and it was merely at the bottom of my glas.ans required I stir it myself. We ordered food, my wife ordered the poutine at which point the waitress asked how she wanted the eggs cooked, asked her what side she wanted, she wanted the fruit bowl. Then when our food was brought the waitress didn't bring the poutine, just a bowl of fruit and said she didn't hear us order the poutine. She said she would order the poutine right away and ran off. We didn't see her again for 25 minutes. Me and my friend had finished our food which looked like a fine dining experience, but mine was cold when they brought it, the cheese was not melted at all. The plate was ice cold. I ordered the steak and egg crepe. There were only 2 bites of steak in the entire thing and as for flavor, very bland. When the waitress brought our check she said she gave us half of the poutine, but they charged us for the side of fruit so it came out to be only $3 discount on a $50 order that was wrong, partially 30 minutes late, cold, and the poutine was a pile of fries with scrambled eggs and pork sausage. Her cheese wasn't melted either and there was zero gravy. Not really poutine. I would have complained to management, but hadn't seen the waitress for another 15 minutes and couldn't wait all day for her to come back. In the end, not worth the hype, the wait,...

We have eaten at AC before, the funky monkey was always a personal favorite. Today was not a pleasant experience and because of it I will not be going back.

ordered the funky monkey kid size for my toddler and the French toast sticks with a side of strawberries for my other toddler.

We recieved strawberries with the goat cheese and honey dipping platter and both of my toddlers gobbled them up. They eagerly dove into the side of strawberries that came with the French toast but neither would touch the strawberries on the funky monkey. I decided to taste it and was immediately horrified, the strawberries were absolutely SOUR with a fermented after taste and a slimy mouth feel.

We asked the waitress what was put on the strawberries since neither of my kids would touch them. “They don’t put anything on them” they were slimy in comparison to the side of strawberries and had a faint watery milky appearance. So I knew that wasn’t true. I said okay.

The chef came out a little while later, attitude out in full force. She asked what the problem was with an eye roll and I indicated something was wrong with the strawberries on the funky monkey my kids were eating strawberries by the fist ful all brunch but wouldn’t touch those and they were sour/fermented. The chef said “well they are the same strawberries as the side dish but there is a creme anglaise on them, so maybe ask for them without next time”

The attitude was extremely uncalled for. I’ve eaten this EXACT meal before. It wasn’t a creme anglaise on those strawberries. Creme Anglaise from the French meaning English cream; is a custard sauce, sweet, made from egg yolks, milk, and sugar (sometimes vanilla too) it typically appears as a yellow or soft yellow slightly thick creme. Pictures on the aviary cafe page of the funky monkey clearly corroborate that.

What we recieved today as a supposed crème anglaise looked more like a bodily fluid; watery and slightly white. Add in the sour taste, fermented after taste. Something was WRONG with the “creme anglaise” and it ruined the entire dish. Add in the chefs attitude and unwillingness to possibly consider something might be wrong rather than telling me not to order it made the entire experience a sour taste in my mouth. I won’t...