Bread & Chocolate — Restaurant in Washington

A snowy winter day I wanted a hot cuppa tea and a warm pastry. When I entered, there were two women standing on different sides of the counter, waiting, I noticed the sign that says please wait to be seated, So I waited patiently. 10 minutes is gone by and I haven’t been assisted nor recognized. The two women step to the side it seems that they’ve already placed their orders, and finally out of four people behind the counter, someone speaks to me. He let me know that I could seat myself even though the sign says I had to wait. I chose the seat at the counter. I waited an additional six minutes before I was acknowledged by a server. They were out of the tea that I wanted, so I had to pivot and find a back up. I wasn’t given a spoon, sugar or cream. They were also out of chocolate croissants, so I decided to go for the chocolate chip scone. My server told me that he was going to warm my scone and be back. Less than two minutes, he returned with my scone, tossing it on the counter. I touched the scone and felt the outside it was still cold, but yet the bottom was steaming hot. I asked the server if he warmed my scone in the microwave, He looked me in my face and lied, telling me no he did not microwave it. He put it in the oven. How did you warm a scone in the oven in less than two minutes and only the bottom is hot?? Explained to him that I don’t use a microwave so I know how an oven heats and a microwave heats, from the inside out and that’s what happened here. I let them know I did not appreciate him lying to me, and it just must not have been meant for me to eat there. I walked out back into the cold without hot tea or warm pastry in my belly. Definitely felt unappreciated as a customer AND to lie to your customers is...

I had the strangest, most unpleasant experience here today. I was meeting a friend for lunch but ended up arriving about 45 minutes early. I went ahead and got a table for two and ordered coffee with milk and a glass of water. The waitress brought my coffee but forgot the milk and water. She was very busy but I finally reminded her about the milk and water. She brought the milk but forgot the water again. The manager came by a few minutes later and asked after things and I asked her for some water, which she brought.

Then....nothing. No one ever came back to see if I needed more coffee or would like to order food. I wouldn't have minded a pastry or some soup but I was fine waiting for my friend with my coffee. However, about 30 or 40 minutes later the waitress finally came to my table and remarked that my friend hadn't arrived yet. I thought she was just making conversation and said that I had arrived early and the other person would be arriving soon. I'm not sure if she didn't believe me but she asked if I would mind moving to the bar because it was the busy time and they needed my table. I was pretty taken aback and said I would prefer to wait at the table and my friend would only be a few more minutes. I thought maybe they were upset I hadn't ordered anything but coffee, even though I hadn't had the opportunity to, so I said I would like some soup. She just mumbled something about it being the busy time and walked away.

My friend was late and after another 20 minutes of being studiously ignored I finally took the hint and left. The restaurant had several...

I visited this location to enjoy breakfast with my family of 3 during a trip to DC for spring break.

We had the chocolate banana crepe, strawberry creme french toast and the big breakfast. The crepe and french toast was good and big breakfast was decent although I wouldn't call it a big breakfast (it came with 2 pieces of bacon, some hash browns and scrambled eggs not at all big).

All was okay until the bill arrived as seen in photo 1. I receive a bill with 20 dollars pre-added as tip which is about 40% of the total.

I come from NYC and understand that there may be fees pre-added. However, it's the first time I am seeing a restaurant pre-adding a 40% tip to a table of 3.

When I asked the waiter, he said it was a system error and that it should be in fact a 20% tip not $20. I still didn't understand why a 20% tip should be added as default for a table of 3 but decided to let it go as it was my husband's birthday and didn't want to create a scene.

The waiter came back with the revised receipt (photo 2) with the 20% tip. I gave him the okay and he returned with the final receipt (photo 3) for me to sign.

To my surprise, there was another line for tip after the tip was pre-added. Do these people really think I would fall for this? While the food and service is decent, they are very dishonest people trying to take advantage of people who are visting the city to enjoy and have a good time.

If you need to visit this restaurant, double, triple check...