« Phinney Ridge-Greenwood Restaurants

22 responses so far ↓

• 1 m // Sep 19, 2008 at 1:51 pm

  Unfortunately I remember when Mae’s was wonderful. I believe (correct me if I’m wrong) that the original Mae herself is no longer with the joint and its been down hill from there.

  This used to be breakfast and great service worth waiting for - not any more….

• 2 CD // Sep 20, 2008 at 4:12 pm

  The food is pretty decent, I love the pesto eggs–but oh my god the service is awful! I almost left the last time I was there because one of the staff kept running and jumping around the very full restaurant screaming, and was constantly pulling up his pants which sagged well below his butt.

• 3 ivoryhalo // Sep 30, 2008 at 11:32 pm

  yeah, not very service oriented and definitely not worth going for the food.

  always disappointed when I’ve gone

• 4 Bree // Oct 1, 2008 at 10:15 am

  The service here has gotten so bad we won’t go back. It’s a shame, because I used to really like their breakfasts…when the food arrived warm and within an hour of ordering it.

• 5 PAS915 // Oct 6, 2008 at 8:28 pm

  I took some friends visiting from out of town here for breakfast because I’d heard such great things about it. It was collectively one of the worst breakfast any of us had had. The service, yea, was not great, but the food was even worse. How do you screw up an omelette? I won’t be back.

• 6 Squirrel Girl // Oct 7, 2008 at 11:29 am

  Wow! What a lot of grouches! Mae’s is a perfectly acceptable breakfast spot, with great pesto eggs, good omelettes and AWESOME cinnamon rolls. I’ve never had anything but good service there, and everyone I’ve ever taken to breakfast there has really enjoyed the fun atmosphere.

• 7 phinneyisfun // Nov 6, 2008 at 4:11 pm

  I like the espresso milkshakes!

• 8 Maria // Dec 19, 2008 at 2:14 pm

  Sadly a mere shadow of its former self. Nothing special anymore with mediocre food and questionable service and overpriced. Honestly I am a tad sick of ‘homey and funky’ places to eat.

• 9 whittier heights // Feb 3, 2009 at 7:58 pm

  Gee - what was the former self all about?
  I have only been around for about 16 years or so…. …I may be dense but it seems like the same old staff I have always seen (no disrespect intended) all except for that front counter girl, but I swear I know her from the neighborhood.
  I remember when “homey and funky” were not some sort of design niche but just a way that things were. Mae - can you be trendy and happening? What would that even look like? Since it is Phinney Ridge would you have to have live chickens out back?

• 10 DudeMan // Feb 21, 2009 at 9:26 am

  I used to go to Mae’s back in the early 90’s. The service was atrocious. People waited for an hour on the weekends to eat the at-best average food. After a few times I simply stopped going in.

  I did like the outdoor walk-up espresso & the hot cinnamon roll.

• 11 Melissa // Mar 19, 2009 at 1:21 pm

  I have never been a fan of this establishment as I always found the food mediocre. However, now that we have two kids and have lived a few blocks away for over 5 years we decided to give it another try on Presidents Day. My husband likes this place less than I but we decided after 4 yrs to give it another try. We experienced the ABSOLUTE worst service I have ever had. The waitress rolled her eyes, threw our menus at us (I’m not exaggerating) and forgot our coffee (3 other tables were seated before she even came back over). After a 15 minute wait for her to take our coffee order, my husband had to remind her to get them for us and she was put off again for his reminder. I might also add she treated the other patrons poorly also (we overheard another table complaining). We politely left and will NEVER visit again. We love going out to breakfast and are easy going diners -but this was truly the most abysmal service I have ever encountered. We will continue to go to Senor Moose, The Dish and Julia’s in Wallingford-where even the long wait is better than dining at this awful restaurant. If you need some place to walk go to Pete’s Egg Nest or Roosters. Any place is better than Mae’s.

• 12 Lisa // Apr 26, 2009 at 9:49 am

  Awful service! It takes them at least 15-20 minutes to even notice you’re standing there and then another 15-30 minutes for them to acknowledge you. The food is just okay, not worth standing around waiting to be noticed and seated and once you’re seated waiting again for them to take your order.

• 13 Josh // May 3, 2009 at 2:19 pm

  Completely agree, I went once recently on a weekday and the service was still horrible, even with only a handful of people in the place. The biscuits tasted like they’d been yanked out of the Pilsbury box and stuck in a microwave for a minute. Everything is overpriced by at least $2. I am baffled why people will line up on the weekends for service by kids on work release and sub-par food.

• 14 donkey punch // May 12, 2009 at 2:34 pm

  Maes is awesome. I was there yesterday for a late breakfast. I cannot understand why people dont enjoy this place. If you dont want to wait for a few minutes to be seated then dont show up here and cook breakfast at home. I have been here many times and oddly enough the people that work here start to reconize me. I always make sure I am polite, because I want great service. I also know for years working in the food service industry how pissy and bitchy people can get. I am glad there are so many people that are not happy about the service because that makes my wait in line to get in much better. Patience goes along way. If you want to get cheap and nasty go to Dennys

• 15 StuckHere // Jun 4, 2009 at 5:49 pm

  I almost hate to write this because there is so much blood in the water already…

  This place is a scam. Only in a place like Seattle can you find a dinner that sells a sub par breakfast that costs ~ $40 for two people that has a line in front of it.

• 16 missugly // Jul 23, 2009 at 1:02 pm

  But it is one of the few places in the neighborhood that I have seen the same faces in the staff/ if not customers - overtime.
  I drop in anymore and let weekends be for the folks who have weekend leisure time. I am so jealous.

• 17 Number Six // Aug 4, 2009 at 5:58 pm

  go to Rooster’s up the street. Took out of town friends there several years ago, waited about 45 min. to get service, and about the same for our cold food to finally show up. Never going back again and bad-mouth it if/when anyone asks.

• 18 Happy at Mae's Cafe // Aug 7, 2009 at 2:41 pm

  I love Maes Cafe. The food is delish. Never had any issues with service. Always treated well. I also like the Ice Cream section. Great flavors, and the rootbeer floats.. out of this world.

• 19 Greenlake // Aug 12, 2009 at 10:59 am

  Horrid service and food not so special or inexpensive that it’s worth it. Besides, the place looks filthy. I was a restaurant server for years, and I don’t spend money in places where the staff could not give a rat’s butt. I swore off Maes years ago. From the reviews sound like it was a smart idea.

• 20 pietro47 // Aug 26, 2009 at 6:01 am

  I saw the lines out front of this place and thought maybe I should give it a try - boy was I sorry! My toast was burnt, the eggs looked like they had fallen on the floor and then put back on the plate and the hash browns were greasy and undercooked. The server had an attitude of indifference. I WON’T BE BACK!

• 21 Jon // Sep 18, 2009 at 9:19 pm

  Still great after all these years. I switch between the veggie and meaty options, and really have never had a bad meal. The pancakes are tasty and bigger than the kids’ heads, and the tofu breakfast rocks. I *never* go on a busy weekend morning, so maybe that’s the key to getting decent service. Later, at noon or so, the service is great, the food is stellar, and the restaurant not too crowded. Give ‘em some room, and the joy is still there.

• 22 Hervon Ruten Schtuen // Nov 1, 2009 at 2:28 am

  Mae’s is an overrated craphole. I assume it was great in the 80s or early 90s because it is still coasting on some kind of reputation. But on my last three visits the service was awful and the food was worse, and when it’s me and not my Midwestern mother saying the place needs a good scrubbing, you know the joint must be filthy. Would a coat of paint kill them? Could the cook pull away from the bong long enough to not burn the hash browns? Could the server’s pretend to give a fuck? Phinney needs a great breakfast place. Mae’s is not it. But it’s nice that they serve ice cream in the summer.

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