I bought a voucher on Living Social for kayaking and lunch. Â I could have sworn that when I first checked the rating, this place was much higher, but a few days before my trip I looked at the reviews and was surprised to see that it had so few stars....uh oh. Â That was until I looked and all of the good reviews have been filtered out (?)....so I had no idea what to expect!
Can I just say how pleasantly surprised I was? We arrived at the time we had reserved (if you want to kayak, I highly recommend reservations due to the small number of kayaks) and spoke to the man who was running the kayak rentals. He was extremely nice. We did have to wait about 20 minutes for other kayakers to return before ours were available, but I didn't mind because the guy helping us was very nice to chat with and it was a beautiful day out. Â The kayaking was really enjoyable. Â The river is very calm and I saw so many beautiful birds! Â Do make sure to bring your sunscreen and bug repellent though because this section of the river has very little shade. Â I would definitely go back to kayak again.
The restaurant was my main concern because of the Yelp reviews that I saw but we were so pleasantly surprised! The interior is cute and the deck is nice. The menu is mainly breakfast, sandwiches, and salads. Â The waitresses were nice. Â I ordered the Turkey Grande Panini, which is a panini with turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. I can't tell you how delicious this sandwich was! I don't live near Millis, but if I find myself there again I am GETTING THIS SANDWICH AGAIN. Â My boyfriend got the Cajun Chicken wrap and liked it but he was more than a little jealous of my sandwich because it was awesome. Both of our sandwiches came with potato salad that was also very tasty.
So I had a wonderful experience here and would definitely recommend it!
Kayaking was excellent. It's a section of the Charles that feels very remote. We only saw 2 houses in 2 hours of paddling. Lots of wildlife. They only have 10 boats, so the river isn't crammed. I would definitely make a reservation and bring patience -- you may be waiting for people to return a boat.
For the food part, the interior of the Charles Cafe is very nicely appointed, two dining rooms and a back deck. They basically serve breakfast, sandwiches, and salads. Our food was perfectly good. Pleasant, quick service. Had a nice chat with the cook/owner. Give this place a chance -- it was packed.
There are lots of places to eat breakfast ,some good some bad and some very bad .It's interesting that breakfast is no longer a $4-$5 meal ,after all eggs are so cheap and bread too .Anyway my experience here was not good ,not very bad ,but just bad .It took 1/2 hour before anyone approached us to take an order,that was very bad .Also there were no place settings on the table ,no knapkins just a bare clear plastic cover on a table .The room was blah no warmth kinda like a dingy diner out of the 50's .Finally someone asked if we wanted coffee and then 10 mins later our order was taken .I have to say the coffee was decent ,the service was not ,50 mins after we entered this so called cafe our food arrived .Eggs,sausage ,eggs benedict ,breakfast sandwiches etc ,a very ordinary breakfast with soggy home fries for $42 .Would I ever go here again ,NO!! there are hundreds of decent breakfast places ,even the old Friendly's that closed would have shamed these people .But the worst was the extreme bad service,that's a cut below very bad ,hard to take plus the arrogance of the owners who really think they have the next Lock Obers .They have nothing to be arrogant about the Charles Cafe is a cut above a swill bucket ,not a place you would want to go back to.
Review Source:***STAY AWAY - BRING YOUR MONEY AND TIME ELSEWHERE***
Go to Badabings, or Bob's, or Medway Cafe (Real Restaurants with good food and customer service)
I went to Charles Cafe today for lunch. I am from Millis and just noticed this place opened and figured I would support a local business and give them a try.
I ordered a Chicken Parmesan panini and an iced tea.
The panini was horrible. The chicken was soggy, the bread was too hard and had obviously been pressed with olive oil that was heated too high and burnt, leaving a chemically taste. The sauce was bland and uninteresting and the cheese was cheap and flavorless. It was like biting into a hot gooey mess that was unsavory and not worth 7 dollars, or 1 dollar for that matter.
I was highly put off by the female "chef" who i later learned was one of the owners parading around in the kitchen loudly coughing all over peoples food as well.
When asked, I told the waitress I did not like the sandwich (she was nice and I had no issues with her). She informed one of the owners (male, who did not give me his name). While I was paying (which I was made to do despite being unsatisfied) The owner confronted me about my dissatisfaction (the right thing to do).
When I voiced my opinion and criticisms in a calm and polite way he began defending the sandwich and telling me (someone he does not know, and his customer) that i am used to eating low quality food and that his food is home made and that's why I didn't like it. It was rude and presumptuous to try to tell me that I didn't like the food and to be listing "positive" qualities of the food as his reasoning.
***I did not agree with his approach, when in reality he should have apologized and asked me what he could do to remedy the situation (basic business and costumer satisfaction sense). ****
I was fed up and ready to leave after I paid anyway....
Then, his smokers coughing wife came out of the kitchen and was very rude to me in front of other customers and told me to leave and that I was quote, "not classy."
I will tell you what's not classy: What's not classy is opening a cafe (really a diner) in Millis, when there are already several other fine, established ones, and then serving crappy food, and then being rude to customers that voice an honest opinion about the food.
I am sure the owner will read this eventually, and if he wants he can email me and try to resolve this situation and possibly I will remove or modify this review.
I paid the bill even though I was highly dissatisfied and I left a good tip, I would just like an apology for being treated that way when trying to support your business.
I could not in good conscience recommend this place and I won't be back.
If the owner acquires any business sense and wants to contact me to remedy this situation he can. Look me up in the millis phone book.
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