Sitwell's Coffee House

Save your sanity. Don't go. There are much better local businesses to support in Clifton.

Every time I have visited (whether for a drink or a meal) the server has always been stressed to the point of being short and it always goes back to the way they are treated by management. Servers don't last long here and today I learned why.

On Sundays (between Labor Day and Memorial Day) they serve Belgian waffles. After hearing so much about them my friends and I decided to try them. After waiting a very long time for service our server took our order, lost half of it, forgot our coffee and left the restaurant. It appeared that the owner was in the kitchen. She screamed and screamed at the server who came it to take the first girl's place. Everyone could hear every word.

Our orders were lost. Our food was plain. The owner continued to yell about her employee from the kitchen. She then got on the phone to complain about HEALTH CODE VIOLATIONS. She talked in front of all of her customers about how her walk in was out of date and no longer met code and then she said "you know one day they tell you to wash your hands in one place and the next they have you washing your hands somewhere else." That's right. That's what I listened to while eating my breakfast (which wasn't even very good). Oh, and by the time we got to the counter to pay WE were in trouble because we didn't have our tickets. Our orders got lost and WE are the ones to blame. See ya!

Now to drink the coffee I made at home, because I wasn't offered a refill at a coffee shop!

Oh, and why didn't I say anything to the owner? Because I was afraid she would scream at me just like she screams at her staff.

TL/DR: Unprofessional owner. Health code violations (overheard the owner say this.) Terrible service. Unapologetic. The food and drinks are only okay.

I know the general concencus on Sitwells is that they are understaffed, have OK coffee, pretty much no process for taking orders or ringing anything up, and the food is hit-or-miss. Still, folks keep coming back because "gosh darn, it's Clifton's local eclectic coffee shop, and it's better than a starbucks."

Well... I felt the same way for a long time, until my latest visit. All I wanted to do was hang out, drink some coffee, eat a bite and do my work. However, a lady there who I assume was the manager or owner was talking very loudly (on the phone with the police) about how La Poste's valet service was illegally parking cars on the street and how the "rich owner" was letting them do it, and that was taking away her business. It just sounded like she was having a bad day where it feels like everything is happening TO her and she had no control over things... I get it. But it was totally bringing down the vibe of the place, for what few customers were there. And SUPER unprofessional. I didn't go to Sitwell's to listen to what amounted to a one-person neighborhood-watch group basically whining to the police about the new restaurant on the block.

Usually, I would just put my headphones on but she was so loud and negative about the whole thing she actually made her only waitress cry, and the poor girl had to leave. Myself and other patrons looked nervously around the room at each other as if to silently say to each other "Is this really happening??" I ended up leaving after eating my food and without a "sorry" or explanation or anything. It was like our coffee came with a ticket to crazy theatre and this was just the show that was on today.

So yeah, do I want a starbucks in Clifton? No. I just want to drink coffee, eat a few bites, do some work and give you my money in exchange for coffee, food and pleasant service. It's really not that complicated.

A local staple of the eccentricities, daily grind, and the people that are Clifton.  I think the trick to enjoying Sitwells is setting appropriate expectations-they are going to be short staffed, and you are going to need more than an hour for lunch.  

I rarely stop for lunch during the work day because I've found the service to be slow more than once.  Don't get me wrong, I've always been happy with the sandwiches and fare, it just seems to take longer than it should.

They have a decent menu of caffeine and alcohol so it can be a good place for evening drinks went you can't decide.  They also have a decent breakfast/brunch.  Also a place where you can sit and get work done and no one will think twice.

They have live music at least once a week, and if you're visiting the neighborhood, there's parking in the business lot on Howell, come up the steps and you'll be right across the street.