Ok Guys Gather Around for Storytime...

So I thought I'd tell you about New Orleans, or rather about a beignet place some like to call "Cafe du Monde". You might have heard about it, it's kind of famous the world over for their beignets. Being the nerd that I am, I love watching the Travel Channel and the Food Network, so if there is one thing I simply had to do on my visit to New Orleans, Cafe du Monde was it.

I told my parents about it and them not being as caught up on the beignets as much as I did apparently had no clue what I was talking about, but they were as excited as me once I explained. So we asked one of the little gallery owners how to get their from Royal St. that we were on, and she politely told us that we were very close and guided us. We got there and I saw their trademark green and white striped awning with their sign across the front. I couldn't wait to go in and see what all the fuss was about even though I knew better than to think they were some amazing dessert. After all how good can some hot dough and powdered sugar be?

When you walk in there's a huge outdoor patio area with tables and powdered sugar all over the floor and there's also a smaller indoor area for seating. But the first thing I saw when we entered was a line of employees sitting in some chairs against the wall counting their tips, we're talking a handful of dollars out for visitiors to see, waving them around. Uh not very welcoming, but whatever we thought. I should have known better. We didn't know if you order first then sit, wait to be seated how it works. So someone just told us to sit down, and we did. The menu is simple coffee, sodas and beignets. They come in a group of 3 and since it was just the parents and I we ordered one order, and some waters. The employees didn't speak English very well so it was difficult to communicate, but our waitress got our order.

Our order came fast, I will say that service is quick. So we were sitting their eating our beignets enjoying the atmosphere. We had a guy singing to us on the street on one side, and kids enjoying on another when the waitress comes back and demands we pay her right now and she doesn't leave. We were going to get to it you know when we were ready. So she takes the money from my dad which by the way for an order of 3 is $2.14, beyond cheap and waits. We're wondering what she's waiting for cause she doesn't say anything. Then with no warning she proceeds to throw down the bill holder on our table and yells at us that "You don't leave me no tip" she yells and then storms off. Uh yeah we were going to leave a tip on the way out you know when we're finished. We were just baffled and kind of sat their in amazement. This was trip #1 to Cafe du Monde.

Apparently my dad didn't get enough he wanted to go back for round 2 another day. Our second time there we decided to sit indoors. We figured we at least knew the system this time. We sat down and a little Asian man walked up to us and said nothing. I guess that meant we were supposed to order huh? I kid you not a word did he say, but I ordered for us and he left assuming he got it. He came back pretty soon with our order and we paid him, letting him keep our change. We decided to live large and get one more order. We were having a heck of a time getting his attention until my mom finally yelled excuse me at him causing him to stop. Again he said nothing and left. Uh was that a sure I'll get it for you, did he understand? This time it took a bit longer so we were really unsure if he got it, but sure enough headed our way finally came our order. We paid him again and he got a double tip might I add and we asked him for a bag to take our order to go. He never came but as we walked out he was sitting by the door counting money and drinking water for all to see.

So yeah, an experience. Fair warning to anyone who goes there all for these:

Not sure if we just got 2 lousy servers or if they figure they don't need to be exactly friendly since they know they'll get visitors. Either way it made for good stories and the beignets themselves are so-so. Nothing fantastic, but nothing bad either, just kind of there. Maybe I'll go again one day with hubs and see if our service is different.