06/21/08

Will not go back!

by Ggranger

I have been to Kiss a couple of times, and somehow the experience only gets worse. The service is slow, but fortunately the food is usually pretty ok. During my most recent visit, I witnessed my waitress spending more time on a cordless phone ( pretty obviously a personal call) than attending to my table or any of the tables around me. The counters were a mess with plates and spills and cups, as were many of the tables. I had ate most of my meal without a drink refill, and had to wait a ridiculous amount of time to get my check, although, as previously mentioned, my waitress talked and laughed on the phone. The most appalling aspect, and I witnessed this on two occasions, was the way the owner treated his staff. I actually overhead him cussing at his employees, and not even the girl on the phone. With that type of management, it's no wonder the staff seemed not to care about doing a good job. I'd recommend almost anywhere over this place.

• Pros: Cheap food
• Cons: Rude owner, bad service

03/07/08

Poor Management

by Ladybug86

This restaurant is has the worst and unethical management I have ever seen. So recently one of my friends was employed there at Kiss Cafe and was friends with a few of the other employees. Well the manager there had found a replacement head chef and planned to fire the current one within the next day, but before he did this he informed the entire staff of what was going down. The head chef who was sooned to be fired was informed by my friend about the situation and what was about to go down, and she had no idea. Well of course she went in the next day furious and a blew up in the manager face. Well the manager, because of his unethical and poor management fired my friend because of the situation, but not only was she fired, she is banned from there forever, and for what? for being a good friend. This wouln't be such a big deal if I didn't like going there, I have attended one of the biggest events of the month every month for the past year and a half, and now can't go.

02/15/08

Cute Place

by PrimaDiva1903

I was at Kiss Cafe this past Saturday night for a private party. I was able to find a parking spot right away even though it was a large crowd in the venue. Upon entrance, I found the atmosphere to be very inviting. The decor was tastefully done in very warm hues. It took quite a while for me to get a bartender's attention though. There were about only 6-7 customers standing at the bar and roughly about 10 employees behind the bar. Everytime I would get someone's attention they would say they weren't the bartender. (I couldn't figure out why they were behind the bar then lol) Finally, a well dressed gentleman (whom I assume to be the manager) waited on me. Ironically, as soon as he left to fix my drink, 3 of the bartenders asked me if I needed help. When he returned he handed me a cosmopolitan in a little plastic cup and apologized that they were out of martini glasses.

• Pros: Parking, Ambience

01/14/08

On the Edge of Being Great if the Service is Addressed

by notrediem

We have visted several times and comments about poor service seem to run true. After a poor service experience dinning we did stay around to have a drink (love coffee base martini selection). A seemingly more experienced staff member Alexis I believe turned around our less than wonderful evening start. Because of Alexis we will be returning to give this pretty cool concept place another shot. Management or Ownership hiring and training the staff is your gig, step in ane make things happen. We are actually pulling for you to succeed.

• Pros: Bartender Alexis
• Cons: Service on previous visits, of course parking is always an issue, valet please!!

10/23/07

WTF is WRONG with the staff?????

by goldmine1357

I don't know if Karma is bad here or what, but the girls behind the coffee counter could definitely use a dose of the good kind....these people are not friendly at all. Try to have a conversation with any one of them and I guarantee not one will bust out a smile. Being a female small business owner of the independent kind, I always try and help a sister out... but I've stopped in twice in the last two weeks and I'm not going back because of the bummer staff...

• Cons: Staff are a like a bunch of Eyeore types, this place need a dose of Tigger....

09/16/07

So much for trying to support the Independent

by madison1999

With so many units of the BIG coffee chain opening around Baltimore, I really wanted to support the Independent coffee shop in my neighborhood. But this place makes it REALLY difficult. The bakery case looked shoddy and messy, with flies swarming around the day old pastries. The staff is aloof and rude.

I stopped in for a pound of coffee a few weeks ago. The woman who helped me was unknowledgeble about coffee. When she gave me a bag of ground coffee, I politely asked for a pound of beans. She then went in the back, and put a pound of whole beans in a big white bakery bag. She slammed them on the counter and told me to have a nice day. I then walked back to the counter and asked for the beans to be placed in a coffee appropriate bag, not a big white paper bag.

Again, I really want to support the independents, but places like this make it really hard. I will not support them again.

• Cons: Rude service, unclean, unknowledgeable

09/25/06

The food is worthy of City's best the service is far from it

by stufu

Went to Kiss Cafe on a Saturday morning, it was relatively busy but not bad. We were sat right away, the service went down hill from there. We ordered our breakfast a round of water and a pitcher of bloody mary's,which the waitress promptly forgot. We had to call her over and remind her about 20 mins later as she had not returned to the table in that amount of time. About 5 mins later we got out drinks, then our food arrived. We had ordered a breakfast sandwich that was featured as a special which was supposed to have bacon on it. A different server delivered our food, it took a moment or two to realize that the bacon was missing. Our waitress was no where to be seen. Finally with a little effort we waved the manager over, we told her about the lack of bacon. She told us she wasn't sure what was supposed to be on the sandwich she would go check on the special board (she's the manager shouldn't she have a pretty good idea of what's on the special board). She went to check and never returned. Finally we waved down our waitress once again, we questioned the lack of bacon to which she replied "What do you mean there isn't any bacon on there" I don't think we could have made it any clearer. She promptly returned with bacon, only then did the manager return and claim to have orchestrated the whole thing, she had clearly forgotten and this was her attempt to save face. The final straw was watching what I assume was the owner emerge and beging clearing tables. We watched him pick a dirty napkin up off the floor and proceed to wipe a table down with it, not my idea of sanitary. It's unfortunate because even though the food is excellent, the service is seriously lacking, and it won't be likely I'll return for anything other than take-out.

• Pros: Great food
• Cons: Distracted service and less than stringent sanitary practices

12/30/05

User review by eschlitz

by eschlitz

Food was excellent! The cafe is modern / trendy and has a great atmosphere. Service was fair to poor - we had 3 different people wait on us. Menu was disorganized, but they said they were redoing it soon.

• Pros: Free Parking, Good Food, Atmosphere
• Cons: Service, Seemed Disorganized

10/26/04

Pair an espresso with your laptop, or wine with live music at this sleek Canton coffee bar.

by Contributor

The Scene
Kiss Cafe is surprisingly cozy despite its location in the uber-industrial Can Company building. The massive caffeinated eatery is broken into an dining area, a lounge with fireplace, a trendy bar and an upstairs pool room. Mood lighting, gathered black drapes and leather couches create a soothing environment without losing the bright, airy contributions of high ceilings and light wood. Acoustic musicians and wireless Internet access draw artsy types and the young professionals.

The Draw
The long row of aromatic canisters at the restaurant's entrance reveals that here, coffee reigns supreme. The cafe serves up a variety of specialty drinks like Mocha Monkey--espresso mixed with chocolate and banana syrup. A full bar offers standard domestic and imported beers, as well as local brews. A vast array of breakfast, lunch and dinner options include tapas, sandwiches, salads and entrees ranging from linguini primavera to meat loaf.