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| - Hi everybody!
This is a tough review for me because I shop at trader joes almost exclusively and my wife and I watched and waited for this restaurant to open. Granted it has been open for awhile it took us some time to get to it. I am not really sure it was open many times as we passed and were hungry. Finally we checked the menu and CHACHING!
So we moved it to the top of the list for trying and we were excited to come. As we only eat out on shopping day. Maybe too much. As usual whenever we eat at any restaurant we asked our "vegan" questions. We were told that someone there was a vegan nazi and if it says vegan it is, and this is very good.
I will say that i do trust that Pomegranate Cafe serves what they say they serve and the food was very high quality and very delicious. We shared the lentil burger ($12) that was on the menu board behind the counter. I really wanted to try the desserts but decided to wait till next time.
Everything was going great and we waited patiently for our food. Granted it was busy so it took a little time and this also is ok.
Here is where my problems begin. Bellieve me I do not want to give ANY business ANY time only 2 stars. Trust me i just don't and i feel bad for doing so however, I did say on my profile that the reviews i do are very important to me. I am the kind of person who does not mince words and you will know where you stand with me. If i see something i do not like i will say so.
That being said
Now I will say that I have worked in the restaurant industry since i was 16. I have done every side job known to everyone who has set foot into a kitchen. (explained later) I have helped build business for many. Though I do not have any degrees or anything I have seen many meals being sent to customers in many differents ways, and styles. Some were good, some were bad, some were happy, some were mad. But they all ate and they either came back or they didn't. Currently I work in not one but two very popular digs. I work very hard to make sure my customers are happy, and i know how hard it is to work in a small family place. I worked at a local chinese restaurant for 6 years and barely got a day off.
Do not get me wrong there is nothing wrong with the food here. my issue is with one small thing or two.
Why does a new business in the realm of Pomegranate (a higher class cafe which serves vegan food) charge a plate splitting fee which i believe was $2.00. Then give us our food on a paper plate. Please, this is ridiculous. We always split our food no matter where we go. It is pratically the only way you can stay healthy these days. Not to mention we believe that there was no more food for this charge. (for example: if there were more chips or pickles or fruit, then i do not have a problem with this fee. however I would say when asked to split. " OK, no problem, however there will be a $?.?? charge, and for that you will recieve ....) if i would have known this i would have gotten it to go and this review would be totally different. And in my humble opinion it is not a good idea to charge this fee in an uber difficult restaurant "genre".
Believe me there are lots of people like me who want food like this. Do not make it harder on yourself by adding on fees which really are not necessary! Are you not making enough money off of $0.25 worth of lentils?
I also have to say that I had trouble choosing something to eat from the menu, because many things were scratched off. ???? Were they out of that item? I think the thing that bothered me about this was there were so many that i wanted to try but could not. I saw many that had promise, as I am a vegan nazi and i really was stoked to eat here. It is my kind of place almost to a t. Too bad that did not work out.
Now for the side job part.
While we waited for our food i noticed that this restaurants dining room was not very clean. the floor looked as if it had not been cleaned for a few days, the windows were very dirty, and the window sills were covered, and i mean covered in dust. Complete with cobwebs. From what i could tell the kitchen was clean.
Here is how I see it. Please do not serve a $14.50 burger on a paper plate EVER! To me this says that the staff does not want to do dishes, If something is on your menu keep it there, when people find something they like they will come back no matter how much it costs if they know it will be there. Clean your dining room! it is uber, uber ,uber important that your customers see a clean dining room. it does not take that long and it will go very far impressing your customers, especially when you are first getting started. When a restaurant does not take the time to clean thier dining room they most likely are not cleaning thier kitchen as well. I hope this is not the case with Pomegranate because I really would like to try more food here. I only will know by stopping by again.
Thank for reading.
Late,
Greg
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