Michael Z.
Yelp
I was expecting great things from a business that has enough money to pay for highway billboards and exit signs for their business. The experience fell short.
First, the ambiance -- the cafe was cluttered, and the tables way too close together. If they removed a stack of beer on top of some chairs on the left side of the room, there would be enough space to spread the tables. Only in NYC would having these tables so close to each other be acceptable, and there, it's because the cafes can't afford big spaces. Not the case here. I decided to order to go, as most of the small tables were occupied by laptop users, and I did not want to sit at a 10 person table.
I went to the counter, and looked over a copy of the menu on a clipboard to place my order. Half of the menu was being covered up by the clerk, because those items were not being carried (certain sides, soups, and drinks.) A second clipboard had a list of some high-priced coffee drinks, to replace the ones on the original menu. There were about 12 sandwiches/entrees visible on the menu. I proceeded to order one -- and was told that it was sold out, and also all the other hot sandwiches were not available, because the prep for the week hadn't been done or they had already run out, it wasn't clear. No matter -- but that reduced the amount of items to choose from by nearly half!
I ordered a sandwich called "The Manor". It was a prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, and roasted pepper sandwich, and a cup of a Carrot Ginger Soup.
I gave my name, paid, and started to browse the shop. First warning sign for any retail store: if they fail to put visible prices on the majority of the items, the prices are very high, or worse, may change depending on the mood of the clerk. The items that were priced were often astronomical. About the most reasonable one I saw was a bag of vegan marshmallows for $6 (the same size as a $1.50 bag of conventional name brand ones in a supermarket.)
After about 10 minutes, the younger of the two cooks brings me out my sandwich, in the to-go box. When I mention to him that there's also a soup, he looked confused. He then went back to the visible kitchen, found the order ticket, and after more confusion, the older chef then started to make a batch of the soup from almost scratch! The clerk was selling something that wasn't ready to be sold! I watched as the other chef was adding ingredients, taking a small bowl to taste test for himself, and then adjusting some more. Over 10 minutes AFTER I was handed the sandwich, the younger chef comes to me with a bag, apologizing for the delay as they reheated the soup. So, he lied about what he was going, and also they weren't keeping track of orders!
The sandwich was made with fresh, tasty ingredients, but for about $14, it was disappointing. It was made on a 6-inch section of a skinny, 1-inch wide ciabatta bread. There might have been a total of 1 ounce of prosciutto on the entire sandwich, but I also might be generous with that amount. (Even if they paid as much as $20/lb for the meat, their cost was just over a dollar for the amount of meat on this $14 sandwich.) I was given napkins with the sandwich, but placed INSIDE the box with the sandwich, so of course, some of the napkins were soiled by the food and dressings.
The soup was tasty, with a generous amount of ginger. It was served with a few small chunks of rather stale bread with a hint of olive oil on them.
Maybe this works for the tourists, and the desperate highway travelers ever since the diner closed, but as a Sullivan County local, I won't be coming back anytime soon. Overpriced, poor service, bad ambiance.