Periwinkle Kitchen All-day Coffee Cafe

I used to go to Hemingway almost every day, it used to be my favorite coffee place. But in the last few months it was just horrible. I waited for my avocado toast for 25 minutes, which is probably normal when it’s busy. But in that particular day there were couple of people besides me and employees were just chatting with each other. I asked for my toast at least 3 times, on the third time they simply said they didn’t even start to make it, they forgot it. When it was ready they just left it on the pick up table, did not even bring it to me. Staff was not friendly, did not even say “Hi”, and after going there for 2 years they couldn’t even remember my name. This is just one of the bad experiences I remember in Hemingway. Also the cleanliness leaves much to be desired. When owners were running the place, Hemingway was completely different from now. I sincerely missed those days.

Tried to call ahead to place my order but nobody answers the phone. No utensils were available (either plastic or metal), which the staff did not tell us until we tried to eat. Croissants were unavailable. In prior years I've enjoyed this breakfast spot but something has changed.

Staff were very nice and welcoming, made our order great and were absolutely amazing. The building felt old and a little dingy. The smell of burnt food being recirculated due to the poor ventilation was also overwhelming. Sad to see a lot of effort going into beer and wine that don't see purchased much as a regular customer, would love to see more options on the menu for people with allergies. The baked goods, which I was told were from a different bakery seemed to look inconsistent and poorly made. Overall great coffee and all staff were super kind and helpful, but would love to have a more coffee focused experience, rather than much of the effort being directed towards beer and wine!

First, the good the food is decent and their coffee (I assume using Counter Culture) is really very smooth and strong which I love… I do love and crave the Avocado Toast because it really is delish.Second, the staff here (and I have encountered multiple staff members so this isn’t unique to one person) are badly in need of customer service training. This has been an ongoing issue for months as I have visited 10+ times within the last year only to be met with the same poor attitudes and blank stares. Whoever the owner is clearly hasn’t monitored or been monitoring this behavior and if you read other reviews, I am not the only one to experience this. Hopefully they will take measures to correct this or hire some friendlier people otherwise local customers (such as myself) will make efforts to spend their money elsewhere.

For what it's worth the price and southern charm attracted me to this restaurant. Unfortunately I was turned off by my avocado toast. While the avocado was fresh with about 1/2 an avocado. The toast was saturated in oil and black and hot red pepper was dumped on the sandwich. I'll admit I do put hot pepper flakes in everything but this was too much, I had to do my best to try to wipe it off. Reasons I'm giving three stars instead of two was my party enjoyed their chicken sandwich and sausage egg and cheese sandwich. Those biscuits were made fresh.