Bluestone Lane West End Café — Restaurant in Washington

Great coffee, bad counter service. I was really excited about this place coming to my neighborhood alongside the new library branch, which welcomes casual walk-betweens. But now I think I'd rather walk several more blocks down to Bourbon and drink their slightly inferior coffee.

Their system breaks down sometime after you place your order, pay, and walk down to the end of the bar into oblivion, where the wait staff regards you with disdain as they muscle their way through you to get to their nestling dine-ins. Now, on the third occasion that I had to wait 15+ minutes for a takeout drip coffee, it seems the staff has taken some notice of the waiting customer problem, addressing it by passive aggressively placing a few small chairs along the backside of a wall bench where you can sit invisibly out of the way and watch the baristas make drinks for everyone who walks in after you until there's a slight lull in business and you can politely inquire about your order and yet still feel shamed for seeming impatient or demanding. "It's coming," they say curtly. They turn around, heave a sigh, put something on the counter, motion that it's yours, and walk away. It's not what you ordered or the right size, but it's your only chance to get something for your money, so you take it and then burn your hand while you're waiting for talkative customers blocking your exit at the sleeve and lid counter.

The first time it happened, I thought it was just a mixup and it probably wouldn't happen again. The next time it happened, it spoiled my morning but I still didn't take it personally. I understand they opened recently and they're trying to balance counter service with table service in a novel way, and that coffee shops are notorious for mixing up orders and names (remarkably, even though this is a solved problem in other realms of the service sector, from food trucks to the DMV: you take a number and your number is called or appears on a screen), but there's something particularly unsettling about the experience here. They have a touch screen payment interface and a order system, the baristas put the drinks on the counter and call out names, but there's no eye contact, no human interaction, no one watching over things or accountable for making sure that takeout customers get their orders. All that ends once you pay. The people who greeted you when you walked in or took your order walk past you 15 times without inquiring about you and why you've been waiting so long. They avoid eye contact and pretend that they don't see you or hear you. The baristas are accustomed to processing drinks (kitchen line style) for seated customers they never see that they rely on the servers to provide the human element that completes the transaction (something that even the most weary and downtrodden Starbucks baristas pull off at a bare minimum with some reliability even during a midmorning rush). The baristas mind the drinks, the servers mind their tables, and the takeout customers are left to fend for themselves, either grabbing the first thing they see on the counter (which may or may not be theirs) or sitting down at the little chairs and falling in between the cracks. Please either assign someone this role, provide a separate takeout counter / waiting area on the end of the bar near the entrance, or don't do it.

I feel passionately about this because I really like the coffee, and it's hard to find a good cup of coffee around here. But the experience is...

My experience was actually worse the 2nd time. Server error with the combination of food preparation issues was an epic fail for our meal.

Our server greeted us, got us beverages (chai latte, Lorne fresh-pressed juice and lemongrass ginger tea - all very good would definitely order all three again). He didn't write a single thing down while we ordered food (was a little worried but at the same time I'm always impressed when servers can pull off a meal flawlessly without writing anything down).

CLASSIC AVOCADO SMASH (VG) On multigrain toast w/ heirloom cherry tomatoes, feta, sunflower sprouts & e.v.o.o (Removed feta, added a poached egg & prosciutto on GF bread) *No poached egg came on top and he took so long to check on us that by the time he came back we were halfway done the toast until I bit down on the stem/cap of the avocado and nearly broke my tooth and my whole mouth hurt. I've had a lot of avocado toast in my life and NEVER has the stem ended up in my food!

SALMON BRIOCHE W/ HERB CRÈME FRAICHE Grizzly smoked salmon w/ arugula, pickled beets, fresh dill & caper crème fraiche *this was my favorite dish but I had to thoroughly inspect it just in case there was a food prep issue as well. Brioche was nice and fluffy and the salmon was delicious. I love beets but I think it overwhelmed the salmon.

GREEN BAKED EGGS (VG) Chimichurri, cherry tomatoes, spinach, portobello mushrooms & feta served in a hot skillet w/ multigrain toast (The server suggested avocado or chicken so my friend said avocado). *It came with no side of avocado. We waited until he came back and he didn't. So after my friend was halfway done I got up and went looking for him. How are you going to suggest an item and then not bring it??? When I found him I asked him are you planning on bringing the side of avocado he looked like a deer in headlights and clearly forgot.

LATTE Espresso with steamed, silky textured milk and 1 inch of microfoam *super bitter, got a medium and only finished 1/3 of it

BATHROOM It was clean, had soap and paper towels but that disgusting odor still ever present. They need either an automated air freshener or better circulation. You could smell it before you got to the door.

Throughout our meal food runners were confused about where to drop off food and beverages at various tables - are there table numbers? Why is it so confusing?

We were waiting for the check for about 20min, he literally never came back. My friend lives in Philly and has been meaning to try a cafe there and was really disappointed by the lack of value, taste...

I recommended ‪Bluestone Lane‬ for my friend's farewell brunch given past positive experiences, however I am very hesitant to return given my last meal there. In summary, my friend and I were both appalled by the lack of service. The first indication of poor service was the lack of attention to our drink orders. I ordered an OJ and my friend ordered a coffee, but our main request was a bottle of water for the table given that we were sitting outside in the summer sun. It took more than 20 minutes for the server to bring us water, and to inform me that they were out of OJ. Then, my friend ordered the collective granola without coconut but the server failed to tell her that the coconut was mixed into the granola before the dish arrived at our table. As a result, she was served a lonely scoop of yogurt with a dab of citrus curd and three pieces of cut fruit that did not meet the halfway point of the bowl. We inquired about the missing granola and only then did the server acknowledge that the kitchen removed the granola, seeds, and nuts due to her request to hold the coconut. I politely asked the server if he could bring a side of fruit to add to the yogurt given that my friend would not be full after such a small portion of food. The server hemmed and hawed before taking the request back to the kitchen. It took more than 20 minutes before our server brought my friend a banana to accompany her meal which both of us thought was inadequate. The kitchen should have informed us ahead of time of the consequences of removing the coconut so that she could have ordered a more substantial menu option, or the kitchen could have at least suggested adding additional fruit to the meal without being prompted. To top matters off, we both experienced issues when paying for our meal. We were asked to go inside to pay as the machine was broken. Both of us found errors on our receipts. My friend was charged for the additional fruit, and I was charged twice for my meal. We explained the issue to the cashier and he corrected the issue without offering an apology. While we will likely look back and laugh about the terrible service we experienced, I am sad to say that it comes at the expense of not...