Breakfast at Cora’s on Lacewood in Halifax

This was the first time my wife and I went to this location for breakfast. And it will probably be the last. It wasn’t that the service was particularly bad or the food tasted like crap, it was just that simple courtesy wasn’t anywhere to be found.

Our waitress, for whatever reason, just seemed to have an instant dislike for us. There’s no way for me to explain this, it’s just one of those “vibe” things you pick up on. Maybe she was having a rough day or something, but she was friendly enough to the couple at the table behind us. A warm welcome, some friendly chatter. For us, it was right down to business. No pleasantries at all. I ordered a “Theos Skillet”.

A short time later, a different server brought out our plates.  My wife’s order was correct, but they had brought me a “Theo’s Omelette”. I informed the server that there must be a mistake. Without apology, she informed me that it would take a few minutes to prepare a new plate. So I watched my wife dig in and waited for the correct order to arrive. When it did, it was brought over by yet another server.

Meanwhile, our original waitress ignored our table completely. Maybe she thought I would say something nasty to her. Anyone can make a mistake. I’m certainly not going to rag on someone for making an honest error. Regardless, for the rest of our meal she did not stop by to check in, ask if we wanted more coffee (at $2.05 per cup, a refill would’ve been nice), or apologize for the mixup. The only time our server came back was to deliver the check.

The server who’d corrected the mistake (who seemed to be a manager or at least a supervisor) also chose not to follow-up to see if everything was satisfactory now. I didn’t need my balls cradled while sweet-nothings were whispered in my ear; all I wanted was for someone to say “sorry about that, is everything okay?” But the impression I got was that they were pissed off at me. They were certainly NOT going to apologize for bringing me the wrong order. It’s not that big a deal, but simple gestures go a long way.

By contrast, when my wife found a rotten strawberry in her fruit cup at the Wright Avenue (Dartmouth) location, they apologized profusely and gave her $20 in gift certificates. We thought that was a bit much, but hey, they screwed up and felt badly about it and wanted to make sure we came back. Hmmm. If we do decide to eat at Cora’s again, I wonder which one will get our business?