Buffalo & Bergen - Union Market — Restaurant in Washington

The design of Buffalo & Bergen is beautiful. My egg cream was delicious (but very much over-priced) and it was made within a few minutes of ordering. My sandwich (which I could only eat half but was very good) took almost 20 minutes to get made. By that time my egg cream was just a sweet memory. Timing was extremely bad as were many other things at Buffalo & Bergen.

The female server seemed flustered and upset from the get go. She wasn't very friendly. I gave her the benefit of the doubt. She wasn't feeling well or stressed out - my first (and more-than-likely) only visit to B&B and their only server is having a tremendously bad day. I should have cancelled my sandwich order and exited but unfortunately I stayed.

A disturbing and definitely against several health code violations happened before my very eyes. While sipping my egg cream the stressed out server broke a glass. It looked like some may have gone into the ice bin. The glass broke on the counter near the ice bin and then crashed to the floor smashing completely.

It actually gets worse. The stressed out, now more stressed out server, takes off her shoe with her bare hands! Shakes her shoe. Then places her shoe ON THE COUNTER and rubs her foot! I was absolutely shocked and disgusted.

I then observed her scooping out a little bit of the possibly shards-of-glass infused ice into the sink. Just a little of the ice!? This is extremely dangerous. Anyone with an ounce of common sense knows that all of the ice needs to be tossed, hot boiling water into the ice bin, then a careful wipe down and inspection of the clean and sanitized ice bin before refilling.

None of these actions were taken. I ate what I could of my bagel sandwich. Although the cook served it to me and I was relieved hoping his hands were a lot cleaner than the flustered clumsy server - I just lost confidence in the entire operation.

I did leave a basic 15%. I shouldn't have left anything but did feel badly. Gazing at my check I was starting to feel badly for myself. A standard size egg cream and small bagel sandwich with 15% tip was $23 bucks?!

Anyway, that was a difficult lesson learned. I tried to find a manager for B&B to report possible broken glass in the ice bin. As well as the blatant unhygenic actions of the server. I stayed on another 15 minutes, while more customers sat at the counter. The server never even washed her hands nor used a hand sanitizer. She continued using the possibly tainted ice for the drinks of the new customers.

I went off to continue shopping but had asked other merchants adjacent to B&B if they knew if the manager or owner of B&B was around but no one had seen her that day. I checked again before leaving Union Market but didn't see any new employees at B&B so I left.

So for several reasons I cannot...

Let me start off by saying that the staff here was great and very attentive but thats where the niceties end. I don't understand why there are so many great reviews for this place. I know a lot of people have never had real NYC Deli style food. But this is Washington DC. Half the population seems to either be from, been to, lived, or have family in the NY tri-state area. So how on earth are all these people fooled by the pathetic offerings of this place?! I recently moved here from NYC, born and raised. My miserable existence sustained by jewish delis. One of my greatest sadnesses was that I wouldn't be able to get anything of my staple foods in this town. Friends looked far and wide, with suggestions of where to try. This place was one of them. As much as I appreciate all the help. I was very saddened when I was offered up a plate of stale fried meat-stuff (2 slices) between two burnt pieces of what looked like rye bread. It was tough, dry and utterly unpleasant. each bite when down like a mouthful of wood chips. It literally hurt to swallow! My girlfriend got what they called "NY water bagel" with lox and whatever. The bagel was flat and rock hard like bagel chips. The stuff inside was ok, very skimpy. I can't say much about the other stuff on the menu, but judging by pictures Ive seen online, they are most likely on par with the two things we ordered. This place was a total overpriced disappointment. It actually made me mad. Disappointed is to say the least. I guess it's more about my plight then this establishment. I also don't like when these chains call themselves NY Style when they don't have a clue what NY Style actually is. If you like this place, I'm sorry. I'm just calling it as I see it. If you see it different, I implore you to try the real thing the next time you are in New York. Also, whats with the name? Buffalo? Is this a reference to the town in upstate ny? I guess it would be accurate in that it would be tough to find anything NYC style up there. And Bergen. Is that Bergen street in Brooklyn? I lived off Begren for the last 25 years before moving to DC. I guess that would explain the hipster...

We were really excited to try this place at the market. They have self-ordering kiosks, so we placed our order there, thinking that was the normal process. However, it turns out the kiosks are only for takeout orders — something that wasn't clearly explained. After ordering, we sat down to eat, but when our sandwiches were ready, we were told we couldn't stay and had to leave because we had ordered for takeout. It was disappointing because we would have happily adjusted our order if they had simply offered to transfer it to dine-in or brought us plates. Instead, they were very firm about us leaving, which felt unnecessarily strict, especially when it was an honest mistake. The food was good, but the customer service experience really left a bad taste.

Update:

Hello, thank you for your reply. Just to clarify: after ordering at the kiosk, one of your staff members brought us menus and explained that the kiosk was for takeout. I apologized immediately, and we stayed seated because we assumed the situation could be adjusted easily, especially since there were plenty of available seats and no waitlist at that time. We were not trying to bypass any rules or disrespect the process; it was simply a misunderstanding.

After receiving your reply, I realized that the way our situation was handled — both during the visit and afterward — reflects exactly the lack of flexibility and understanding we experienced. For that reason, and considering the tone of your response, I have updated my review accordingly again. Customer service is about more than just having rules posted — it’s about how you treat people when genuine misunderstandings happen.

I still wish you success, but it’s important for feedback to be heard — not every guest who gets confused is trying to...