Bella Vida Garden Cafe — Restaurant in West Cape May

We went here on our vacation this past week. I literally looked for an hour at all the breakfast places in the area and read reviews and decided on this place. We had scheduled to go out to breakfast on Wednesday, but realized they were closed on Wednesdays, so we moved some things around to go Thursday morning. When we got there they were busy and we waited about 20 minutes for a booth. It took a while for someone to help us, but they were busy. Finally a nice girl came up to serve us who said it was her first day. No problem. We told her what we wanted and waited for it to come out. They seated another 4 top for her at the same time and she already had a 3 top she was tending to. It took quite a while to get our drinks, and when our food came out there were a few things missing. The runner was the one who brought out food out and when we noticed we had missing items, we waited for the server, which again, it took a while for her to come back. We let her know what we were missing and she went back to the kitchen. The table behind us was missing things too. We ended up getting two of our missing items, but my husband continued to wait for his side order of home fries. By the time we were done eating, my husband had never received his home fries, and we decided, whatever, it’s pointless. When we received the check, we were charged for the side order of home fries, and I let my husband know. We had spent so much time waiting for anything we needed, we decided to just pay for them and get out. My husband let me know they took an order of home fries to the table behind us earlier when the runner brought out their missing items and he hears her say after she gave them what was missing “and here’s some free home fries”. Our server put our home fries in, and the runner took them to another table so they got them for free and we paid for them, but never got anything for our trouble of course. We were not impressed my our food either. I usually leave good reviews, but this experience was one of my worst at a restaurant, so I wanted to voice it. I felt very bad for our server. For her first day, they put wayyyy too much on her and gave her the largest tables in there at that time. Not only that, no one helped her or came to check on her tables. With all the errors between us and the table behind us, I was expecting a manager or someone more experienced to come and help or apologize at some point, but nothing. Our server was so overwhelmed she was crying at one point, and I reassured her, it was okay and she was doing just fine. I did not feel like it was her fault, it was a bad situation, and I wanted to...

I generally don't leave negative reviews but our breakfast this morning at Bella Vida was so disappointing I wanted to make sure another diner would think twice before ordering what I did. Prior to this experience, Bella Vida has been one of our go-to options as we have a child with celiac disease and one who is a vegetarian and they are very accommodating and a place were you feel safe ordering GF food. We also have recommended them numerous times to our renters and to family and friends when they visit the area. After today. I will think twice before going again and before continuing to recommend. With our servers endorsement, I decided to try the HHI Shrimp Hash which is described as having Cajun grilled shrimp, chorizo and hash with over easy eggs. The dish arrived and was NOTHING like the description. What you would expect the star of the dish to be, the shrimp, were honestly barely edible. They looked like mangled pieces that maybe made up a total of 3 shrimp. They were steamed or boiled, ZERO seasoning and definitely not grilled and had no Cajun flavor. The sausage tasted more like kielbasa, very little flavor and no spice to it and the hash consisted of oddly chunked, overcooked mushy potatoes with large mushy chunks of green peppers and onions; no caramelization whatsoever. The dish lacked not just a Cajun spice but any spice at all. For a price of $13.25 I was expecting it to be at least as advertised. The only redeeming part was the eggs were cooked well. I waited to eat about 10 minutes hoping the waiter would show up to ask how things were but he did not show back up at our table until we finally flagged a waitress down to get our bill. I ate the eggs and sausage as I was hungry (and clearly not getting the service to order anything else) but when he did come I showed him the dish and said how disappointing it was. He nodded and said he was sorry to hear it, cleared the plates and brought the bill. I would have at bare minimum thought a manager would stop by, a small credit given or a $10 gift card to try them again would have been offered. Nothing. My husbands breakfast was certainly better but arrived barely room temp (he ordered the Southern Belle). I would NOT recommend the HHI Cajun shrimp -...

My husband and I visited Bella Vida Cafe for breakfast earlier today, and unfortunately, our experience was disappointing. We were seated at a table in a section serviced by a waitress who was actively attending to her other tables. A table of six, seated just a minute before us, was promptly given water and attended to.

Despite being in her section, my husband and I waited for 10 minutes without any acknowledgment. A waitress from a completely different section who came over to serve us. This young lady was kind, attentive, and professional, and I truly appreciated her effort.

However, it was clear that the waitress assigned to our section intentionally ignored us. She continued to check on her other tables while visibly avoiding ours, despite looking in our direction multiple times. It’s worth noting that my husband and I are Black, and the other patrons in the cafe were white. Based on the service—or lack thereof—we received, it feels evident that our treatment was rooted in racial bias.

Even if race were not a factor, the actions of the waitress assigned to our section were still unacceptable. Ignoring any customer, regardless of background, is poor service and unprofessional.

I am writing this review at 12:15 PM, less than 15 minutes after leaving the cafe, because of how upsetting this experience was. No one should feel unwelcome or ignored in any establishment, and it’s disheartening to encounter this kind of behavior in 2024. I hope Bella Vida’s management takes this feedback seriously and ensures that all patrons are treated equally and respectfully...