Cilanterrible

I have been to Cilantro (at El-Korba, Cairo, Egypt) twice within the past 3 weeks, and my experiences were in this order: Terrible in the first, and "Meh" in the second.

Both times, I arrived in the wee hours of the morning (around 5AM) with a friend or 2, and both times they were practically empty while being seemingly overstaffed.

My "Terrible" experience breaks down to 3 main issues:

Issue #1 began when I asked for sandwiches. Their response was "sorry, sandwiches haven't arrived yet". When asked when would I be able to order one, the answer (which I asked to verify and was confirmed) was within 30 mins MAXIMUM. As you can imagine, I left the place almost 2 hours later without being able to order one.

Issue #2 was the drinks I ordered in lieu of the never-could-be-ordered sandwiches. I ordered the orange/peach granita and my buddy ordered a mocha AFAIK. My grinta tasted like a really bad icy grapefruit juice (a proper granita should not be icy, instead in a proper one the ice would have been ground into tiny grains, giving the drink a "sandy" texture). My friend's drink was mediocre at best.

Issue #3 kicked in as I ordered my bill, which arrived 15 mins later, by a waiter who virtually darted past our table, threw it onto it, , dashed out without even looking at us, and failed to include a pen for me to sign.

Wait, it gets worse, upon closer inspection, I realized what seemed to have been the waiter (mistakenly, I hope) having entered the amount 10 times bigger (instead of LE30.44, it was LE304.40). At this point I was irritated enough to leave my table, go to the counter (which was not manned) and eventually be forced to demand someone's attention. The waiter - stunned - looks lost for a couple of mins trying to figure out what to do. He then runs off with my printout, looking for assistance (I suppose). He then comes back a few mins later, having generated an additional bill with the proper amount, and states: "Well, you never really signed this incorrect one, so how about you keep it with you, and instead just sign this new one?".

Now it's worth noting that the transaction was processed using the automated credit card machine (not the manual printer). This means that without an investigation request from the customer, the charge would go through even if you never signed. As I proceeded to explain this to the waiter, and as it (very very slowly) began to sink into his head, I was greated with one of the most unprofessional responses I ever got from a waiter: "So, what would you like me to do at this point?!"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Grunting, I realized that it's time to take matters further into my own hands. To cut this short, I had to explain to the waiter that in this scenario a refund transaction using the machine has to be processed. I then had to personally train him on how to do so (since, according to him, there is no such way to do so) and finally, explain to him that once this is completed, I can safely sign his new, corrected-amount bill.

Seems that Cilantro (at least the Korba one) is not such a happy place after all. It's a real shame, considering that the "garden area" of the Korba Cilantro is one of best environmental experiences I had in a coffeeshop. I have since also been to the one in the Nile-City towers, which had a more professional staff. Perhaps I am being too harsh in basing my view of Cilantro on that one-off experience. However, the fact that it was my very first time in Cilantro, combined with the failures on 3 different aspects, makes it very hard to think differently.