Aug 4, 2014

CACAO PRAGUE - HOT OR NOT?

I planned a visit the newly opened café CACAO, which is a short walk from the Palladium for a long time. CACAO is famous especially for its ice cream. How was my visit? Have to admit that it is sometimes better not to expect anything great.


I was impressed by their interior at first sight, but unfortunately, it was also the last thing that I liked. You can choose between sitting on the terrace, or choose a table inside. I was amazed by a large mirror; a really beautiful piece. Overall, the combination of brown and turquoise color is very eye-catching.





And  finally the order. I wanted to try some cake because of the rumour that they have a great offer of tasty cakes. I could not choose. But not because the offer was so rich. They had NO CAKE in the showcase. I do not know exactly if there is some crisis of flour, so I decided for ice cream sundae. When it came to ordering, the conversation was pretty close to a bad comedy.

Waitress: What do you want?
I: Ice cream sundae Yogurt L.
Waitress: Say what?
Me: Well one ice cream sundae Yogurt.
Waitress: But you have to say which kind of yogurt.
Me: (I took the menu and pointed on the item) This!
Waitress: Ohhhh.
Me: What flavour of ice cream do you use for this sundae? The description says a fruit ice cream, but no specification.
Waitress: I'll ask.

I do not know whether this waitress had to work the first day, but knowledge of the menu is really basic stuff. If the description of food was complete, I would not be so stupid to ask what flavour I actually get. However, this classy comedy continued. She returned about three minutes later.

Waitress: (in hand with a paper in which was described the composition of meals) This. Banana and strawberry. But you can choose a different flavour.
Me: Well, I'll try a different combination.
Waitress: First you have to go see what we offer and then you can order.
Me: (in my head I thought that this is what any person who has at least a bit of logic would do) Yes.

So I'm going to the ice cream counter and come back to the table.

Waitress: What you will have?
Me: Mango and vanilla.

The waitress left and I was actually hoping that I might get something here. What a foolish thought! Just a minute later waitress came back.

Waitress: This is a special mango ice cream, and therefore more expensive.
Me: Well, in that case, give me what you describe in the original combination.
Waitress: But it cannot be changed. The sundae is already being prepared.
Me: (very disgruntled tone) So maybe you ask me first before you charge a mark-up, am I right?!
Waitress: Hmm.
Me: So I want the original recipe.

When the waitress left, I was shocked because of several things:
the waitress does not know the composition nor the names of food dishes
the waitress is unwilling to help and makes you feel like ohhhh come on, why on the Earth you want to order anything at all?! 
the waitress does not notify you in advance that some flavours are of extra charge .. somehow she expects you to know .. but if someone does not know the menu, it is then difficult to expect customers to read their mind and every little sign

To sum up, I had a strong urge to put my sundae on her head. There were 6 waitresses serving at CACAO that Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately zero interest from them. None of them ever asked, if I wanted something to drink.

The sundae was good, but after the debate I went really crazy, so I lost my appetite. My friend had a Piña Colada, she did not seem to be in heaven. If you want a cocktail, read the warning above on the picture (I suppose that cocktails are a rocket science).



Unfortunately the website does not work, you will find a sign New concept coming spring 2014. So I do not know who overslept. Perhaps my time is flying at lightning speed or someone did not realize that the summer holidays actually entered to the second half. What can be found on theri website is a link to Yelp and you can reserve a table. That's all. 

This experience unfortunately shows that service in some places of Prague is still below the average. Yesterday I was having dinner at a restaurant KOGO on Wenceslas Square, where I experienced in addition to an excellent sushi an excellent service too. Apparently, it is still a huge risk in Prague to get a desired service; sometimes everything  is as it should be and sometimes the level of service is at a low ebb. In this case, no other review was possible to write. I was looking so much for this new concept and I was disappointed like I was not in long time. 

4 comments :

  1. V Praze klasika, bohužel.

    ReplyDelete
  2. S tim nadelaj, zlatej frozenjoghurt co? Samoobsluha a je to... Fajn recenze, myslim ze servirka z toho mela asi jeste vetsi gulas v hlave nez ty ;)

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  3. Oproti tomu je snad zlatej i mekac, kde mi ten poharek daji bez kecu :D Nutno dodat, ze servirka se pak u stolu neobjevila :)

    ReplyDelete

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