jitters cafe — Restaurant in Town of Chili

Our first visit was a quiet Sunday afternoon, with only a few other patrons in the place, so the two counter attendants were helpful in telling us of their menu. We had been hiking on a chilly, damp afternoon so we tried the basic cup of coffee and shared a macaroni and cheese special. The coffee was hot and hit the spot-- good though nothing spectacular.

We had indicated we were staying to eat, but they still put my coffee into paper to-go cups, and the counter staff indicated most of their customers still prefer the disposable, and so my friend requested a mug-- tip: if you're environmentally friendly and prefer that, be certain to specify it with your order. Food is also served in disposable take-out containers as well; it likely saves staff time on washing dishes, but might chafe at the sensibilities of those who want to create less waste.

The macaroni and cheese was a vegetarian special that day, topped with southwestern black beans and tortilla strips. This was really delicious, and the bean and tortilla topping was a much better combination than I had imagined it would be. The macaroni and cheese is prepared ahead and reheated, and the toppings seem to be added afterward.

The food was cooked very quickly. It was tasty, but the preparation was a bit lacking. The mac and cheese was so hot as too need a bit of blowing on to prevent burning the tongue, but the bean topping under the tortilla strips was unfortunately not evenly heated, with the edges only warm and the center actually still cold. My sense is food is prepared off-site and reheated in microwaves for patrons at time of service. So while this was a very satisfying dish, and large enough for us to share as a light lunch, for the prices, I would have preferred better preparation.

The place was clean, quiet, and the food was good-- it's somewhere between a coffee house and a cafe, with options ranging from salads, breakfast sandwiches, wraps all the way to cookies and coffee milkshakes. From what we had, they have both decent food and coffee, but don't quite excel at either. Despite having no other customers to wait on when our food was ready, they called across the room for us to come to the counter instead of walking it to our table.

When the bill comes to $20 without tip for 2 cups of plain, brewed coffee and one small entree, tax and tip, I would expect the food preparation to be higher quality, and preferably with...

Great food. Salads are A+. Customer service and overall in store vibe is going to have to be an F. These people are consistent with completely forgetting about online orders. Today marks the third time in a row that I have ordered online from Jitters, and arrived well after the time my food was supposed to be done according to the website. Today I arrived 20min after the scheduled due time and they had not even started making my food yet. The staff I spoke to was not even aware of the order and had to go and search for it. I have had this experience before including once where the staff said, "we forgot you're going to have to wait" in an upset tone. The left the lid popped on one of my salads for my trouble, so my salad is currently spilled all across the inside of the bag. This is my last straw with Jitters. I hope they can get some more/better staff or something because their food really is good and they would be a great cafe if they had the capacity to be on top of their store better.

Also note that masking is lax at Jitters. The store does not enforce when customers don't have a mask on while standing / waiting.

Update: Revised from 2 stars to 1. Wash your leaves Jitters, there were bugs...

Jitters café has really great food I've been going there for a few years now ive gotten a lot of things on the menu and have spent a lot of money here .sadley I am going to have to end giving buisness to them do to poor service I bought a buffalo chicken salade there one day and there was no chicken in the salad but I let it slide today I did a take out order and called a half hour early so It could be ready when it get there so I could pick it up before work i get there and to be very honest ive noticed a weird vibe there but what ever I get there and they had not even started my order she said oh I'm starting it now I said I couldn't wait and it called a long time ago the cashier said to me oh ok sorry and turned around and left to do something els as if it didn't matter to her . I call and ask for the manager and it get oh he is down stairs in say can you have him call me they said it would be an hour an hour passed didn't hear anything I call again still no manager so I guess thats it for me and jitters I will not spend money where people...