cafe mary grace is ♥

i am by no means a foodie, unlike my friend, the pickiest eater in the world. in fact, if you've ever had a meal with me, you'll know that my descriptions are limited to "happy" and "sad". as in, "hey, i want happy food," or "this food is sad!" thus, i have absolutely no authority to be writing about food i've eaten and places i've visited.

oh wait, i did this. but, we all know that junk food, such as ice cream, doesn't count, right?

in any case, i had a LOT of time to burn after i brought spike to have his aircon fixed. so first i ate lunch (BK! happy food!!!). and then i went around the mall. since (1) it wasn't sale and (2) my body (and budget) still hurts from last friday's jaunt at sm megamall, that soon got really boring. since i had my book with me, i thought, "coffee shop!"

figaro doesn't have the most comfy seats. and i'm not a huge fan of starbucks. so i though, why not cafe mary grace?

we all know about the amazing ensaymadas, the zesty lemon squares, and the to-die-for cheese rolls. so i'm not going to write about that. what i am going to write about is the AMAZING service i experienced while killing time.

it was a hot afternoon (as all afternoons are these days) and while i wanted the hot chocolate valencia, i wasn't about to order something warm. so i asked the server if it would be okay to have it on ice. without any hesitation, she said "yes." just like that, my wish was immediately granted.

i sat there (and oggled at phil and james younghusband. turns out the cute guys i was eying were the popular siblings.), read a book, availed of the free wifi in relative peace. cafe mary grace has all the charm of papemelroti (one of my favorite places growing up) and none of the noise of the starbucks. it was like figaro (which i absolute loved), but better (better food, better service, better seats). the next couple of hours crawled (always is when you're waiting for something), but i was in mary grace heaven. who am i to complain, right?

when i had digested the enormous lunch i had at BK, i ordered lemon squares. the attendant asked, "how many?" and i replied, "four, cause that's the minimum, right?" probably the girl knew i wanted less, or probably she knew that i would need to eat less to actually lose weight, so she informed me that i could order fewer slices if i wanted. niiiiiiiccccceeee, right? so i got two ☺

and while comfort rooms are usually the waterloo of any establishment, i noted that their washroom is cleaned every fifteen minutes. not only that, it has a sign that informs the customers that should they need more supplies or feel that the washroom needs attention, to just inform the manager on duty and they'll be glad to take care of what needs to be taken care of. fantabulous, right?

more often than not, we tend to take customer service for granted. and, more often than not, you read blog posts complaining about a place's service, or shoddy performance by the wait staff. i should know, i've written a number of those as well. glad to know that there's a business owner that still takes time to train her staff, and ensures that the service is as amazing as her food.

i am reminded of last christmas when i had to order a box of their famous ensaymadas to bring home to the province. when we arrived at their trinoma branch, they didn't have stocks yet but they informed us that (1) stocks were arriving and (2) we can reserve boxes as long as we pay for them in advance. so we did, and it wasn't long before they texted us to inform us that our ensaymadas had arrived and were ready for pick-up. uber convenient, right?

thanks cafe mary grace for allowing me to kill time at your atc store. but more importantly, thank you for making me feel "loved" last saturday afternoon.