**READ THIS REVIEW**
The customer reported coming to this cafe on a recommendation from a barista at a nearby Starbucks. They were excited to see many dairy free and gluten free options. The restaurant has wraps that can be gluten and dairy free, chicken and beef plates that are really creative, shakes, salads, and some really great breakfast items, including the popular açaí bowl, gluten free pancakes or waffles, omelets, and much more. The meals are very creative and because of this the customer here does come somewhat often to grab food. The staff here are nice people and usually talk to nicely to customers when they ring out and put together different meals. This place has a lot of potential, but it seems the owning management doesn't make the best decisions when it comes to prices and practices in the restaurant. (Sorry, but just being honest!)
Some issues with this restaurant:
-The prices are a bit wacky. A salad with chicken will cost you $9.95, but then the Greek Salad without chicken is $9.95. Weird, right? This doesn't just happen with the salads, it happens with other items on the menu too. So what I am saying if you added chicken to your Greek salad, you will be coming up at around $15.00 after taxes. Calm down, it's only lettuce and chicken here.
-To get a "sprinkle" of cheese on your meal it costs $1.75, but then a full bag of that cheese costs $2.00 at the grocery store. Ridiculous pricing, right?
-The açaí bowl is $8.50, but after taxes, it's about $10.00. I would get this item much more often if I didn't have to drop a $10 dollar bill every time. But hey, some people do have the extra few bucks.
-The water used to cook the meals does not have a "carbon filter" on it. So if you like drinking rusty and polluted city water, as the articles online indicate in the area after recent testing was done. The water in the Hicksville area leaves a brown film in the sink or the toilet, and that is mostly from the rust in the water. It's probably not healthy to drink this type of water all the time, and this restaurant ignored the customer's many attempts to talk about getting a filter and never returned any replies to them.
-You get a "free small smoothie" on your birthday, but they charged one of their customers an extra small amount for it to be almond milk instead, because the customer was allergic and couldn't have skim milk. Greedy as heck, right? Let these people get a smoothie on their own birthday without charging them, will ya?! No respect for customers! Happy Birthday! Pay up!
-A meal here will easily turn from around $10 dollars, into $16 dollars if you change a few options. That is just so wrong to do to customers, and tells me whoever is in charge of making prices is an amateur at price configurations. Sarcastically: "Yeah, that will be $2.00 for a few raw onion rings on your wrap and $3.50 extra if you want to make the wrap gluten free." WTF!? They just want a wrap, not to pay for a 3 course meal!
-A few of the customer's meals they received, let's say out of 50 meals ordered here, had a mistake or gummy chicken. The staff at Fuel Cafe didn't care to replace the food or do anything for them when the restaurant staff clearly made a mistake. They completely gave the customer the wrong order one time and when they called to tell them. They said "you can still eat it, right?" (No. It's not what they ordered!) They didn't even care to make it right the next time the customer came.
-The drinks in the front cooler have no prices on them. It is believed this is because they are severely overpriced and do not want you to know until it is check out time and the item is already rung up. The customer asked about the price of a caffeinated flavored water there one time and then saw it almost for a few dollars less in target. Honestly, after all the times the customer had been there to pick up food, they had never seen a person buy a drink out of the cooler other than grabbing a bottle of water that only comes with select meals. Even during their busy times. What do you think that means?
So overall this restaurant is cool, but it is important to get those issues out so customers can see here how the owner handles her restaurant and how much they care about their customers. You'll never see the owner work the evening shift either, which is super important for higher management to do so they can feel out their restaurant's problems and can evaluate their customers coming in during the different parts of the day. The chefs in the back are really good at what they do. They are super talented, and Fuel Cafe is lucky to have such a good group of guys working there.
It is our suggestion that you come here to eat because the food is enjoyable, but take notice about the issues mentioned above and be sure to come to your own conclusions. Cheers! read more