08/30/09

Pleasant atmosphere, great location.

by Kaitlyn918

The wait was long, the service was so-so and the food was nothing spectacular. All that said, I liked the place. The menu was original. It has character and I really dug the outdoor patio seating. In their defense it was Saturday mid-morning when me and 4 of my friends decided to give it a try... Can't hold it against them for being slammed during prime weekend brunch hours. I will definitely go back, but will need to be a little more strategic about my timing...

• Pros: Original menu, great space and outdoor seating
• Cons: Long wait time during weekend brunch.

06/27/09

ABSOLUTELY THE WORST SERVICE I'VE EVER HAD!

by kilo2

The food was just ok, but the SERVICE WAS ABSOLUTELY THE WORST service I've ever had in a restaurant. We were 2 couples plus a baby. We wrote our name on the sign-in list at 11:50am on Saturday, June 27, and waited over an hour to be seated. The first time our name was called, when the host/man found out we had a baby in our party, he said we would have to sit outside (our preference anyways), so would have an additional wait; they didn't seem pleased to see the baby at all. We were waiting on a bench just around the corner from the front entrance, since the front was jammed with waiting people, servers running in and out of the restaurant, and didn't have much shade. But the host/man did find us there the first time. Then, we proceeded to wait and wait, until finally one of our party went to ask someone how much longer it would be, and found out they had seated a few other parties ahead of us. The host/man claimed he called our name, but we asked why he didn't try to find us just around the corner where we were originally? He just said he called our name a few times... We eventually got seated another 15-20 minutes later.

We then ordered and ate our lunch at a reasonably relaxed pace, and after paying the bill, proceeded behind the restaurant where we had parked. Our friends with the baby left ahead of us, and as we were getting into our car, a man walked over and asked us why we had parked there. We said we just had lunch there. He said but the parking was only for people eating at the restaurant. We said we just finished lunch at the restaurant, paid the bill, and were leaving. He said why were you parked here for 4 hours? We said all we did was eat lunch and leave. I looked at the time (~3:00pm) and said we were here 3 hours (not 4) because we weren't seated for over an hour! This man did not believe a word we said and continued in his accusatory tone to ask us where we had sat for lunch. We pointed to the outdoor patio and said to talk to the waiter. We then asked to speak to his manager. He said he was the manager. We asked to speak to the owner. He claimed to be the owner as well. (We found out later that he lied about being the owner because he certainly didn't look like the pictures of Bruce Marder we found.) So we said we were never coming back and would post our restaurant experience on all the review websites. He just nodded and said ok, and asked us to calm down while it was clear he still didn't believe we patronized the restaurant. During this awful experience, we noticed a tow truck watching us at the entrance to the parking lot and figured this man had almost towed our car without even asking any of the patrons in the restaurant whether the car belonged to them!

An unbelievable experience! I do understand the initial wrong assumption of why our car was parked there for so long, but after a few words of explanation, would have expected an apology or at least an attempt to clear things up, but to completely ignore what we were saying and to simply continue accusing us of parking there without patronizing the restaurant was baffling and unacceptable.

We will definitely NEVER return and will urge our friends to do the same.

• Pros: nice location and outdoor patio
• Cons: POOR SERVICE, LONG WAIT, AVERAGE FOOD

07/06/08

Perfect brunch destination

by ejm985

A friend wanted to try Cora's, so we went for a late breakfast. Unfortunately, the wait for a table was so long that we wanted lunch by the time we sat down, but I was grateful once I got my meal. The breakfast options looked amazing, but I went with the hamburger salad that was recommended by our server. It was fabulous! It was a perfectly cooked cheeseburger on top of fresh butter lettuce and arugula and an assortment of fresh tomatoes. The dressing was the lightest combination of olive oil, salt and pepper - the perfect complement to the burger. All the servers were friendly and attentive and even provided water while we waited outside in for our table. I can't wait to go back!

• Pros: Excellent food, fresh ingredients, attentive service
• Cons: Long wait for table