Question for the group. I will be back in the 'wood weekend after and my wife, the planner, wants to know where to go to brunch on Sunday. Anyone have a favorite they’d like to reccomwnd? (I ask knowingly).
For a nicer brunch, madre and hummingbird are solid.
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First Watch and Press Crepes and Coffee (Coffee and Crepes?) downtown are new and lowkey. Coquette of course. Apparently Madre is good for brunch but we haven’t been.
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Only issue with Press is that they’re slammed on Sundays. Or at least they were last Sunday.
I’m a big fan of Wye Hill brunch
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I’d also like to add The Flying Biscuit and Simply Crépes to the list. Can’t go wrong with either. First Watch is a good slightly cheaper option too.
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The new Drift Coffee & Kitchen on Wade Ave by the Whole Foods is really nice.
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If you like casual, Libations 317’s “Create your own” biscuits and bowls are a winner for me.
For more sit-down service, Irregardless is a time-honored choice.
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I love(d?) Capital Club, but I gotta say I was a little bothered when we made a big effort to get babysitting to fit in one last dinner there before closing and they just casually stayed open since. Doesn’t help the game pie I got gave me food poisoning.
On the flip side, it finally spurred me to experiment and recreate their Rahmschnitzel, which I’ve nailed, so I now feel ok with whatever happens. In a tumultuous restaurant market, learning to cook well has been a real source of comfort.
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Flour and Barrel (at the bottom of the West condos near Smoky Hollow) is finally opening to normal people on Monday.
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Yeah, too bad that the NIMBYs off of Glenwood killed a possible 30 story building that would be filled with residents who could have walked there easily.
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I ate at the new Alpaca for dinner last night. I am exited about having them walkable to me in Glenwood South. For those who don’t know where they are, they took over the former IHOP location on Hillsborough St. They even honor the original IHOP on a collage. It’s pretty cool!
As a long time fan of the original Mami Nora, I know that its menu is nearly identical, but its food prep and serving operates a bit differently. In any case, I am happy to have them there. I think that they also did a nice job with the renovation.
That said, and while eating my dinner, I noticed something odd on my receipt. There was an extra fee attached to my bill. While there is literally no table service whatsoever & you clean up after yourself like you are at McDonald’s, I did leave a 10% tip.
After finishing my meal, I asked to speak to the manager who was a nice (very) young man, and I told him that I was happy to have them in the neighborhood and that I enjoyed my meal. I told him how I was happy that they renovated the building and the history I had with it when it was an IHOP. As a side note, this is where my family ate breakfast the first morning after we moved to Raleigh in the 70s. I then asked him what these fees were for. I made sure to be pleasant so that I didn’t get into a confrontation. I really wanted to understand what this was. Well, after a few minutes chatting about it, he really couldn’t explain what it was other than being part of the POS (point of sale) built into the system. I asked if it was a credit card fee that I could avoid in the future by paying cash. He said no. I told him that it was deceiving that it is added if he couldn’t explain why the customers are being charged. He did mention that there’s a sign at the register that says there are extra fees, which there is but I didn’t see it when I was paying because I was looking at the cashier during the transaction & the sign is taped to the lower section of the register. In any case, I told him that it was all well and good that the sign was there but it came after you had already gotten your food and was at the very end of the process. He mentioned that other customers had come to him as well about the very same issue. I could tell that he was uncomfortable with the entire conversation but I was calm and pleasant and made sure that he wasn’t feeling threatened. As I closed the conversation, I told him that this really needed to be fixed if there isn’t any reason for the extra fee. He then asked me if I wanted to take a dessert to go on the house. He said that he appreciated me talking to him (and I suppose being nice helped too), so I took home an individual flan to eat later.
So, @anon8787296 is this business practice legal? Does the city allow businesses to operate this way? Is there anything that the city can do to course correct them? I don’t want the place to be closed down or anything; I just want this fixed and for the business to operate above board. If in fact this business practice is legal, can the city do anything to make it illegal?
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I don’t know; I’ve not heard of the city having any rules regarding this issue, and I don’t believe we have a consumer protection-type office, but I will check! I do know that this is an issue that the Attorney General’s office likely handles, and we might be able to assist you in that process.
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Yeah don’t smash on waffle house…
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Is it the “other” or the “Supplemental fee” you were asking about? Or both?? Because yeah, an extra $2 “just because” - while not much money - is certainly still incredibly annoying and unnecessary, and I’d be petty enough to make a stink about it too. Like homie, if you need an extra $2 just charge $2 more for the damn chicken LMAO
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Ok, they’re gonna crush it here. This is fantastic!!!
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I did walk by there on Saturday and it looks like a good portion of the interior is complete. Lots of work underway with the outdoor patio portion. I believe they were originally aiming for an opening at the end of the Summer.
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