Mae's Market and Cafe — Restaurant in Washington

I had such high expectations of this place. Firstly, don’t go if you expect to be able to work or study comfortably. There are only two accessible outlets next to chairs, the rest of the seating is atrociously far from any outlet. It’s like they don’t want people to stick around. It’s also very busy during the day because of the proximity to Amazon—not their fault but the noise and foot traffic is something to note. When I went close to their opening, the only friendly employee seemed to be who I assumed was the manager. Other employees here seem to be perpetually confused, chalant and distracted. The first time I went, they were blasting 80’s music so loud I could hardly think. One employee was walking up and down the seating— singing along? As in, not humming, but loudly and obnoxiously singing along while thrashing open a trash bag right where everyone was sitting. No, not in front of the trash can. Right next to seats. And then they walked over to the trash can to pop it in, singing loudly the whole time. Very distracting and weird. The person taking our order would stand there, we’d ask a question, and she’d stare rudely at another customer behind us. Just stare. We had to wave our hands a bit several times just to get her attention after she ignored us several times. This happened three times. Another time we went, we tried to order a flat white. The person taking our order put down “latte,” so we kindly reminded the person it was a flat white to which they responded, dismissing us and laughing, “oh, it’s the same thing!” No. It’s not, we reminded them. They then said, after a bit of questioning “oh, I just put it down like that so that it’s cheaper for you.” That’s great and all, but if that truly was the case a little note telling us beforehand would’ve been nice. And guess what we got? An overly sweetened latte. The coffee is good here, maybe a bit strong and sweet for my liking but I know that’s slightly subjective. Their syrups are made in-house, which is a bonus, but I wouldn’t try to stick around if you need to get hours of work done. Just go to Good co,...

I have been here 5-6 times now, and I really like their vanilla bean latte and quiche (though sometimes it's not always heated through). But I am leaving just three stars because multiple times I've gone in, and the areas for customers to sit are dirty - coffee stains, crumbs, lettuce. And it's not been busy times, where the team doesn't have time to come from behind the bar. That type of situation makes sense. But these times, there will be five people in the entire place, not super busy at all, and the staff is chatting or on their phones while there isn't a single clean spot to sit. I've had to wipe my space down myself multiple times in order to eat, and it makes me wonder how often they are sanitizing these areas, which kind of grosses me out, especially during winter/cold season.

I've worked as a barista before, so I know it's a pain, but the fact that the floor and counter where you go to grab lids and cream is covered in crumbs and splashes of coffee, while the team is just hanging around behind the counter, makes no sense to me. The tables outside are even worse. And if they don't care to clean the areas that customers sit to enjoy their meal, do they care to keep the areas where they prepare meals clean? I like the product here, but the lack of care of the space bothers...

UPDATE: Editing my review and lowering from 4 stars to 1 star based on the response to my review from the owner. It seems they missed the point of my suggestion of listing all ingredients for allergy purposes. When you have allergies like myself, careful planning takes place to ensure that I am able to eat the food, don't hold up any lines or employees from having to take too long to order, but it also eases anxiety, just a few of the top reasons. Plus there is a risk of just having the employee verbalize ingredients with the risk they miss one. It's not difficult to list all the ingredients in a menu or on a website. I had planned on giving this place another try but now will no longer. It seems "You should have asked" is their go to explanation to customer concerns instead of listening and considering the suggestions.

I had lunch here today and I'm not sure I enjoyed the food. First thing is they don't list the ingredients of all their dishes, like the soups, which is problematic for people with allergies. Second thing was the sandwich I ordered, which was made with pesto, wasn't really pesto but moreso wilted basil leaves tossed with garlic and oil. Kudos to the staff though as they were really friendly and...