cafe des arts

the seating space was uncomfortable and sandwich and coffeesorderedwere inedible. long waiting hours and bad food. please do not waste your time in search of ambiance. very bad experience.

very rude staff especially one lady there . food was just average . weorderedwaffles which was hard , sandwich and crepe was average , lassi was too watery . definitely an overhyped place .

this has to be one of the most overhyped cafes in all of pondicherry and honestly speaking it was worth the hype
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on my recent visit to pondicherry i visited various cafes but this one provides good food within a good budget comparatively
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this place is usually crowded on weekends and to my suprise it wasn't crowded on a sunday saturday afternoon which is quite shocking
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the place has a beautiful ambience and vibrant colours
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weorderedsome croques which is a toasted sandwich filled with veggies and chicken. it was filling and honestly worth every penny
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alsoordereda freshly baked waffle which was good too
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the cafe also has some merchandise which are for sale to the customers

serving tapeworm infested salad with a side of attitude. perhaps the most disappointing eating experience that’ve had around the world. weordereda caesar salad for our child, which at first looked lovely but a few bite in and thankfully my wife spots a live tapeworm. but that was nothing compared to the manager’s sarcastic attitude. after finding the tapeworm we promptly sent it back. few minutes later the manager comes out passing a weird comment “oh looks like you guys found a little friend” and that they’ve cancelled the order. perplexed at her reaction of trying to down play the whole thing, we remind her about how dangerous it it specially if a child would have had it. she makes it worse, telling us how they serve ‘organic produce’ which can have such infestations. having had organic produce from all around the world i can tell you no cafe would ever say that. in fact anywhere outside india, a cafe would have been served with a big fat legal notice.

it does not end there. few minutes later she comes out with the bill, trying to make it sound as if she has done us a massive favour or not adding the salad in our final bill.

again shocked by her reaction and attitude, we pay the bill first and ask her to connect us with the owner or whoever is her boss. she blatantly refuses and keeps pushing us to let it go as she is the general manager and there is no one above her.

finally we get an email id of the owner, only with a snarky comment that she did everything that was right and does not believe that anything like this puts the health of guests in danger. simply because she and the staff eat there everyday.

so if we have it her way, it’s absolutely fine eating worm infested “organic produce” simply because she eats at the cafe everyday and nothing has ever happened.

name a place in the world where something like would be okay. where a guest would treated like this after something that’s a genuine health hazard. we understand that a mistake can be made. that leafy vegetables run the risk of something like this. but a nonchalant, sarcastic attitude towards the problem is where it makes things impossible to ignore.

so, either skip this place or check your salad before you eat cause the manager can’t check her attitude.

worms in caesar salad

weordereda caesar salad and there were live worms in the salad.

when i confronted the manager, she smiled and said ‘i heard you found a little friend in the salad’
as per her, this was no big deal.

this manager lady named adele de ( i may not have captured her name accurately) was brazenly rude and very shamelessly said to us that we can post this on social media if you want.

we had a toddler with us and i am never visiting this place again.

the food was below average and with this management, this was my first and last visit to it.

this definitely is the most instagramable cafe in white town but nothing beyond it.
there's such a hype about it that people line up outside their cafe before it's opens...so whenever you go, you will have to wait for atleast 45mins -1 hour.
weorderedone of their brekkie with juice, crepe and a pot of coffee.

the brekkie
hash brown was more like indian aloo bonda which was cold
egg fry had to be well done, means cooked yolks. the yolks were soft and wiggly.
bread - if i would tried biting and pulling the bread i would have definitely come out with lesser teeth!
sent the plate back as nothing was right, and one toast was half eaten.
the plate came back with the same half eaten toast, one deshaped and one still runny yolk. warm aloo bonda.
picture is of the first plate.

coffee, nothing to rave about this being a french cafe

crepe was a hybrid of dosa, crepe and maybe a pancake in some sticky batter. crepe was thick in the middle and crisp like a dosa on the edges. this we couldn't finish.
i feel with the kind of food and service they provide they are on their prices are on higher side.
i have them an honest feedback and told them the food wasn't good and their reply - ohh is it? and that's about it.

anyway my tip - if you want to just get yourself clicked against the mustard graffiti wall go in the morning around 8 or on tuesday as they are closed and you will have enough time to get the perfect picture and you can easily skip this cafe for better ones in the vicinity.
they check your vaccination certificate, so keep it handy.
would i ever go back? no never, everything was a let down from service, to food.
and i would never put it in my 'not to be missed places in pondy'

it's hyped place in pondicherry, just click picture outside the cafe & move out. the lady is just not bothered if food is served. they lie that place is full to indians and let the foreigners go in. weorderedvegan food yet they added egg to salad. weorderedcoffee & now i will hate coffee forever such bad taste thier coffee was. next we hadorderedopen sandwich and it 1.5 hour in making for 4 pieces. when complained the lady was damn rude. not worth visiting even if i get to eat for free

such bad service, they don’t really care how their food tastes and even if u give feedback they won’t take it.
went there because it was famous but i’ll suggest not wasting time here.
weorderedchicken sandwich, the worst and dry sandwich i ever had till date in my life
the iced latte was suppppsed to be iced, that was warm and they don’t care to serve you cutlery also they assume that the customer will have it with their hands…
you have to go and call them again and again to order, the worst food and service i ever had in pondicherry

disappointed.
the food was really bad.
weordereda crepe and sandwich which tasted disgusting.
staffs were laidback, i felt like they were reluctant to cater to their customers.
please avoid this place.

we decided to go here for breakfast based on what’s in the menu and the prices of what interested is. when we went there, the menu was completely different from what was displayed on zomato and the prices as well. weordereda few combos and were left utterly disappointed with the quality and the quantity of the food. juice was served in glass tea cup portions. portions of bread were tiny. scrambled eggs were runny. jam was bad. they might as well have not given any butter as the portion was almost non existent and it was frozen solid. the hash browns were like vegetable cutlets at a local bakery but worse. totally overpriced, daylight robbery, absolute waste of money, time and will never return, thank you.

this place is not worth the money at all. we hadorderedaffoqato and there was only ice in the ice cream. the food is not at all something to rave about. it was a very bad experience

very disappointing. visited the place post recommendation.orderedfudgy brownie and waffles. they wr dry as a dessert. and no other options available... not worth the money at all..

cafe des arts was recommended to me by a lot of people, and i thought i'd give it a visit while in white town.
i was welcomed by some intriguing and quirky wall art on a 19th century building. the interiors are great too, giving the homely vibe with comfortable seating. there's outdoor seating too, with well laid out tables. the restaurant walls are adorned with contemporary art and souvenirs: overall, very pleasing. there's also a book shelf with good options and a fashion boutique of sorts if you'd want to explore more. 5/5 for the ambience!

coming to the food, i must say that i expected much more. the veg options were limited, i ended up ordering the much talked about dessert crepes that was pretty average. the coffee iorderedwas decent, and so were the savoury crepes i ordered. the sandwiches were pretty underwhelming and could've been much better. but they definitely don't justify the price. a 3/5 for f&b. the service is prompt and helpful, no problems there.

i would recommend this place to shutterbugs, and to those who look for the experience and ambience, as opposed to the food in itself.

overall, a 3.5/5 from my end.

the legendary café of pondicherry. the most instagrammable café of pondicherry. how could we not go there. on our very first day here, we went there for a lunch.

location : white town

iorderedfor a mushroom crepe for myself which was served with a portion of herbed baby potatoes and lettuce salad. my friend aartiorderedan egg sandwich, which according to her had way too much filling and very little bread. whereas the opposite happened with amod, who hadordereda croque which had more bread to the filling ratio. vishnu hadordereda tomato tartine.

for drinks we called for smoothies, detox juices etc.

for all of the above our bill amount was approx. 2500 rs.

pros – ambiance, food, vibe. its really gorgeous. make sure you click a lot of pictures there.

cons – getting a place can be difficult. service is slow. slightly overpriced.

ttb rating – 4*

weorderedsandwiches. i had beacon cheese sandwich and he had a veg one (not sure which 1 exactly). we both didnt really like the bread, it was too hard and we couldn't even slice it using our cutlery. i alsoordered1 masala tea which was served quite bland. i asked the guy to boil it a bit more after which it tasted really good. my friendorderedwatermelon juice and had to ask for some more mint in it. the setting was really good though with picture perfect greenery and wall arts.