Cafe Chloe and Espionage

Oh Cafe Chloe, I think I would like you a lot more if I didn't know for a fact that you rip off all your ideas, decor and possibly your food from other popular restaurants. Fact is though, I don't like you and it's not just because of that. Now, granted I ordered soup & salad, nothing too extravagant, but the soup reminded me of something that I couldn't quite put my finger on until now. It tasted like someone bought one of those boxed soups you see at Trader Joe's, Whole foods, Henry's and other health food stores and watered it down, and served it to me in a lion-faced gourd, which I feel would have been more appropriate for a shrubbery. Seriously though, it tasted like watered down Roasted Red pepper and Tomato, I swear. Making soup is not that hard. It involves a large pot, maybe some stock, and a lot of simmering and reducing. I can do this at home. Cafe Chloe, I'm sure you have a kitchen somewhere.  The salad was good however. Nice little cucumber, some fun little tri-colored tomatoes, a light vinagrette. The bread was good, as well. It tasted very fresh. The Mac was good. A little bleu cheese, some pancetta, good, but I would've liked to taste a bit more bleu, but that is only because my palate is ridiculous and I eat gorgonzola like it is candy.

It wasn't the watered down soup, or even the rickety chair, or the fact that I got carded for the first time at a restaurant in like a year and couldn't order the lavender mimosa I wanted, but the kinda, well, there is no nice way to put this, spotty service for a small place. I don't know if it was the cold and bitter wind whipping up through the urban canyons in between the skyscrapers, but I just didn't feel welcomed. I won't swear off this place entirely like I have done with several others *cough* Parkhouse Eatery *cough.* I will give it another chance, and I don't blame the server for one main reason. There seemed to be a major emphasis on cute. However, cute is not comfortable when you try to jam too many cute little tables into a cute little space. It creates a cute little cluster fuck for your cute little staff. So, with that said I have one last thought:

I'm watching you Cafe Chloe. Come up with something that is yours, something that you own, that you are known for. This is only my first visit, and I wasn't really impressed with anything, and to be honest I hadn't really heard much about you other than your name and the fact that you steal ideas. That's it. Nothing on your menu called my name. It was just kind of well, average. Average may cut it for the uneducated Foodie, but for a seasoned diner, such as myself, it's really not worth my time.

Remember, One More Chance, Chloe, that's all you get because I am not a Foodie, I'm not here for the novelty, I'm here to eat and it better be good.