Felicitous (on 51st) — Restaurant in Temple Terrace

As a lover of small businesses, mom and pops, and all things locally owned this establishment is an absolute joke. If I could give a -1 star review I would. Me and my friend decided to come here and try a new local coffee cafe. We love to support small businesses and prefer them over large corporate names like Starbucks, Dunkin, etc. We walked In to Felicitous and were not spoken to or greeted. When we walked up to the register the employee working was rude and made us feel unwelcome and like a bother. My friend politely voiced it was our first time in and we needed a moment to browse before ordering. We both ordered an iced vanilla latte that had an odd floral soapy taste to it. My friend ordered the egg and cheese croissant that had very little cheese and what looked like a thin egg patty cut into two halves. If you look at the online menu, the picture shows a croissant with fluffy scrambled looking eggs and what looks like ooey gooey American cheese dripping out of it. Her sandwich was dry, disappointing, a straight up scam and a clear case of catfishing. I ordered the Early Bird Special and it also looked nothing like the picture. It had a slice of turkey, a thin slice of cheese and jam. The top and bottom pieces of the Cuban bread were practically touching.

As people who rarely complain, have worked in food service, and always choose to give the benefit of the doubt, we left feeling like maybe they were short staffed, maybe it was just an off day, maybe they use a different brand of syrup that has an acquired taste. After reading the reviews we were completely shocked and speechless at what we saw. Not only did we see reviews with similar experiences, proving our experience was not just an “off day” but the owner is constantly blaming and degrading the customers for the experiences they are having at their business. Gaslighting and saying things like “maybe your mood should have been better when you came in” is absolutely disgusting in regard to how one of your employees treated a paying customer. We are just one of many who were expecting more based on their menu, pictures, and prices but received way less. I hope being honest about my experience and how it wasn’t up to par will discourage others from dining here. The owner has made it clear they are more worried about how the negative experience and how the review reflects their business instead of simply providing better food and better customer service.

To the owner, because I know you will see this. I will HAPPILY take my money and my willingness to support small businesses elsewhere. You don’t have to worry about us returning. I hope you find the time to self reflect on ur business skills and leadership style....

Absolutely terrible customer service from the staff, always seem inconvenienced and annoyed when you order ANYTHING from them (especially the girl with the orange hair).

This is a consistent issue that has happened to me on several occasions and what prompted me to write this review was a conversation I had with friends when we realized we’ve all had bad experiences with the staff. I will not be visiting again, which is unfortunate because the place is really cozy and clean, but I don’t want to have to feel bad or annoying for literally just ordering something or asking for extra sugar in my coffee whenever I go. You’ll also get extra attitude, eye rolls, and loud sighs if you ask them to remake an order THEY made incorrectly.

Besides the awful service, the coffee is disgusting. You will never taste the flavor you choose for their coffee. If you HAVE to go, do not buy their coffee. You’re better off opening a picture of coffee off of google and licking your phone screen, at least then you’ll taste something.

Would not recommend going here at all.

UPDATE: look no further than the reply I got to this review for evidence of my claims regarding overall attitude. You really think I did not ask for a different drink or a remake? Where do you think I got “You’ll also get extra attitude, eye rolls, and loud sighs if you ask them to remake an order THEY made incorrectly.” from?

Please do not make it seem like I’m trying to tarnish a small business and run your place to the ground. This is feedback from MULTIPLE visits. The only person here harming your business is you and your staff with this behavior. In response to you asking me if this is the best I can do, leaving a bad review: I have asked for remakes. I have tried different coffees in my other visits. The problems with staff remain the same, so obviously the next logical step was leaving a bad review. Did you want me to beg the person over the counter to be nicer? Or to teach her how to not be annoyed by anyone ordering something? Please learn the basics of customer service and teach your staff what you have learned and maybe then more people won’t leave reviews like this.

And don’t worry, I went dumpster diving at a Dunkin’ Donuts and enjoyed better...

I’ve been a long time customer of Felicitous and am shocked that I had such an unwelcoming experience. My friend and I stopped by to grab something quick to eat, we waited in line and once we got to the front we were told to instead go sit down and order through the QR code as it would be faster. This would’ve been fine (despite already spending time in line) except the person at the counter then proceeded to take the order of the people waiting behind us. My friend and I were confused as to why we were specifically sent away but not anyone else especially given the fact we were the only two brown people in line when everyone else what white. Other customers who witnessed this also expressed that it was weird as we were leaving to go outside. My friend and I then proceeded to try ordering through the QR code but were unable to find the items we had wanted to order through there (I’ve typically have been able to find all menu items through the QR code when I’ve ordered in the past, but for some reason the code outside wasn’t showing all the options). We then went inside again to put in the order the regular way (this time there was no line), the person at the counter immediately asked us why we couldn’t use the QR code. I stated that we weren’t able to find the menu items and she immediately responds with ‘that’s not true.’ My friend and I didn’t really know what to say to that and the aggressive tone (as well as immediate implication that we were lying) made us feel super uncomfortable. I’m very disappointed in this experience especially as a woman of color because I’ve always assumed Felicitous was a welcoming place. Not necessarily saying this employee was consciously being racist but the interaction just left a very bad taste in my mouth.

Based on responses to other negative reviews, I doubt Felicitous will take my experience seriously, but I hope to caution other potential customers of this type of treatment, especially if you’re...