Elisaveta L.
Yelp
I just went to Little Choc Apothecary and wanted to share my experience as it is still very fresh in my mind.
It is March 5th, 2023.
I had heard of this place many years ago, but had never gone before because I live in NJ, and honestly I would not drive across two rivers and pay tolls, just for a crepe. But it has always been on my radar.
And today I was in the area having brunch at a restaurant near by earlier and looked up Little Choc, and it was just a block away, so finally I was so excited to go and have one of the famous crepes, as a sweet treat after brunch. (I only had a small kale salad, so a vegan crepe sounded amazing). I don't normally eat deserts and this was even extra special. I was with my husband and I was happy for him to try the crepes as well, since he is not a vegan.
I have been a vegan for over 25 years and have always supported vegan businesses. This was a no brainer since I was in the area. So far so good. Super exciting!
As soon as we got in, we were asked by a tall gentleman if we were ordering to eat-in or to-go. I said we'd have the crepes at the bar. He said "I'll take your order in 15 min". He said they had a "full house upstairs". I understand. I'm glad your restaurant is busy!! After a little more than 10min (close to 15), I told him to let me know when I can place my order. He said in about 15min (again). I said I'd already waited at least 10min (I'm sure it was more). He came to take our order in 10min or so. So, thus far we had been sitting at the bar about 25-30min to just place our order. Two crepes and a smoothie. In about 10min my smoothie was delivered to me. So, 40min since I stepped into the restaurant I finally had a smoothie to sip on. Was the wait worth it? No!
Before my smoothie arrived I was honestly ready to just leave. But I had been there for close to 40min!!! Yes, that's a lot of wait for crepes. I'm sorry. I don't wait this long to get dinner. Period. We are not baking thick potato wedges. We are making paper thin crepes.
After another 20 minutes, our crepes finally arrived. They were good. Yes, we ate them. But the wait killed the mood.
1 hour of wait time to eat two crepes is not worth it at all. I will definitely not be going back, even if I end up being in the area.
By saying all this about the wait time, this does not mean I have no patience for the food to arrive. It's not my first time eating out. I hope this is understood and it was not only us who found the wait time unreasonable.
While we waited, here is what else occurred:
* 3 separate customers (each a pair) came and left because they were told they had to wait 30-35min for crepes.
* A person who had placed a delivery order called and spoke to the tall gentleman concerned why the food had not yet been delivered. They were told the delivery man just left. Which was true, because we saw the whole thing. The delivery man was leaning on his motorcycle for at least 30min waiting for the food.
* A customer who was seated upstairs came down to ask when their food was coming.
* A young woman who came after us and was sitting at the bar, asked how long before her crepe arrives (right after ours were brought to us). She was told it was ready. I don't know how that happened, when she came at least 25min after we had arrived.
I'm sure this review won't matter, since you are so popular. So, what's one not to flattering honest review?!
But here are my suggestions based on what I saw today.
1. Your staff needs to speed up the crepe making process. Crepes should be made faster! They are making thin crepes which don't take long to cook. I saw three hot plates for crepes and one person AT A TIME making crepes!! Everything took forever. As if there is no sense of urgency at all. You either need two people to make crepes when you are busy or you need the staff to work faster. The staff did not seem happy, they looked overworked. And they looked like they didn't care to speed up the process.
2. You are losing business and customers. It's unreasonable amount of wait time (50min -60min) for crepes.
I wish you continued success!
We definitely need more vegan restaurants, bakeries, eateries, shops...
Food - crepes were tasty. Our plating was not the best. Maybe the girls making the crepes didn't care to present them in the best way, if they heard our commenting how ridiculously slow it took for our crepes to arrive.
Service - slooooooooow. Not worth the wait.
Ambience - cute place. I took a look upstairs, however we ate at the bar. The tall gentleman was polite the whole time and so were we.
I gave one star just because we liked the crepes. Again, not worth the wait, though.