1955 W Belmont Ave
Chicago, IL 60657
(773) 327-6934
The food was fine...good, even. What stopped this from being a gotta-tell-everyone-about-it was the way this place was run. I wasn't impressed. In fact, I was rather put out.
I made plans to have coffee with a friend at Bleeding Heart. One disabled CTA card later, I rolled up on the Roscoe Village bakery, ready to eat some morning treats. But the place wasn't ready for me. What it was ready for was a tour. Of a lot of people. Of varying temperments (but most were gruff). I was, literally, body checked hockey-style by one gentleman as I attempted to come into the place. Seriously, this guy pushed me out of the way and then blocked the door so no one else could come in. A younger, hippier and larger man took offense at this and began to have words with this gentleman. Turns out the body-checker didn't speak English - but he was ready to argue anyway. I have not yet had my coffee/baked goods and there's already an international incident. Nice.
I wiggle into the door but I can't get near the counter. Turns out, group one (!) of this tour is snaked all around the small eating space, taking pictures and spreading out. The other patrons and I looked at each other. Is this place closed? Were we there on the wrong day? No. Just extremely bad planning. I called my friend to prepare her for the scene inside. After some bumps and glares, I finally made my way to the counter, ordered my food and sat down. My friend made her way into the bakery shortly thereafter. Ten "Excuse me's" later, she was able to sit down - and was almost smacked in the head by a backpack. You see, people kept streaming into the bakery. Hipsters with backpacks, parents with small children, grumpy 20somethings...and another crop of tourists all pushed and pulled their way into the shop. All the while, the owner is talking to the crowd about the bakery unaware or uncaring that her customers are cramped, unhappy and ignored. That's just not good enough. If I am paying $12 for a teacake, mocha and croissant (what? It's breakfast), I'd like to eat on a table top I don't have to clean and bus myself and have enough room to get my own cuttlery rather than asking the clerk to get some for me - because there was no way I could wade through the crowd to get it.
And the thing about it, is that all this could have been solved with 10 minutes of Microsoft Word. A printed piece of paper on the door detailing that the bakery was closed to customers for an hour for a private tour is all it took to avoid the chaos and confusion. Or, if that was too much to ask, a perfectly demarcated area for the tour and one for clients would have ensured customers would get in and out and the tourists could hear/see what was going on. Never the two would have to meet. That's it. Little effort. Nothing was done. The decision was made to have the tour and customer dollars and we both lost out. One gentleman who was on the tour angrily raised his hand (after the presentation) and requested it be made again because, being near the door, he couldn't hear what was said in the first place. My friend, being the kind soul she is, started talking with him and his wife (?) about the tour, their frustration with the set up and their commiseration with us for our side of the annoyance. My friend, for her efforts, got a phat hookup of candy goods for her Gallant-like kindness to a stranger. Being Goofus, I got nothing - but I shook my fist a lot. In any case, if the first-time-visitor tourist noted a problem, why didn't the owner? In fact, the owner mentioned a lot of motivators in her speech (I heard it twice); all great goals. But how about the more immediate goal of being *present* in what's happening in front of you? Considering most everyone outside her direct line of sight had expressions ranging from "wtf" to "bring it! c'mon!!", I didn't take much of the presentation seriously. Think globally. Act locally. And control the chaos happening all around you.
It sorta sucks that rather than remembering the tasty chocolate/vanilla teacake and filling ham & cheese croissant, I remember being body checked in a foreign language, while my dining partner was hit the head, children ran amok, tourists were disgruntled and the owner watched it all unfold and did nothing. It made me feel unappreciated and under valued as a customer. I realize this was a special circumstance - but, handle your business, lady. Even though the food was tasty, if I were a candy maker from Indiana on the tour...I don't know that I would tell my friends and neighbors to rush to this place. And that's too bad.
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