awful experience!!!!!!
a month ago i would have strongly agreed with terra cafe being voted bom breakfast, but unfortunately i now do not feel this way.
for years i've enjoyed eating at terra, mainly for the fresh delicious food! when my boyfriend and i invited his parents to join us at terra for brunch, we thought they'd fall in love with it! it was a couple sunday's ago, around 1pm, we walked in and were sad to see the sunday brunch wasn't going on. though this was a bummer, we quickly recovered and ordered some delicious food. it was very busy and as we looked for a table there were a few empty but completely dirty! mind you, i'm very understanding and know what it's like to work in the service industry. so, we sat down and waited. as multiple waitresses walked by, nobody stopped to greet us, nobody said they would come clean the table, nothing. this was annoying and went on for 5 mins or more. after trying to get someone's attention i just ended up grabbing a near by spray bottle and rag and wiping down our own table. shortly after cleaning the table then a waitress noticed us, grabbed the spray bottle from me and said "thanks". really? are you serious? "thanks"? shouldn't you be apologizing for ignoring us and perhaps ask if we need anything? because that's exactly what i would have done if i saw a customer having to clean their own table!
after this, we were rather annoyed and my boyfriend's parents already had an awful impression of this place from the start. as we sat and drank our coffee, we talked. and we talked for awhile. almost twenty minutes of talking we realized that we had no food. yes, it was busy but nothing and nobody acknowledging us. after we realized we had been waiting for a long time, we noticed orders that were the same as ours coming out, waiters looking around for who it belonged to, then taking it back to the kitchen? so, my boyfriend grab a waiter and asked about our food, the young guy said he'd check on it. the waiter returned with news that they ran out of the quiche, which was what two of us had ordered and already paid for! we paid for food that wasn't even able? why weren't we noticed immediately? as soon as they put in the order the kitchen should have told them they didn't have anymore! or at least have notified the staff as soon as it ran out! instead we paid, sat, cleaned our own table, and waited twenty minutes or more just to be told they didn't have our food? it was the most unprofessional thing i had ever experienced. the waiter did apologize, but it didn't make up for the completely shitty service we had received. it seemed almost that it was everyone's first day working at a job, ever!
after saying we could order something else (thanks), my boyfriend's parents decided on somethings else and ordered. but we continued to wait for the other food which still wasn't coming out. at this point, our patience had been pushed and we all began to get very angry and not even want our food. i walked up to the front and asked for the manager, he apologized and was nice, but didn't seem too put off by it. we just said we wanted our money back. i walked out as my boyfriends father waited for the manager to refund his card. on top of everything that had happen, the manager said he could refund everything but the tip that had been put on the card. really? you provide shitty service and can't even refund all of our money? and no less the tip that we put on the card before we realized we'd be getting the shittest service of our life?
so, it's safe and sad to say, i will never be returning to terra again. i'm a very easy going person, and again, know what it's like to work in the customer service industry (because i have for years). i expect people to be friendly, helpful, and nice. this was the complete opposite. i have never been so mad at a restaurant before. and the saddest part, terra does have really great food. too bad they lost two loyal customers because they couldn't hire a more experienced staff.