Sweet Aromas Bakery & Cafe

Sweet Aromas, what happened? My wife and I visited Sweet Aromas Friday morning (7-​22-​2011) to renew our love affair with their great food and staff after being estranged from West Jefferson for a little over three years. Our fond memories included getting a big hung from the owner when we would go in and she always stopped by our table to chat after we received our food. Things change I guess because I knew we were in trouble when we entered and as we approached the counter a 6 or 7 year old boy threw a paper airplane that hit me in the chest. We stood there for a while waiting to be seated all the while having to make small talk with the child. Getting seated took too long since there was only one other couple in the place at 10:00 in the morning. The kid rang the bell by the register and the lady that I remember from years ago being the owner’s sister came up to seat us with a portable phone jammed in her ear. Things went downhill from that. I ordered the «Old Favorite» breakfast with coffee and home fries and my wife wanted the honey bun. The kid continued to bring toys up to our table and we nervously made small talk with him. Then as other people came in and sat he went to their tables and disturbed their train of thought as well. Don’t get me wrong… I have grandchildren his age that I adore but when I sit down to eat in a place where I pay for food it shouldn’t be a facility that depends somewhat on the customers to entertain some employee’s child. Secondly, my home fried potatoes were cold, and old. Horrible, didn’t eat them. Still, the lady remained on the phone, never checked on us, and never brought my wife her bun. I sat and ate my food at my wife’s insistence before the rest of it could get cold and she sat waiting, just waiting. The cook came out of the kitchen and I flagged him down and I asked him for my wife’s order and he commented that «she» would bring it out while nodding towards the lady manager still yakking on the phone. It was clear that he never informed anyone that our order had not been filled. My wife asked to leave so we went up to pay and stood at the register for a while and no one came to help us. Finally I tapped the bell and «she» came out to check us out and then realized my wife had not gotten her honey bun. Her apology was that she had been tied up on the phone with her sister and her accountant. She did offer to bag the bun and send it with us at no charge. We declined.
It is so sad that a memorable piece of the West Jefferson restaurant history has slipped so much into decline. What a warm, friendly, service oriented place Sweet Aromas used to be… when we left the area three years ago Sweet Aromas was one of the establishments we hated most to leave. Now that we are back in the area, we won’t be wasting time to go into a day care atmosphere restaurant that cannot complete a simple order.
So sad.