So, I was disappointed a few months back when the badass café closed it's doors. Well, to my surprise, it was reopened not so long ago, albeit under the same name. However, don't be fooled by the nice change in decor (classic, English-style pub-atmosphere on the ground floor, weird Ikea showroom-chic on the top floor).
We arrived in the new entrance, and was immediately surprised by the new decor. A very dramatic change. However, that's not the only thing that has changed! The service, from the very first interaction with the staff was absolutely appalling. It took nearly 5 minutes to get noticed by a member of staff so that we could be seated (keep in mind at this stage, there were only 4 tables occupied, out of approximately 40). After we were seated, it took a further 25 minutes to get a menu (we only got offered one when someone tried to take our order). At this stage, we were tempted to just leave, however, I knew the food used to be great, so we thought we'd stick it out...how much worse could it get?
Alot worse...
Firstly, the menu was an unimpressive, 2 page, single-sided, mish-mash of bog-standard dishes with bog-standard descriptions. The price was OK, but where were all the great pizzas and burgers that once littered the menu of the old badass? Instead there were about 6 pizza varieties and a handful of burgers and sandwiches.
After what was about another 20 minutes (we'd been here nearly an hour now, from the moment we walked in the door), I ordered the soup to start and the steak sandwich for the main. The waitress was polite. (I'm desperately trying to seek positives from the experience). 15 minutes later, I received an overly-reheated soup (slightly burned taste). With this I got a VERY generous, 4 triangles of bread. These triangles were about the size of a 2 euro coin, so small that the rock hard butter enveloped them. Needless to say, the starter was awful.
I began to think that the badass cafe was no more...
The steak sandwich arrived 30 minutes after finishing the soup (it took a glare to the chatty staff for the food to magically appear). This was a dish, of the standard one would find at a music festival. Smothered in onions, with microscopic layer of sauce. At least the cut of the steak was nice. The fries were clearly sitting under a heating lamp for a while, as they were crisp beyond belief. Also, I was not offered a refill of my drink at all (until I had to ask myself when getting the bill).
The straw that broke the camels back - the ketchup. I'm not one to complain about what brand of ketchup is used, but this was clearly set to deceive. Heinz bottles were used, but it tasted (and looked) like tesco value tomato-flavoured liquid. It was vile( and definitely not Heinz)
After that fiasco, I wanted to get out of there asap, so I asked for the bill from yet another of their staff members, and then realised that there were so many for such an empty restaurant and such bad service.
Bring back the old badass cafe, with the quaint, yet unmistakably packed in, barnyard-esque feel, and the much better menu. Bring back the charming (and unique) ziplines that flew overhead with orders and people's change. Bring back the great menu pages that you could keep as a souvenir. Bring back the pizza selection. Bring back the nice and attentive staff.
Disaster of a restaurant. Avoid at all costs. At least until they revert back to the old menu. read more