I want to preface this post by saying that last fall, I ate lunch at Creation Cafe. The service was great, and my food was fresh and flavorful; there was nothing to complain about. That’s why I chose to eat there again, just four months later. Unfortunately, my second experience wasn’t so great.
Twice a year, a slew of Indianapolis restaurants host an event called Devour Downtown. It gives people the chance to try the restaurants that they might not normally be able to afford, as each restaurant offers a special three course menu at a discounted price. I’ve participated in Devour Downtown two times before and had a great experience, so when I saw that it was going on again, I immediately scanned this year’s restaurant list and decided to make reservations for myself and Jordan, my sisters, and my sister’s boyfriend at Creation Cafe. Since I’d eaten there once before, I was certain that everything would be great. I probably talked it up way too much, but I was excited for our night out.
We arrived a little after 7:30, and were seated immediately. We took our time scanning the menu, hoping to order our drinks or an appetizer soon. After a five minute wait, a waiter came over to take our drink order, but he wasn’t actually our waiter. Our server was busy at the moment, and this other guy was helping him out. He brought out our drinks within a few minutes, and we thanked him, expecting to see our actual waiter soon. Enter another wait — this time, probably ten minutes.
When our waiter finally came over to our table, he didn’t introduce himself, welcome us to the restaurant, ask if we had any questions, or apologize for the wait. He basically said, “Ready to order now?” in a tone that implied that we were the ones who were making him wait. It was no big deal at that point, as we were just ready to get our food. Shortly after putting in our order, our waiter came back to let us know that the dish my sister ordered (stuffed poblano peppers) was no longer available. Since that was the only vegetarian option on the Devour Downtown menu, he let her choose something from the regular menu at no extra charge. Again, no big deal, we were just ready to eat.
Enter, the longest wait ever. After waiting at least 40 minutes (I had enough time to drink two big glasses of water and get up to go to the bathroom twice) our food had yet to arrive. We couldn’t do much about it, though, because our waiter hadn’t been back to the table to ask us how were doing, or ask us if we wanted anything else to drink. We were getting cranky.
Finally, our food arrived. Mine was lukewarm, the sandwich buns were soggy, and my sister was given a bowl of soup instead of the bowl of chili that she ordered (an hour ago). At this point, I found myself apologizing to my family for the restaurant that I had talked up so much.
When we finished eating (I didn’t eat much of mine), we anxiously awaited the bill. It was almost 9:30 at this point, and we were all tired and ready to leave. After flagging down our waiter, we got the checks, and then we waited another good five minutes for him to take our debit cards. My sister and I had still not gotten our dessert — the third course — at this point, and I didn’t even want to ask for it because I knew it’d take forever. We decided on a slice of cake to go, and got out of there as fast as we could.
But… before leaving the restaurant, we had the chance to see a waitress serving a table two orders of stuffed poblano peppers — the exact same thing that my sister had originally ordered. The couple arrived at the restaurant way after us, so I know that they still had peppers available when Molly ordered hers. Weird.
I thought the miserable experience was behind us when we got home, but when I tried a bite of my cake, I realized that it was stale. In the trash it went.
Needless to say, Creation Cafe won’t be seeing our business anytime soon. Our waiter never came back to ask us how anything was, and he never apologized for the things that went wrong. The food was nothing spectacular.
If you live in the area and are planning on participating in Devour Downtown, save your time and money and go somewhere else. Sorry, Creation Cafe, but you just didn’t cut it.
Ahh! Total bummer! So sorry to hear that, I hate when things like that happen! That’s a cool event though!
It is! I definitely recommend the event!
holy cow that is ridiculous! ya I would never go back there again after that
Wow, what a disappointment. That’s one of my biggest pet peeves … going to a restaurant and getting bad service. Plus bad food on top of it?? I probably would have asked to speak to the manager. Horrible.
I know, we probably should’ve said something!
Did you send them this review? That is so heartbreaking and I always hated when restaurants being talked up turned up like this. I understand all waiters have rough or bad days but their job is to make you feel good, so they have to put personal problems aside and be friendly to customers.
I tagged them in it on Twitter. I probably should send it to them, though, since I never had a chance to speak with the manager.
You should put this on Yelp, or let them know! That’s too bad you all didn’t enjoy it!
I think I will. My sister found other bad reviews on Yelp, so this won’t be the first one
! Live and learn!
you should write a yelp review to warn others
Ugh that sucks! We went to Palomino last night, pretty much right after that shooting downtown, and it was CRAZY. Our service was fine, but the food was just okay. They also ran out of both desserts on the Devour Downtown menu. They offered us a french toast-ish tasting gelato or tiramisu, so it ended up being okay, but it wouldn’t be my first choice for dinner again. I will definitely NOT be going to the Creation Cafe though. I would send them something letting them know about your experience. Especially the fact that they told you they were out of the stuffed peppers and then you saw other people being served that! Ridiculous!
There was a shooting downtown? I didn’t even know that! I’ve been to Palomino once. I didn’t care for it much either, especially because it’s priced so high regularly! I just filled out a review on Open Table and sent the restaurant a private message.
I would totally send this review to the manager! I bet they will make it right.
I think I will
!
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As a server that just survived Ann Arbor’s restaurant week ,which sounds exactly like your Devour Downtown, I conclude that the server you had was overwhelmed and exhausted. Those restaurant weeks are hell on servers because many of the customers are rude and cheap. When your tips are your income, those two are not a good combination. Also, did you talk to a manager while in the restaurant? Because they probably would have taken care of your bill or given you free dessert. I wouldn’t lose faith in the restaurant just yet, it was probably just a bad night!
I hope all is well with you and Jordan!
I know, I was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt because I’ve worked in restaurants and know how it is, but the thing is, the restaurant wasn’t even that crowded! We didn’t talk to the manager because we just wanted to get out of there — we probably should’ve. We did still tip him, though. I looked on Yelp, and the restaurant has a ton of bad reviews. I guess next time we’ll check before we go
!
Thanks, I hope you’re doing well too!
It’s amazing how just a little, “Hi, how are you doing?” and small talk can improve an experience! I had a similar server recently who was all business and made us feel like a bother. BUT, I have worked in restaurants and I can understand how easy it is for servers to get lost in whatever else they have going on and forget to treat each table individually. One of my restaurants was a fancy-schmancy place that got slammed during Arizona Restaurant Week (our own prix fixe menu event) and fortunately our kitchen was able to maintain food quality, but the servers were NOT happy people on those nights!
I know! I’ve worked in restaurants too, so I was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, but he was in plain sight joking around with another server when they could’ve been helping customers (and the restaurant wasn’t even that busy). We even tipped him, although now I’m thinking that we shouldn’t have!