Famous Toastery — Restaurant in Winston-Salem

Famous Toastery on Hanes Mall Blvd - Customer service is everything in a place of business and on this day.......FAILED. When we first arrived, we were told it was a 15 minute wait. Okay that’s fine. As we are waiting, a couple comes in after us and asked for a table for 2 and were told the same wait time. They sat down and began to wait but within 5 minutes were given a table. Wait a minute I know this is not the game we are playing. 😠

When we finally were given a table. It took 10 minutes for someone to come to our table. As the waitress is taking our order, she never makes any eye contact with us. She’s talking to us but looking across the room. Rude. She brought us our drinks and one of the glasses had yellow sticky stuff all over the glass. Ask for another glass and there was no acknowledgement of yes that glass is dirty let me get you another one. She just picked it up and took it from the table.

We waited for 45 for food just for 2 people. Their motto is every server is your server was not the case today. No one check on us, asked if we needed anything, apologized for the wait or let me check on your food. The service was horrible. It was chaos and the restaurant wasn’t even crowded. Another table spilled there drink and the servers all just walked passed it spilling onto the floor and no one brought a mop or towel to clean it up. They looked at the guest and kept moving. It took them over 15 minutes to go clean up the spill. 😡

We waisted almost 2 hours in there that I can’t get back. Food was mediocre, service was horrible, and the tables were nasty with leftover plates and food on them. Don’t let me get started on the kitchen. We were sitting in front of the kitchen door and every time it opened, I could see how dirty it was. The area showing wasn’t even where they were cooking so I didn’t understand why is was so dirty. Food and trash on the floor. Just stuff every where without a place to go.

I really like the location downtown. I have no complaints with them. The new location on Hanes Mall Blvd was just a bad experience and we will not be returning. Acknowledge your customers and go the extra mile to make everyone...

We came today for my birthday brunch. I was so excited for the mimosa flights! We got there at 10:30 and right away were disappointed that the only handicap accessible curb on the property left us covered in flowers from overgrown trees. Once coming in we were told it would be a 10-15min wait. We weren’t seated until 11:05. It was also very clear during this time that there were tables where some people in the party were eating while others at the same table had no food, one woman got her side of toast after finishing her meal, and we couldn’t tell hosts from waiters from bussers.

Once sat our waitress came over to take our food and drink order after about 10mins. She informed us that they were out of orange juice but we still ordered other mimosas. We never saw that waitress again until we were getting up from our table. We tried to catch her attention twice and she looked at us and walked away.

A different waitress brought our food out about 40mins later and it was on so many plates they couldn’t even fit on the ridiculously small table. My mom got the wrong type of toast so we asked for the correct kind and never got it or saw that waitress again to ask (hence why we tried to get the attention of our original waitress) we then had a man and another woman both bring us our check making it feel like we were being forced out of the restaurant. The food was good except the very very burnt bacon (especially since it’s $4 extra with a regular two egg breakfast meal).

Overall it is very clear this restaurant is missing some serious structure and management. No one’s role was clear, there were waitresses working both indoors and outdoors, and you should never have 3 people waiting on the same table. They need sections and clear roles which it’s obvious they haven’t been given and the quality of service and food is greatly declined because of it. The price point is also incredibly high for the quality of the meal. With a couple changes and good management this could be a great establishment, but today we were very disappointed and sad to have wasted 2 1/2 hours of my birthday getting this...

First time here, visiting from Atlanta. It was a little confusing figuring out how to get inside. There are a lot of doors here, most of them locked with signs pointing to the next door which is also locked. We eventually figured out there is a main entrance around the building.

We were seated in a secondary dining room down some stairs. First thing we noticed was how loud it was in there. I guess the high open ceiling turns the room into a big echo chamber. There were two young ladies working as servers in this room. They didn’t have specific sections so it was nice to be able to ask either of them when we needed something. They were both pleasant.

My wife ordered the Cali Benedict, and I ordered the Famous Hash, both of which come with Hollandaise sauce. When a young man brought the dishes to us, he said “Cali Benedict, no Hollandaise sauce….” My wife immediately corrected him saying she did want the Hollandaise sauce. He turned around without saying anything and left, later returning with the Cali Benedict with the sauce and set it down. He never apologized, in fact never said anything after being told the dish was not right. The English muffin with the Cali Benedict was cold and chewy and the eggs were room temperature. The breakfast potatoes were a mix of warm and cold. The toast that came with my Famous Hash order was also cold and chewy. The hash was barely warm. An unsatisfactory breakfast for which we paid $42.

I realize we could have asked to speak to a manager and complained in person but we were in a hurry to get on the road to Atlanta. I would like to think the issues we experienced were a one-off, since any restaurant can have a bad day. With other choices for breakfast in this area, however, we will not likely return, due in large part to how noisy it is in there. The many young people eating there did not seem to be bothered by that so I suspect our annoyance at the noise level was due in part to us being in our 60’s.

They have an amazing menu and I do recommend folks try this Famous Toastery for yourselves and hopefully you’ll have a more positive experience...