The Scene Coffee & Cocktails — Restaurant in Town of Guilderland

We were eager to try out this place, since it's always nice to get new, good, and fun establishments in our area. But we were sadly disappointed here. I'll start at the beginning. After being seated, we were informed that we could order via a QR code glued to the table or go up to the counter. Does the management not realize that this is how I order food at McDonald's?! If I go to what appears to be "a nice restaurant", I'd like someone to give me the service that their prices imply should be provided. Hand me a menu, bring me a drink, take my order, and then bring my food when it's ready. During the online ordering process, we learned that cash was not accepted  and we had to put in the tip amount before we ever got service. The tip is supposed to represent our appreciation for a service, so I shouldn't have to pay it before any service was provided. And the default tip options started at 18%. We were afraid that if we didn't tip or tip well, our food quality or delivery would be negatively impacted.

After 10-15 minutes, when someone brought our food, we asked for some water. They pointed across the restaurant to the opposite corner to a "self-serve water station". So, now we had to get up and get our own water. Again, this is more like my experience at McDonald's than restaurant-level service, only this was worse. Not only was there no ice (so the water was lukewarm), the cups were super small, so we had to make the trip across the restaurant three times during our meal.

The food was pretty okay. We really enjoyed the apple & brie flatbread. And the 2/3 of the pesto chicken panini that actually had chicken was okay. But the chicken was basically flavorless (thankfully, the pesto helped), and 1/3 of the sandwich was just bread and pesto.

I would have liked to have some salt or any other condiment or sauce to add some flavor to the chicken, but there was nothing on the table. And other than our initial meeting when we were seated and told how to order, and when someone brought our food and told us where to get water, not a single person in the restaurant spoke to us again. They cleared tables nearby and walked around us, bringing food to other tables. No one asked us how our food was, if we needed anything, if everything was okay. Sure wish I could take away most of that tip I had to enter before I ever got service.

I usually give restaurants a few chances before I say, "never again". But after reading some of the owner/management responses to other negative reviews here, I don’t think this one needs or deserves a...

This one is tough... The food was good had the breakfast plate.... The issue I have here service. First timer walking in here i am quickly greeted which was a good start untill we asked if we can sit in the "outside room" the lady proceeds to tell us the two options inside... Figure she misunderstood the request so i said is the outside section available she goes yes and proceeds to tell me we can sit at one of 2 options inside...so i go to clarify and say so we can not sit outside. She goes oh yea u can sit anywhere you want out there pick something.. Ok we are lil off put by her attitude but we proceed to the "outside seating" would of been nice to get a bit more direction on how to order or even guided to our seat. (there was about 5 tables empty when we arrived) Anywho we sit down at a table...few mins go by no one greets us at the table. So i notice a qr code for menus and proceed to their menu on my phone.. Its not the easiest menu to navigate. Also requires alloooot of info from the customer before allowed to place an order. Mind you i did not plan to be on my phone learning on my own how to place an order. Would rather spend the time with my guests. I try to wave down a server (very few servers) to ask about my food allergy since i didn't see a place to mention it on my order. If you have a food allergy I would be cautious since its all tech entry and servers didnt seem to care much. No one to ask for glasses of water... When my husband went to the counter to check on his drink that still hadnt shown up 10 mins after ordering the lady behind the counter said she was super busy and couldnt even see what he needed or to listen to the fact we were trying to track down someone for service. Eventually we got our food n drinks immediately after i tracked down a server to talk too. Its not really my kind of place. Maybe im Old school but i appreciate traditional customer service for ordering. Its kinda to bad the place does look nice, and the food we got was good. But just to uncomfortable for me i just felt ignored. My guest also felt...

My food and the atmosphere was great, but service is definitely where things fell short for me.

Everything was great, until the end. I received a bill where I was automatically charged gratuity. I brought this up to who I presume was the manager, and with a nasty attitude she said “It’s automatic.” When I questioned where on their menu it stated that, she changed the story and said she would fix it, also in a nasty tone. She then left and proceeded to walk past our table 2x with no update, to the point where I had to ask the girl clearing off our table for an update. She finally returns and passively aggressively says “It’s done,” while basically walking away in the same instance.

The whole interaction from beginning to end just felt odd. The sad part is that she lied about the payment being fixed, as the original amount I complained about was charged to my bank. In that moment, I still left a cash tip (my personal preference for outings) because I believed the issue would be resolved at the final charge. My mistake.

I’d just advise everyone to make sure you’re truly being billed for the service you’re receiving, especially from a place like this when, if you sit outside, you have to scan a QR code to order your own food. You won’t get a personal waiter, which is why I’m still confused as to why there would be “automatic gratuity.” I was also with a few other girls and they were not automatically billed gratuity.

Lying about fixing a billing mistake, while also using a passive aggressive attitude/approach toward paying customers is never acceptable. I’m choosing to leave this review because I truly hope the service portion improves. Leaving paying customers feeling uncomfortable is...