Sabrina's Cafe
Philadelphia, PA 19147-3808
Phone: (215) 574-1599
05/06/2008 Posted by cdphilly
I’ve been to this location once, and the second Sabrina’s location at 18th and callowhill three times. Each time the food has been great, although the French toast options that people rave about are actually a little too sweet and gooey in such big portions. The plain pancakes are some of the best I’ve had, and the chicken noodle soup is homemade delicious. My main issue is with their call-ahead “system” of seating. It worked fairly smoothly at the South Philly one, and the host there was nice. But each time I’ve tried the 2nd one, it has been a disaster. 1st time – didn’t know to call-ahead, after calling for reservations and being told they didn’t take them, five of us showed up as a walk-in and were told ˝ hour wait. As we watched many parties seated before us, we kept checking with the host, who finally explained about calling ahead, but still told us we’d be seated soon. 1 hr 45 min later, we were seated. 2nd time – now we knew to call ahead, we did so and were told 1 hr. Two of my party showed up quite early and were told our table was ready, but they were going to give it away because we weren’t all there. We ended up literally running down the street to be seated. 3d time – 3 of us called ahead, showed up on time, checked in a few times with the host as we waited and were told he had us, and continued to wait. After a whole list of people were seated, including 3 who just walked up, we checked in again and were told, “oops, I missed you. We’ll get you the next one.” He did not stop the party he’d just called and tell them there was a mistake, he instead seated them and left us waiting for another 25 minutes until the next table was free. When I challenged the host I was told, and I quote, “This is not normally my job, so it’s not my fault I missed you.” We never got an apology or acknowledgement of error. Despite the good food, it is not worth facing a “system” that doesn’t work and unprofessional staff who can’t run the “system”. We won’t be back.
Pros: yummy pancakes and chicken noodle soup, cozy inside
Cons: ineffective, inefficient seating system and rude staff
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