Angela B.
Yelp
I wanted to love this place, I truly did. I don't enjoy complaining but this particular experience deserved some attention from a manager, at minimum.
When we first walked in there was no greeting from anyone. There was no sign that said open seating. But after we inquired we discovered that it was open seating. The first table we went to was very dusty and had fibers on it. My very first impression was... ew, gross. But I was hungry, and it was dinner time so we stayed. The server mentioned that the table looked dirtier because the sun was shining on it. Truth of the matter was, the table was dirty and the sun was just exposing it. Soon after, they closed the blinds but didn't wipe the table.
Things got better for a while and I was able to look beyond my initial first impression. We started off with the homemade hummus and the homemade salsa. Both tasted incredible. We also tried the Mac & cheese, burger, and portobello sandwich, all of which were very good. Our daughter wasn't a fan of the broccoli salad so she swapped that out for more macaroni.
I expected homemade chips with the $15.00 portobello sandwich and had I known they weren't, I probably would have substituted for a different side. I had assumed that with the word "homegrown" in their name and our homemade appetizers, that everything was made fresh, including the chips. No biggie. I just made note of it for a future visit because at this point, I would have dined there again.
The server did great until the very end of our dining experience. Our adult child, (who is also a server) was so disgusted by the sudden change of attitude, that she wanted me to stiff the server. But I just don't have that in me to ruin someone's day like that, so I didn't.
I had ordered apple crisp for dessert and was expecting a warm apple crisp with a nice warm crunchy topping. Instead it was what looked like sautéed apples with a colder granola oatmeal topping thrown on top. It wasn't baked with the dessert and I thought it was weird. I questioned it with the server and she said it usually is baked then walks away. I was stuffed so I was taking it home and didn't think much else of it. I was going to pop it in the air fryer at home and eat it once my food settled because I was full.
After I gave her my card to pay I pulled one of the apples out of the bowl to try a bite and it had a hair intertwined in the apple (pictured in this review). I was instantly disgusted! It made me start questioning everything I had just eaten and wondering if I should have inspected my food better vs having blind trust. I was grossed out!
Another server was walking by and I said "excuse me, can you please stop our server before she swipes my card because this has hair in it and I don't want it". She was very pleasant and went got our server's attention. I showed her the problem, photographed it for my review, and figured it was no big deal to remove hair crisp from our bill.
Our server then approached our table with an attitude, acting as if she didn't believe me. She asked to see the hair, so I showed her too. At this point, I was getting annoyed. I felt as if she was viewing me as someone looking for a freebee and that's not how I operate.
There were no apologies. No manager confronted the situation. And we left without even hearing "thank you". It was bizarre.
I can deal with a lot of things, but the hair in my food is where I draw the line. I will not return here. It's poorly managed and there are too many good places in this city to eat to be treated the way we were treated.