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I've always liked this place and stop by for a coffee every time I am near the market.
HOWEVER, last week it was biting cold out. I popped in for a coffee and I noticed the inside clearly divided into a restaurant area and a cafe area. Has it always been like that? I went to order a coffee and asked if I could sit at a table, but I was told I could only sit in the "cafe" section, which was full up. The "restaurant" section was completely empty, not a single diner. So even though 2/3rds of the place was empty, I had to go back out in the cold, when my whole intention was to get a coffee to have a little sit-down with a book in a cafe I have always enjoyed.
I don't know if this is a more recent change or I somehow never noticed, but I was really, really irritated. I mean, it was like 3 in the afternoon! Who goes for a sit-down dinner then anyway? Why would you have 2/3's of your cafe set for dinner and off limits to coffee-and-cake inclined afternoon patrons?
I have to give it 3 stars because the coffee is quite good. I might pass through for a take-away drink in the future, but what a waste of a building as far as seating goes. I guess it is trying to be more of a restaurant now, but I won't bother going. The menu looked kind of pricey and the cloth napkins etc. were a big turn-off. The nice thing about this place was the rustic feel...really destroyed by the linen and rude people.
A good case of a business needing to make up it's mind about what it is. Fine dining establishment or coffee house?
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