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2013-03-05
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第一次到這裡用餐時，覺得鬆餅的確很fluffy 但又不會太過軟，口感和雪糕的配搭真的非常好。而且店內的環境和menu 上的食物和飲料選擇多樣化，所以覺得這是值得再光顧的店。尤其是飲料方面的選擇，有價格十分公道的specialty 咖啡，又有smoothie, 又有茶，這是在香港很難得的。後來咖啡弄在港一炮而紅後，我和好友已有心理準備為美味的食物等候。昨天下午大概四點時，和朋友到這裡想吃個休閒的下午茶。從前面有八九位食客，到前面只剩下一位時，在樓梯口站了已有四十五分鐘。忽然有幾位好像高層/媒體的朋友奪門而入，門前的front of house 對他們的到訪有點混亂，也忽然不見了。再過了五分鐘，她出門和後面的食客道歉，因為有『突發事件』所以不能招待各位食客。可能我們已經是站到了門前，她並沒有對我們已站到門前的幾位說我們需要離去。（不過也可能是要address 後面的整條人龍。）隊中的人有點confused, 都沒有離開。然後另一位可能職位較高的女生也出現了，向隊中的人再次抱歉。然後一位不太禮貌的男生（可能是supervisor) 也上前吩咐front of house 的女生『安撫食客』。
後來咖啡弄在港一炮而紅後，我和好友已有心理準備為美味的食物等候。昨天下午大概四點時，和朋友到這裡想吃個休閒的下午茶。從前面有八九位食客，到前面只剩下一位時，在樓梯口站了已有四十五分鐘。忽然有幾位好像高層/媒體的朋友奪門而入，門前的front of house 對他們的到訪有點混亂，也忽然不見了。再過了五分鐘，她出門和後面的食客道歉，因為有『突發事件』所以不能招待各位食客。可能我們已經是站到了門前，她並沒有對我們已站到門前的幾位說我們需要離去。（不過也可能是要address 後面的整條人龍。）
隊中的人有點confused, 都沒有離開。然後另一位可能職位較高的女生也出現了，向隊中的人再次抱歉。然後一位不太禮貌的男生（可能是supervisor) 也上前吩咐front of house 的女生『安撫食客』。他的態度完全沒透露什麼歉意，也讓人覺得我們門前的不算是他們的客人，而是可有可無的。門前的十幾位食客對於客似雲來的咖啡弄不是什麼，可是這麼不專業的服務態度是再好的食物也不能over-compensate 的。
儘管front of house 女生以名片逐一道歉和解釋，也在後面師奶和她的對話中覺得她是有誠意的，可是也不改已浪費了我們的四十五分鐘的事實。之後我們步行到Caroline Hill 的Mackie's Study。若想吃waffle, Mackie's Study 隔離的HOME 也有。
門口掛著的是『試業』兩個字，可是management 對自己的schedule 沒有掌握好和沒有好好的傳達給食客消息，真的是大忌。（ie. 如果知道有記者或高層到訪開會，或有人book 下餐廳，早就不應該讓隊中的客人排隊。）而且，發生失誤時，就算門口的接待員非常有禮貌，可是毫無解釋的把客人們掃走，真的讓人覺得是一場華麗的作弄。
Before Coffee Alley became an instant hit, I had the pleasure of trying their waffles and coffee during the first few days of their operations. I was impressed by the ambience of the eatery, and the diversity of their menu. The sea salt caremel ice-cream waffle was a real kick, because the waffle itself had the right amount of fluffiness, but wasn't too soft that you couldn't taste the texture of the ingredients. I also really appreciated that they have a good range of beverages - not just coffee, but smoothies and tea, and that is quite rare in the impatient Hong Kong cafe scene.
Anyhow, this is not so much a review on the taste of the food at Coffee Alley, but a short reflection of the service quality you should expect at the place.
Yesterday, we were in line for half an hour at the stairway, when we were turned away. This was likely because a couple of people entered the place were doing press, or were part of the management doing some evaluation. (Hopefully not the latter, because that is some abysmal management going on for sure.）
The girl manning the queue, who i will term the front-of-house, since we never entered the house at all to meet the actual FOH, was apologetic and sincere when asking us to leave. Yet, the manager/supervisor of some sort who came out to address the issue (there was no official explanation such as the toilet/coffee maker/stove broke down, just an abstract "emergency situation") merely brushed us off in a very patronising and dismissive manner.
It is absolutely fine to make guests wait. It is absolutely a customer service taboo to make us wait for half an hour and then ask us to leave without giving any proper explanation and apology. Actually, my friend and I were of the opinion that the guy who came out and briefly said sorry was quite pompous and snobby. Later, we presumed that since their business is booming, they don't really think they have to be professional and considerate about offending the 20 or so guests waiting in line.
We strolled over to Caroline Hill where we had tea at Mackie's Study. There was no queue, the quiet of the street was nice, and the staff were terrific. There was also waffle on the menu at the restaurant HOME next door, for those craving for it. Thumbs up for the food and coffee at Coffee Alley, but thumbs down on the disastrous "crisis management" and unprofessionalism. This standard of customer service standard is definitely not up my Alley.
张贴
