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| - TL;dr --average to good food, good atmosphere, TERRIBLE service.
I'll start out with the good. Alo is adorably nestled out of the hustle and bustle of Old Town Scottsdale. The menu had variety but wasn't overwhelming. The atmosphere, on a good day, would have been charming.
I would rate the food quality fairly high, but only because I tasted the food on my friends' plates. Here is where we get to the bad. We arrived at Alo, excited about the almost-five-star rating, and cute location. We got there around 9:30 am, to beat the worst of the Scottsdale rush. As we approached, I noticed several grumpy faces on the half dozen people waiting to be seated/served. It looked busy, but not slammed. When we put our name in for a table and were told to wait about 15 minutes for a seat, the hostess seemed flustered and confused, almost as if she was surprised that anyone showed up to eat at the restaurant that morning. She asked us where we wanted to sit as if we had a choice, and as if it weren't her responsibility to find us an open table.
During the wait time, I witnessed at least one angry customer complaining to the hostess about the wait for his table or food. We were finally seated 15-20 minutes later, and it was at least another 10 minutes before a waitress came to bring our water. Someone came back to take out food orders about 10 minutes after that, and I am pretty sure it was a different waitress. It seemed like they didn't have assigned tables or sections. She offered one of the guests at our table gluten-free toast as a substitute for normal bread, which was a major plus.
We waited about 20 minutes for our food, which is a little bit on the long side for eggs/sausages/tea, but not completely unreasonable. When the food arrived, they forgot my food (or got the order completely wrong--still unclear). I sent back what they brought (not even CLOSE to my order), and awaited the replacement patiently. Also, my friend asked to be sure that her toast was actually gluten free, just to confirm. The waitress seemed very offended or annoyed that she would even ask, but confirmed that it was, in fact, the gluten-free toast.
My food never came. No one came back to check on us. No one refilled our water. No one brought us silverware (I had to go inside and ask the very confused hostess where I could get my own silverware). After we had been finished eating for OVER 20 minutes, our 11:15 appointment was quickly approaching so I gave up on my food. My friend went inside to ask for the check. She had to do this twice. Of course, when they brought the check, my food was still on it. We promptly sent it back, with no apology or question from the waitress about whether I actually wanted my food. The waitress seemed annoyed that we brought it up at all. My overall impression of the staff is that they had no patience for the customers, no desire to serve the customers, and generally no desire to be in business at all.
I've been to many a brunch in the Phoenix area, and most are INSANELY busy on a Sunday. The staff members are usually experienced and handle the rush with grace or at least tolerance. Mistakes happen, but one would expect an apology or remedy of some kind. I will not be returning to Alo Cafe or recommending it to any of my friends.
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