The European — Restaurant in Springfield

Bad atmosphere and mean staff! I don’t recommend this place. I am extremely disappointed with European Cafe since my family and I were asked to leave the store simply because my 3-year-old son had a McDonald's happy meal box full of toys on the table. We entered the store with my 3-year-old son’s happy meal box and all the employees saw it, including the store manager, who we didn’t know, and was sitting by the entrance drinking her coffee and talking to a few people at one of the restaurant’s front tables. NONE of their staff said anything about it. If they mentioned it at the beginning, we would gladly return to our car and get another carrier for his toys. My mom placed the happy meal box full of toys on the table, in front of them, asked one of the employees where the restroom was and at NO POINT, again, we were informed that my 3-year-old son's McDonald's happy meal box full of toys could not be inside the restaurant! Toys not Food. They let me place our food order. They let me pay and TIP them. While my mom was sitting at the table with my son who was playing with his toys, I was selecting and bringing them our food. They also dropped my mom’s croissant and told us it was the last one available. We were so flexible about it and told them it was ok because accidents happen. Then my mom decided to have the Lemon tart instead. I then placed our food on the table for us to eat. So far, so good. When we were almost done with our meals, one of their employees approached us and we thought she was going to ask how everything was. For our surprise she started saying that we would have to leave the restaurant because of my 3-year-old McDonald's happy meal box full of toys. We were SO shocked to hear that. After we were pretty much done eating! Seriously? We were given two options: pack up and leave or remain in the restaurant and their employee would THROW MY 3-YEAR-OLD SON'S TOYS IN THE TRASH!!! I, politely, said that we were no longer staying and we were going to leave that place immediately. We asked them for to-go-boxes to put our food in which we were still eating. FYI, My son WAS NOT eating outside food inside European Cafe. He ate it in the car prior us arriving to European Cafe. He only had the McDonald’s happy meal box because of his toys and he was playing with them on the table. In fact the only food my 3-year-old son ate inside their restaurant was European Cafe’s strawberry macaroon and we still got kicked out of that place rudely. Honestly, I'm still in shock since I have never been treated this way my entire life. I thought that attitude was EXTREMELY UNNECESSARY!!! I WILL NEVER GO BACK TO THIS PLACE AGAIN!!! My mom is a tourist here and was left with a bad taste in her mouth. My mom was excited about this restaurant and she was already recommending it to a few of her friends who live in Springfield and surrounding areas. She was bringing business to this store. A few days ago, she took my wife in for a quick meal. Today, she decided to take me and my son in for our first time at European Cafe, and we experienced this HUMILIATION!!! We stayed at European Cafe for about 15 minutes only. My biggest disappointment was that the employees saw the McDonald’s happy meal box with my son’s toys when we entered the place, let us place our food order, TIP them, then cowardly approached us while we were eating to tell us to either leave the store or throw my 3-year-old son toys on the trash. Stay away, guys! There are nice restaurants around Springfield with real friendly staff. European cafe IS NOT one of them. There are other bad reviews here on Google and I just read them. Sad to see a promising restaurant being ruled by rudeness and lack of manners. I have video of the whole incident.

Edit for replying:I was asked to leave by your employee at least 3 times. No, it is my right to film as it is a source of protection and prove for what you have done to my family and I. I can post the video and tag your social medias so you can see what really happened. This should be an opportunity for you to improve...

Their desserts are good and they have ok food. But don't come here if you're on a budget and if you're looking to try something new and broaden your horizon because when you buy it. You're stuck with it. I took 1 bite of their breakfast bowl here and not my thing. And primarly because it was too greasy like someone soaked the whole dish in oil. And every establishment/restaurant I've ever been to if you didn't like something and especially if you only took 1 bite of it or very little of it because you tried to like it. Most places offer something different or money back. So that way either A you aren't stuck with something you don't like and you can have something maybe you do? Or B take your money somewhere else. It kinda feels like stealing when someone brings their money to your establishment and you force them to keep something they don't like without any offer to make things better. All I was told was by a server who said they talked to a manager is that they're sorry we can't do anything. Are y'all that desperate to keep people's money? I've work in the restaurant industry before. And I have never ever been told that we couldn't make something different for a customer or offer a refund. Because we wanted to make the customer happy so that they'll leave a good review. Unlike me. Because I didn't have a good experience. I feel like my money was taken and I'm not happy. If I'm spending money at a place I have some expectations especially since the place always looks busy for the food to be good. And for me and my palate. I didn't like the breakfast bowl. But now I'm stuck with it. No offer to make something different or a refund. What a waste of $14. I could've used that to buy some groceries at the store and make something myself to eat. Experiences like this are the reason why I don't want to go out anymore to any establishment. It seems like nowadays good customer services is disappearing. And good customer service doesn't just mean putting on a smile and being polite. Good customer service is being both polite and coming up with a solution to make the customer happy. Because like I said. As a customer who has worked in the restaurant industry. I know how real customer service is supposed to work. And this felt like such a joke. You didn't even make an offer to ask... " What can we do to make this better? " That's the basis on how any negative customer experience should be handled. Not... " Sorry. There's nothing...

Response to owner's comment at bottom.

My mother ordered two things for my birthday, one of them was supposed to be a Chocolate/Caramel "6 Tart. We got a Lemon tart. My mother told them it was wrong but they insisted we ordered Lemon. We know we didn't because I am allergic to lemon and I was sitting beside my mother when she ordered them last week. This was our first experience with them and will most likely be our last. They didn't offer to make it right or anything, they just claimed we ordered Lemon. We didn't want anything free, just the correct tart. In the end my mother just payed for the lemon and left because she didnt want to cause a scene, but she called them back when she got home to let them know in more detail that it was wrong, the person she talked to was insistint that we ordered lemon. Thanks for ruining my birthday. If you want to order something, go in person. Because then you can watch them write it.

RESPONSE TO OWNER'S COMMENT: Regardless of what happened, the problem is when my mother informed you multiple times it was wrong, you did not offer to fix it, only insisted that we ordered lemon and not even willing to accept you could have written it down wrong. Which my mother felt made you seem unwilling to fix it. That right there is the main issue we had with your service. At the first expression of doubt, your only response was thet we ordered wrong. And as a business owner it is your responsibility to offer to fix it, not mine as the customer to ask. As you said in your words if "had you been told in the store", what do you call being told it was wrong the first moment my mother saw it? How could we have told you it was wrong earlier than that? As for my father, he hates causing scenes and just wanted to leave after you made no offer to fix it. I'm the only one in my family allergic to lemon, so he hoped the rest of my family could enjoy it. As we ordered a Chocolate/caramel tart, we had no reason to mention my lemon allergy. It is not a life threatening allergy, but I get horribly sick and throw up when I truly eat it. But if a small amount of some juice gets on something I ordered that was made beside something lemon, that will only give my stomach a small twing at worse. At the end of the day, we feel you handled the situation poorly as it could have easily been fixed. That being said, while I will not be going to your cafe again, I wish your business nothing...