Sunnyside Cafe and Restaurant — Restaurant in Virginia Beach

I am sure this was just an isolated incidence which could have happened to any business. But I hope this will help the business and the workers improve in the future.

Was the food that good and would we come back? No, and here is why…

It all started with the front desk hostess… We came to the area for the weekend and got recommended this place for good breakfast items. We do keep in mind, this is a very basic good old American family own breakfast place. So we did not have any expectation. They were busy, super busy for a Sunday morning, which is always a good sign for good food (or so we thought). Hostess took our phone number down, we waited outside in the heat of summer. An hour went by and we were super hungry and exhausted from the heat, no text. We were literally waited outside the restaurant, the hostess could see us through the window (because we could see her too). No call, no come out to check or whatsoever… We came in to check, after more than an hour wait, everyone around us was already gone, went in. Turned out she got our number incorrectly in the system (!!!!). What could be done better? The hostess or us should have confirmed our number when we were in there, she could have checked in her system why she texted us and we were not there (looked outside to see the people waiting and ask?!!). We got seated right after we asked, hangry and hot! We just wanted to put in our order so we can eat and leave for a long 4 hours drive. We sat down, explained our situation and frustration to the waitress. She may or may not understand!?! The waitress calmly said that she could not take our food order, just drinks first then she would come back (?!?!??). What can she do better? She should have just acknowledge our frustration, attempted to “faking” said “oh we are so sorry for that unfortunate event happened and let me take your order right now”….that would be so much better. My husband talked to the male manager, he looked confused, and said nothing since our waitress did actually came back to take our order. She came out, with sweet tea when we ordered mango smoothie…. The food came out relatively not too slow for a busy place, but the steak was well done when we ordered medium…and we told her she asked us to show her(!!!) which could be more reasonable and a nicer way if she said “sorry to hear that, can you cut it so I can show the kitchen and we will try to bring out your correct order?” Nope, she made us cut it out, show her then she said “oh yeah, that is well done” (!?!?!??) Our french toast order was never brought out. We asked about it to see if it got made, if not, we could cancel it. She checked and of course, it was not made (or the order was not put in?!? Dunno)… Then in our check, the wrong sweet tea and togo box take out were in our bill….no compensation or personal acknowledgement from the manager…

So, overall, was the food good? Really good? Worth to wait an hour long or even 20’? Not really, it was not bad, it was not that good neither, average. If it was no wait or maybe 10’ max, then you should wait for it. It was definitely was not worth more than 20’ wait for us. It was just basic average American breakfast food.

Was the service good? Hah, they were nice people trying to do their jobs, but there are so many things they need to train their employees better to prevent things like this happen. Hope they could see this and improve so other customers don’t have to have our...

I will NEVER return to this restaurant. Everything started out fine, then once we were eating we had to flag the server down for refills. Mind you, they are operating at limited capacity due to the Coronavirus. The food was amazing, but the problem came once we got the bill. Beware that the menu says "Parties of 6 or more MAY have an 18% gratuity added by the server". Since we were 2 separate families, we split the bill and the server took it upon himself to add it to our bills. Keep in mind that we were a party of 8 including a 2 year old and a 7 month old. We were told that the 7 month old counted even though we didn't even order a single thing for him (he has 2 teeth, he is still eating soft baby food). When we asked the server about it, he told us that's just how it is. Then he left us sitting at the table for about 10 minutes without saying another word to us. He did however go over to the manager and start whispering to him. I could only assume he was telling him what we were asking about. We still after a few more minutes had to ask someone else to get the manager for us. After much debate with him about the gratuity, he proceeded to show us what it says on the menu. I advised him that it says MAY be added, not WILL be added, and we don't mind tipping, but you are not going to tell us what we have to tip when we had to ask for refills for our child sized cups. After he was told we refused to pay it and would sit there until it was removed, he finally took it off of the bill. When we went to the register to pay, the lady helping us (I'm assuming she was the manager/owner's wife) asked how everything was. We told her that the food was good, but then told her about what happened. She then had to be told several times that our issue wasn't with the food or even necessarily with the service. After the poor handling from the server and the manager, a very minimal tip was left for the server. He then took it upon himself to come outside of the restaurant onto the sidewalk as we were leaving to argue with us about the gratuity! In the street in front of everyone! He said that's why there is a gratuity, so he doesn't run around for such a small amount. He told us even though he refilled our drinks, we can keep living a cheap life and doing people wrong. He then returned to the inside of the restaurant before we could even say anything back to him. My daughter was inside in the bathroom when this happened, and as she was leaving, the lady at the front counter told her to never come back. She said that to my daughter, who was also carrying my nephew that she had taken to the bathroom to change! I am utterly disgusted by the actions of the staff and how they handled our issues. My family will never return and you can guarantee I will let everyone know how we had to pay a $116 bill (just for the food for 6 people) only to be treated so poorly because we wanted to tip appropriately according to the service...

I have to say that everything about this restaurant was terrible start to finish. Our server was new (we found out later) but was honestly the best part of our time here which says something. We both ordered eggs benedict, I asked if I could substitute the side of home fries for fruit and our server said yes no problem never mentioning any additional cost or up charge. Our server did not come see us very often which made it hard to ask her for water or coffee refill but we were not a needy table so we had no problem waiting. We received our food and it was not good, the eggs benedict was very very salty with very small portions, the salmon looked a bit raw, and my side of fruit came out with just a couple strawberries cut up despite asking for the assorted fruit on their menu. However when we got our bill, there was a charge of $4 for the side of strawberries so I was expected to pay for the entree that was supposed to include a side which I did not receive and an additional side at full price that I was under the understanding it was just being substituted not paying full price for both despite receiving only one. I went up to the host booth to pay not caring if I had to pay for both but just asking for clarification and she immediately accused me saying my server had told me about the additional price when ordering and they do not “substitute” their sides. She made me feel guilty for even bringing it up by saying that my server was new and that people make mistakes and we are all human…pretty much confirming to me that my server told her she indeed did not tell me it couldn’t be substituted. She also accused me of lying and trying to defraud the merchant saying that the server would not lie to her which I NEVER even accused her of doing just said that it was a misstep. I would have been fine paying for the bill but when being met with such hostility and accusations when I was just looking for clarification was a lot which made me out of defense push back. Despite asking for the manager 3 times because I felt like I was being accused of lying and being belittled and talked down to like a child by the hostess, all 3 times the hostess came back with nobody to belittle me some more. I would avoid and try some of the great restaurants...