Café de la Presse
€€€ Brunch
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Unfriendly staff. And the coffee.... Omg.... Disgusting. I complained about their coffee, returned it back to the bar and asked for some tea instead(safe choice). Apparently its not in their rules to accept returns ( really????????? ). After a while they accepted to replace my coffee with a tea. Even though the same price, i had to pay 30cents more. At that point I said to myself to just let go... I took the tea and left. They have a very nice environment and nice people hanging around. But staff rating 0/10 and coffee quality 0/10.
The description is misleading: there is indeed a free hotspot... But it does not work!
Nice staff, pretty cool place, trendy crowd. BUT No WIFI for months! And really dirty bathrooms since the very opening. The owner seems to not care abt "details" which is a bit scary if you think about food ingredients.
The atmosphere is pretty decent, there's wireless internet, it's a good place to work or study. The coffee is good. On the other hand, the food really is quite overpriced for what it is. The bathroom is horrible. And the service is really bad. I've worked in a coffee shop myself, so while I tend to be empathetic to customer service, it really irritates me when I can tell that the service is just bad, period. We're talking a staff of 4-5 taking 10 minutes to serve one coffee per customer, with a very small amount of customers. The servers seem to be very impressed with themselves, and really don't bother, at all. I've gone a few times, but eventually gave up because the service was just that off-putting. Go to xxx if you're looking for good coffee and very good service in Brussels.
The staff are really unfriendly. I tried to ask for a pain au chocolat. Granted I am not French speaking but she looked at me like I had two heads and made a big deal of pretending not to understand me. Incredibly stuck up. The salads are terrible. The sandwiches are terrible and its cost around 4 euro for a tiny sandwich. The only nice thing is the quiche and apparently that's not even made there. They are also extremely inefficient - they should have one counter for coffee and one for food or at least have a different person preparing food and taking orders. The coffee is nice though!
staff need to train how to handle their clientle , this is nothing to compare to American coffe shop , misorganization, always q's , waiting 10 minutes to serve a coffee, personell sometimes not paying attention, sometimes instead of serving properly and quick they are chatting...that's why I don't go there anymore , that area is my working place , but still many better place to go w/ better services.
It's just trendy... that's it... the mixed crowd makes the place. Food and service is very average, not in relation with the relatively high prices. And finally: avoid the bathroom, it's the worst in town.
Horrific experience when you want all you want is a Sunday brunch. Went there this Sunday with four friends. Our table reservation wasn't kept. We had to queue for 10 minutes to be corrected. Then appalling organisation - more like a cheap buffet than a cafe. We had to queue for 15 minutes to purchase our coffees and brunch and wait for them to be made. Then we were in the queue for 45 minutes in the brunch line. Eventually we got so sick of waiting, we asked for a refund on our food (which the waitress initally refused to give us, only when the manager intervened did we get our money back...) Organisation of the room is appalling - there are three poorly defined queues in the front of the cafe, so everyone is stuck together. How hard would table service be, even if you had to wait, at least you would be waiting sitting down and not standing for over an hour. Avoid at all costs.
The last place I would go for Brunch and I am very rarely this unsatisfied. You really have to push me to breaking point which almost never happens except here. If you don't know something is wrong then you can't change it, so here goes: I have been there twice for brunch, and twice I almost wanted to kill the staff. The first time I went, it seemed great. Good location, cosy & homey interior design and good atmosphere. I was lost with the vast array of choice. So, I asked the buffet waiter how the brunch worked, to which he responded he had just finished his shift, was busy doing something else and that I had to ask the waitress behind the counter. So I did. When I asked the waitress "how does the brunch work", she tells me that I have to ask the waiter (the one in charge of the buffet). So back to him I go. Then he explains that I can have a selection of food but that I have to pay at the counter and give him the ticket and only then can I get served. So I go to the counter and order 1 brunch and 1 bagel for my partner who was waiting and reading his newspaper at a table outside in the sun. The waitress then tells me I cannot order and pay for both a bagel and a brunch at her till. I can pay my brunch with her but I need to order and pay for my bagel at the other till... I'm tired, hungry, hungover and all I want is a relaxing sunday. By then I was fuming but I kept my cool. She sees my face and says "listen you can pay both the brunch and the bagel here, just give my colleague your ticket after". I give her colleague my "bagel ticket", fill my dish with food and sit outside. 20 minutes later still no sign of the bagel. We wait, and finally a waiter comes out, clearly pissed off. "Who ordered a salmon bagel?". We raise our hands and he comes up to us and starts giving out to us: "how the hell am I meant to know where you are sitting if you don't have your table marked on your ticket!" I was so insulted by this incompetent person that my face turned red with furry, and I explained to him with the little patience I had left that it was the waitress that told me to give my ticket to the kitchen. Then he gives me a lecture on what I was suppose to do that I shouldn't have given my ticket bla bla bla. I really had to bite my lip to say nothing but I wasn't far from getting up speaking my mind or worse. Today I am speaking my mind. I always give places a second chance, I wouldn't be objective if I didn't. So back I go for a second round and it was no better. I remember that their are 2 tills, one for bagels and one for brunches so to avoid problems and confusion I order a bagel. But to my surprise, the bagel till was broken!! So I had to wait in line behind the brunch till and lucky me there was a table of 10 people trying to pay the bill separately. Who took extra eggs in their brunch? You ordered 10 brunches and only 7 have been paid... "Where are the oethr 3? Who is going to pay for them?" Nightmare. While this discussion was going on I was waiting to pay and couldn't. Nobody suggested that I quickly pay my 10€ bill. Nope! Just stand there and wait your turn, which I did with a sarcastic smile thinking to myself "this is the last time I will come here"... The waiters and waitresses are students who have never worked in their lives ( I was there during the summer months). Terrible and unpractical flow with their stupid 2 till system, they don't communicate well between each other, they are clearly not a team, the manager/ owner isn't there so no leadership, nobody takes responsibility for their actions and more importantly these people are being paid to do their jobs correctly which they are clearly not. (I was a waitress fro 4 years, I know what I'm talking about). Completely overrated, I put it down to bad management and terrible organization. Shame really because it would be great to have a cool easy going brunch place in that area. But in reality, the last thing you want to do on a sunday morning is go there, its a headache and it could ruin your day.
J’ai passé de bons moments avec les amis, bon endroit plein de monde et bon service.
Infos
1000 Brussels city, Belgium
Carte
Opening hours
- Monday
- 07:30 - 20:00
- Tuesday
- 07:30 - 20:00
- Wednesday
- 07:30 - 20:00
- Thursday
- 07:30 - 20:00
- Friday
- 07:30 - 20:00
- Saturday
- 07:30 - 20:00
- Sunday
- 07:30 - 20:00
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