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| - I have been going to this restaurant pretty regularly since 2008. Please keep that in mind while you read this, so you know where I'm coming from and that I'm not just some random person who went here once and is just trying to start shit.
I'm an incredibly lactose intolerant person. I know my body, I know my allergies; it's pretty much like clockwork. I ask for a drink with soy. Within 30-45 minutes, I am violently sick in the bathroom - not once but twice (in an unobtrusive way). I feel like I am going to die, but I still want to stay and chat with my friend, so once my symptoms pass as I know they will if they are what I think they are, we stick around for another few hours, my friend still working on their beverage.
I know exactly how my body reacts to lactose - and that is how it reacted today. Lactose intolerance for me has always ever happened within 30-45 minutes of ingesting something that has been exposed to lactose. I talk with the counter staff when we pay and I tell them my drink made me sick, it's on the table half-consumed, I was hoping it could be taken off my bill. The staff then engage me in an aggressive and accusatory conversation that was inappropriate, unnecessary, too long, and made me feel attacked and uncomfortable.
I had one person tell me that they remembered the drink being made with soy, even though it was during a lunch rush 3 and a half hours ago - busy enough that people came in, looked at the crowd, and left because it was too busy. I have a really hard time believing that people have that good of a memory for something that happened that long ago in a busy restaurant when tons of other drinks are made and everyone is multitasking. Also, while the place serves vegan food it is not an entirely vegan place. There is non-vegan milk and so there is always the risk of cross-contamination. I don't know what happened, maybe they didn't rinse the nozzle thing between dairy and non-dairy lattes or something. We are all human. But that kind of cross-contamination, while it might seem minor, is something I notice because it makes me sick.
More staff and the owner were getting up in my face. First, they decided to lecture me about how the restaurant is "very good" and has a "very good reputation" and "we use all good organic ingredients" and they "take allergies very seriously" and are "absolutely positive" no mistakes were made on their part. I had a matcha latte, and they decided to tell me how the matcha was ceremonial grade and it was $30 for a teeny tiny little package. They put the package in my hand for me to look at. The fuck? They continued to talk about their excellent reputation and how they take allergies and cross contamination very seriously and how dare I question that blah blah blah.
They then proceed to tell me it must have been something I ate earlier in the day. I tell them I didn't eat anything else that day, and they said, "oh, well that must be why you were sick then." Uh, what? You want me to tell you exactly when I woke up and exactly what I ate all day so you can try to convince me that you know better than I do how dairy interacts with my intestines? Really? And then to lecture me about how good your restaurant is? Are you fucking kidding me? Well, apparently your reputation isn't more important than arguing with me in front of your entire restaurant for way to long about a $4 latte.
When something like this happens, the appropriate thing to do is to apologize. If you don't know how any cross contamination happened, you can say that, but if you aren't a completely dairy-free place you absolutely cannot guarantee it. Refund my drink (which they eventually did after this entire fucking kerfuffle) without taking up more of my time, and apologize that my experience was unpleasant. Don't lecture me about how good your restaurant is. Don't ask me what else I ate during the day. Honestly. Just fucking don't. If you say you are sympathetic to people with allergies and food restrictions, this is NOT how to prove it.
Over the years many of the prices have more than doubled, and while the recipes are more or less the same the portions are a little less than they used to be, esp with crepe filling. It went from being a place where you could get a $25 meal for 2 people (incl drinks) and now you can get a crepe and a latte for $20. Inflation is a thing but that price shift is fucking crazy. I miss the original owner and the original care and family-run vibe and coziness that attracted me to the place way back when. Since new ownership I've noticed downward slide in quality across the board in terms of food and experience and so I've gone there less and less over the years.
I will not be coming back here, ever, under any circumstances, unless there's new management. This kind of staff training and behaviour on the part of the owner is completely inappropriate and insensitive, esp when you are a common go-to spot for people with food sensitivities. TRY AGAIN.
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