MC Cafe Bar

Scenario: 10.30 on a Wednesday morning at the Cafe Bar in Cathedral Square, Exeter, enter the cafe and stand around waiting to be seated. There are four other patrons at the time. Staff in evidence, one staring closely at an LCD screen on the cashpoint, one behind the counter and one in the background; speak up a bit to wife to wake staff.

Waitress: "Ah, yes! What would you like?" (Would have been nice to have been seated first.)

Wife: "We'd like a seat please. Anywhere?" Waitress: "Yes." So we sit down and are duly presented with menus from which we select iced coffee, fruit cake, coffee and a doughnut.

Sit reading the literature about how good ABode claims to be, harbouring thoughts about taking a table for our wedding anniversary in the restaurant. A few minutes in and waitress returns, "No doughnuts I'm afraid. Sorry about that, they're still being made and will take another fifteen minutes." Okay, skip the doughnut (but surely enough time has elapsed in the working day to have some ready. It doesn't say 'made to order with 15 minute wait' on the menu.)

Coffees and cake arrive. Coffees fine. Cake, refrigerated; butter with cake, unspreadably cold and solid. Is this the type of dining with which Michael Caines wishes to be associated?

Drink up, eat up, stand up, loiter at pay point. Still same number of people in the place but two staff having a discussion behind the counter. No one watching the tables. So we wait again, this time to pay, coming to the conclusion that it doesn't really add to the exclusivity by ignoring your customers. "Bet they'd soon be here to collect if we walked out," whispers wife. Funny, thinking the same myself! Noticed by staff behind counter. Bill totted up and then checked, then the 12% service charge is added.

Me: "Does that include the service charge?" Waitress: "Yes; should I take it off?" she volunteered. Ah, she knew it wasn't up to snuff but was still quick to include the charge.

Asked for the service charge to be removed. Quite honestly, given the staff:customer ratio at the time, the service should have been little short of perfect and had it been I would happily have forked over but given the poor service it should never have appeared on the bill. Goodness knows what it's like when it's busy! Ambience? There wasn't any.

"What a disappointment," we thought as we walked out past the rubbish bin just inside the cafe door.
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Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 3
Thursday, March 19, 2009