Cardinal Coffee Shop Lounge – San Jose, CA
I created a new category “In-Betweens” because of the Cardinal and my experience there on 2/26/2010. This was my second visit, and I wasn’t as impressed as I was before.
The reason for suggesting the visit to the Cardinal was so that I could get my hands on a Monte Cristo. I rounded up a couple of friends and dragged them to the extremely tacky coffee shop for some late night noms. The Cardinal features a lounge, but this lounge is definitely NOT the place to be if you are part of the younger generation. I would say that the people who visit this particular lounge are easily 40+…. Since it was late when we went in for food, there were some ‘tipsy’ older people… doing incredibly stupid things that not only embarrassed themselves but also everyone who was unfortunate enough to be present.
So anyway, on to the actual dining experience. Our server that night was terrible. He reminded me of a greasy salesman. First it took him forever to come over to take our order, then he didn’t bring our drinks until the food arrived (he had to be reminded), he tried to not give me preserves with my sandwich, and was just generally unpleasant. Maybe he was just having a bad night, or maybe he was just a terrible server. I don’t think I’ll ever find out.
I ordered the Monte Cristo, which is like a ham cheese and turkey sandwich dipped in egg and deep fried. It wasn’t as good as it could have been, I suspect that the oil used at the restaurant could do with changing. But it was alright. The melted cheese helps the meat and bread stick together. French fries could have been more crispy… I really hate soggy soft french fries. One of my friends ordered Cinnamon French Toast, and was severely disappointed not only with the taste, but also with the portion size, and miniscule amount of maple syrup that was served with her food. Literally, she got maybe a tablespoon or two of syrup. Another friend ordered Chicken a la Leonardo, which he was satisfied with. The chicken was tender, the melted cheese was very good, but the dish could have used more mushrooms and garlic.
Alright, onto more information about the Cardinal. The bathroom. While, I personally did not visit the bathroom, my friend did and was not only disgusted by the conditions but was severely traumatized by her experience. The floor was soaked in urine. No doubt left behind by the drunken cougars that frequent the Cardinal’s lounge.
All in all, I’m categorizing the Cardinal under the new category “in-between” because the food wasn’t “nasty”, but the experience on the other hand was. Maybe someday I’ll find it in my heart to give the cardinal another try… You never know when I’ll get a craving for mediocre food and tacky red vinyl seats.
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And now I feel compelled to describe my rip-off french toast.
Cardinal Cinnamon French Toast w/ Caramel Sauce: Four triangles (2 slices of bread) of basic french toast, thrown into a basic cinnamon sugar mixture and tossed on a plate. I expected the cinnamon to be part of the egg mixture that the toast is fried in. Nowhere in the description does it say that this is “cinnamon sugar french toast…” this dish and the lack of clarifying description is totally misleading.
The portion itself was so small that they had to decorate my barren plate with a stupid orange slice topped with a maraschino cherry. My plate also came with a cup filled with nasty-ass fake butter and a microscopic plastic cup of “caramel sauce”… it could not have been more than a tablespoon… if that. And it was cold… I’m almost positive that it’s that crap you squeeze on top of ice cream sundaes.
For almost $9, this particular meal was a complete and total rip off. When you go to a restaurant, you want to order something unique that you don’t usually make at home… I could have made this at home for FREE and I can guarantee that it would be thousands of times better than this gastronomic atrocity.
And in addition to my BLAND meal, I feel like I MUST describe the bathroom. The bathroom is located between the dining area and the seedy lounge.
I noticed on arrival that you could smell the bathrooms on your way into the dining area, so I was not a happy camper when nature inevitably called. I trekked my way over to the bathrooms, and as I got closer, the smell became stronger. I finally managed to push open the (sticky! D: D: D:) door and the measly two stalls were filled. There’s not enough room to stand in there (nor would I want to b/c of the smell), as you are blocking the sinks, so I waited in the hall for someone to come out.
Finally, this drunk, middle-aged skank stumbled out, and I made my way in. FUCK. The floor was COVERED in urine. It smelled SO bad, I was gagging. Not only that, but the bottom of my jeans was soaking it all up (damn you HEIGHT, DAMN YOU).
I armored the toilet with 3 ass-gaskets, and did my business. THERE WAS NO FUCKIN’ TOILET PAPER. Why? B/c all the toilet paper was on the ground, in the puddles of urine and whatever else.
So I had to finish up with MORE ass-gaskets… and then i flushed. I tried to get out of my stall, but I noticed that I had ribbons of toilet paper stuck to my fuckin sneakers.I could not get it off, so I got what i could off and rubbed my soles on the ganky carpet on the way back to the table.
God. So gross.
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