I wanted to love this restaurant from the moment I walked in. A Sunday brunch with friends let me experience the ambiance, delicious food, great pastries (thanks Amelie's), and rocking bloody mary's. From this description alone you'd expect a 5 star rating, but with this restaurant it's the service which destroys it. It often times feels like you're playing Russian Roulette with a 4 bullets loaded. I just don't understand it.
The first time we went it was magical. The second time we went (also with another couple) the service began to show its wear and tear. All the other times were a toss up between amazing and atrocious with no indicators to give you advance warning.
The last straw for me came after a very difficult day in which my wife and I were hoping Cafe Monet could turn it around. From the first impression we could tell the waitress would rather be having a root canal than take our order. This wasn't the first time we'd encountered that look in Cafe Monte, but with an almost empty restaurant (we went in early) you think she'd want to milk every ounce of tip she could
Attitude dripped from her monologue and our lack of alcoholic drink orders brought a sigh to her lips. All I wanted, nay... craved, was a chocolate croissant and an almond croissant warmed up. This was the text book definition of a SIMPLE order. I'll give you a second to figure out what happened next.
She screwed it up. She gave me a chocolate croissant and then an almond chocolate croissant. She didn't care less about the screw up. After tasting the incorrect almond croissant I asked for the correct one to be brought out. She snagged the plate and then disappeared. Actually, most of the time she was disappeared which is an amazing feat for an empty restaurant.
When the correct croissant finally came out it was cold. C'mon.... seriously? I asked for it heated up and received barely lukewarm. Suffice it say, my tip reflected her total lack of caring. I'm done with this place. If I want French I'll go to Georges Brasserie and if I want pastries then I'll go to Amelie's.