Green Goddess Café — Restaurant in Stowe

Atrocious customer service and mediocre food. It’s almost not even worth the time to write this review, but if I can spare you from experiencing the disappointment that is this cafe then it will be worth it.

It’s not about only having a QR menu or bussing your own tables — that’s fine and pretty normal for small spots in Vermont. The shockingly bad experience came from the people working there. I’m going to outline everything that added up to our terrible experience below. I am aware that some of the following could be considered nit-picky but it was the combination of these little things that made us decide to never come here again while under this management.

First, the person at the counter was disinterested. Fine… maybe they’re having a bad day. We order our food (a coffee, a grilled slice of banana bread, a smoothie, and a sandwich) and go to the self-serve coffee area where there are no cups. When we bring it to their attention we are told “we don’t have any” instead of “let me get one for you”. We’re waiting without any communication that there is one on the way and 3 minutes later we are handed a mug. We go to get coffee but all three dispensers are empty. We let the two employees chatting nearby know there is no coffee and neither of them even acknowledged that we had spoken to the point where we genuinely wondered if they heard us. One of the people starts walking away, again without a word, and comes back with a jug of coffee and pours a cup from there. Okay — strange choice but whatever — we go to sit down.

This last bit was the cherry on top. The food comes out and the banana bread was a third of the thickness of the already-thin slices for sale at the counter (not heated up). I bring the slice to the counter and ask why we were given a slice 4mm thick when the ones displayed are clearly larger to which the employee says “I didn’t cut it” then takes it back (without apology) and say they will heat up a new one. A few minutes later the chef himself brings the new slice to the table and I thought to myself Fewf, there may be a glimpse of good customer service in here after all… But then he drops the plate on the table with attitude and walks away without a word (despite us thanking him for the new slice) shattering my illusion.

Holy **. That was an astounding reaction to correcting something for a customer.

These small events in combination with a paper-thin slice of banana bread, an Iguana smoothie that only tasted like apple juice, and an unremarkable sandwich made the experience of eating there pretty awful. I was waiting for Ashton Kutcher to jump out at any moment to reveal we’ve been punk’d.

We have worked in the food industry and treat restaurant workers with the respect they deserve so this was not a case of being a crabby customer. If you’re selling coffee, you shouldn’t be annoyed when the customer tells you it’s empty. If you don’t enjoy taking care of your customers and producing quality food then why are you in the industry at all?

Green Goddess was a place my family went often as a kid and I had fond memories of the inviting environment inside. Their standard has clearly changed since then so if you’re lucky enough to get a friendly “hello” from the counter staff, you should go buy a lottery ticket too. It could be a really cool place if the people working there cared at all.

All around disheartening experience. There are other places in town that will treat you with kindness, appreciation, and better food. For similar food try Round Hearth, Cafe on Main, Girakofi, or basically...

Visited here yesterday before departing from our 4 day stay in Stowe. If I were to rate only on the food, I would give 4 stars, but the lack of "service", attitude of staff, and price drags this rating down to a 3 star, and that's being generous.

The food was "good" but that's about it. Nothing about the pancakes, french toast, and bacon was awe inspiring. Basically, could have gotten the same food at any given roadside diner.

We were met with an instruction board as we entered:

Sanitize your hands. (okay, understandable in todays day and age) No menu's, you must scan QR code on table (bad choice. QR/Online menus are a pain in the butt! Sure it saves paper and printing but makes it tough to browse a menu when you have to keep expanding and closing every menu item) Place order at the register. (okay, this is where the lack of (and simply poor) service comes into play. The young lady at the counter made us feel like she would rather be anywhere else on earth but behind that counter. No smile, no welcoming conversation, no Thank You, etc. we were left feeling like we were interfering in her life. Either bad training or just bad attitude. Bus you own table! When you're done, collect all your dishes and bring them to the bins in the back of the dining room.

Okay, so it's a way to do a business without hiring any wait staff. BUT... (there's always a But!)... if you aren't going to offer service in your restaurant then please don't make your electronic register default to suggest adding a 20% tip to the already overpriced bill!!! And, just to add insult, they actually also added a tip jar to the counter.

Overall, it was breakfast, and we weren't hungry when we hit the road. But for sure, we're not likely to return here the next time we...

This was my first visit to Stowe and love the town, the people, and the places. The experience in The Green Gooddess Cafe was really poor. I went with my husband for breakfast just before leaving the town. The place looks very nice. The eggs were not really as we asked but that was ok for us. The children working at the place have no idea of customer service. Handling food is and is not that simple. Firs of all they should greet people, and answer a thanks from the customers, they don't even look at the people and call by name leaving the food in the counter, they should just have more personal service since they charge the tip ahead. Second they should look a little awake and fresh at work it was morning time, because handling your food and rubbing your face and hair on sign of sleeping is not really a clean thing. And the worse of all... at the end we clean the table and my husband went to bring back the plates and place it in the counter next to the cashier and the young guy took the plates and throw literally throw them in to a bin placed outside the counter from inside the counter. Does this boy cares about braking them or how bad it looks for the place to do such a thing? I don't think so. I call the owner of the place to train better his stuff because they are totally rude and he can do what ever to make the place good but with those type of service the place is not offering any good for such...