Five Loaves Cafe — Restaurant in Summerville

My absolute worst experience took place at Five Loaves Cafe in Summerville yesterday afternoon. I wasn’t going to share but someone has to be made aware and held accountable for their actions. I called the one phone number I could find for Glowfisch Hospitality Group and have left a voicemail.

We are locals and visit the restaurant often. Today I walked in with 2 other adults and 3 children, an employee walked near us but did not approach us. One in particular came really close to us but did not make eye contact she just went up the stairs. If you’ve been there you know it’s a smaller restaurant (layout allows for very little personal space). That is not the problem.

Finally someone came to the counter and before I could say “hi, we have 5 and a toddler” she said “hi, yall are not welcome here and we will not serve you”. My reaction was to smile as I thought the woman was certainly joking. Sadly she was not. I was very confused and asked what the problem was. She said “one of my employees does not feel comfortable with someone in your party and this is her workplace; therefore you all need to leave”.

At this point I am still in awe and very confused because when I tell you I eat there often, I mean often. She was not professional or discreet! There were people looking at us from every direction…the bar…the table behind us…the table behind her. It was the most embarrassing moment ever. Because I am still trying to understand what is actually happening…I told her she must be mistaking us for someone else.

Her next accusation (because perspective is everything and I felt accused) was “one of your mothers yelled at me last time she was here and that is harassment”. It’s physically impossible that this was my mom and if it was the other individual’s mother. I thought this was an employee safety issue?! Now it’s your mom yelled at me issue?! How did this go from my employee feels unsafe to yelling and harassment?!ALSO no one’s mother was present at the time therefore you cannot hold anyone accountable for someone else’s actions. (If the mother situation is even true).

Can we address the real issue here. This woman holds a “management” position yet managed the situation in the most unprofessional manner I have ever experienced. She discriminated an entire group of people (including children) as soon as we walked in the restaurant without an explanation or warning (until I asked). Embarrassed me and my children in public for no legitimate reason. I was absolutely mortified! I asked to speak with someone else in management and she said there was no one else there, however she was going to call them. Which she did and they advised her to call the police? The police? Again the police? (One of my most recent visits to Five Loaves was with my bible study group 🤦🏻‍♀️).

Well we waited…spoke to the police. I apologized to them for having to come out to the least dangerous situation in history. Explained no one in our party has ever been banned from the restaurant or any such thing (ever in my entire life). Yes, I questioned the manager because any sane person in this situation would. The police couldn’t do anything about the issue, manager requested one of the individuals be placed on trespassing. Manager also referred to us as a bunch of Hispanics when she made the phone call to the police (is this a race thing…I dont know). If it is this is very sad and frustrating. Apparently one of the individuals in our party had some boyfriend drama in high school with one of their employees🤷🏻‍♀️. I guess this made us an unwelcomed threat,...

It was very dirty. I love coming here on saturdays for their brunch. i’m not a small girl and the host attempted to place me at a small table. I asked to be moved to a bigger table because it wasn’t comfortable, the host had an attitude and was extremely aggressive about that. I was then sat at a 4 top table with my partner. I was disgusted, the both had food crumbs, the floor was disgusting. I did not wanna put my shoes on that. I decided to stay because the host was already rude. I didn’t see our server for about 10 mins. I felt like we wore being ignored on purpose. So, the server comes up and was so blah. No personality, all she did was ask are we ready. I should’ve left at that point. So, I attempted to let that go, what makes going here worth it? I could’ve had the same service at a fast food place, however a fast food would at least tell you their specials. I was assuming this server just sucked, but a family of four sat down(all white), she greeted them in 30 seconds. I was shocked, she introduced herself. Oh so I see. I will say the food came out fast and delicious so thanks to the culinary team. Then as we just taken one bite, one lady from that four top table attempts to reach over our food and pull the blinds. I stopped her and she was entitled, her butt was near my food. I almost cursed her out, if my husband hadn’t stopped me. The server then brings the check and I pay in cash. She asked if I need change, I was like that’s obvious if the bill was 70 and I pay 100. She brings the change as one 10 and one 20. At this point I cringed like she was really thinking i’m going to leave a 20, so I dug in my purse for ones. I will say I won’t be back. it was overall a terrible experience. I won’t say that our server was racist but there wore clues that indicated that. My husband is Indian and I felt like she didn’t care about our perception...

The 3 stars I am posting come strickly from service, a great manager, and very nice atmosphere... Very nicely decorated...Now onto the food.... I was a fan of this place in the past, what happened??? But not so much anymore... The tomato soup with crab meat, not so good. In fact, I returned it for another flavor, I never do this in a restaraunt, whats up?. The tomato soup with very little crab was so tangy and acidic, I could not tolerate two spoon fulls of it, horrible.. I ask my server for another flavor of soup, and I decided on broccoli, cheese, with potato thickener. I could at least stomach this soup, but barley. I'm sure the thickener was mostly flour rather than potatoes and the soup had no flavor what so ever. I didnt really get the broccoli flavor due to just one small piece of broccoli in the middle of the bowl, and what happened to the cheese, it wasn't there, really? Don't worry, it does get worse. A roast beef sandwich with very spicey horseradish mustard, and I'll say that again, very horseradish mustard... In fact, way to horseradish which I could of overcome, but the beef, no way. I'd rather eat my crock shoe instead of that beef, absolutely horrible. I was worried I would have to visit the dentist after lunch, no joke... How does a cook not check taste and texture before placing food in front of a customer. You know what the funny thing was? My wife got the same sandwich and the beef was tender as butter, maybe a long lost enimy of mine was working in the kitchen that day and saw me, LOL.... Who knows. I will try it again and see what happens, that's only because of how good my wife's...