Stuart R.
Yelp
First, I'll say that I have been coming to this restaurant for the past seven years, and have probably eaten here 50 times, maybe more. Today was the last time I will eat here.
The food is generally decent, but has gone up in price to the point of ridiculousness. I had a chicken salad sandwich on a bagel, and coffee. $30. At a coffee shop.
The real issue is the abysmal service, which starts with the owners and trickles down from there. The last time I was there, a succession of customers kept sitting down at the shared counter/table, which seats 8 or so. I was the first. it was empty, and I sat at one end. "You can't sit there - someone is sitting there" said the owner, lumbering over, never looking me in the eye. "I don't understand," I said. "Someone is coming. You can sit there." He gestured to the other end and waddled off. I watched this happen three more times to three other customers (one couple, two individuals). No one ever came.
Today I sat at the same communal counter. Staff buzzed around me. No one paid the slightest bit of attention. After several minutes, another customer (older guy with heaps of gold jewelry) sat towards the other end. Within moments the slug-like hostess delivered him a menu and utensils. Shortly, a limping gum cracking waitress sidled up and took his order. I started to raise my hand to get her attention, but she spun the other way and disappeared. Another lady sat down. Instantly the waitress reappeared, smiling and animated. "Hi honey! Why you sittin here? You sure you don't want a table?" Within a minute she had her iced tea and two minutes later she had a corned beef sandwich in front of her. No one had yet said hello to me.
A guy sat down next to me and looked in vain for a waitress. He was ballsier than me, and got up, snagged the hostess, and said "I just want a bowl of matzo ball soup." The look on the hostess's face would have made Baby Jesus cry. The waitress returned and gabbed with her friend Miss Corned Beef, elbow on the table. I ahem'd and said "Excuse me, can I please order?" She rolls her eyes, straightens up like she weighs 400 pounds, and shambles over to me. I order. She doesn't say a word and trudges out of sight.
The food comes. The chicken salad is good, and the home fries are bland and oily. Some of the potatoes aren't really cooked through - crunchy. After a few minutes, the Matzo Ball soup guy wants to pay. No waitress. He grabs the hostess again, who is audibly exasperated. The waitress comes back around the corner, taking a few more swigs of her tall iced tea. She rings up everyone else at the table (with her little swipe machine) before getting to me. Not a word except "$30.48." The choices for tip on the machine start at 20% and go up from there. I type in 10%. She's not watching. She ambles away, heading back to that iced tea, which she refills from the machine.
I still have half my sandwich on my plate. An employee is standing doing nothing between me and the service window. I say "Excuse me - could you please grab me one of those to go boxes?" His answer? "Maybe." Is he being funny? No smile, no wink, so maybe not. I take my sandwich and head for the door.
This, friends, is typical. I know it's hard to get good help, but there is a whole parade of duds working at this place, obviously using the owner as their model for work ethic and hospitality. Everyone looks like death - pissed off and miserable. And $30.48 for a sandwich and coffee at a diner?
The loss of my business probably won't change a thing, but I'll be darned if I'll support this toxic business. Want a much better option? JP's Bagel Place in Hollywood, or the Bake Shack just down the street.