Bethel Cafe replaces Emereld City Cafe, Bad News

The Emerald City Cafe restaurant, located inside the Bethel Cinema building, has been replaced by new management.
The idea of a cafe, serving eclectic and affordable meals prior to or after a good movie (Bethel Cinema's steady fare) made for a worthwhile 70 mile round trip for dinner and a movie. Both facilities served up reliably good stuff.

Last week, we made the trip again and discovered that the Cafe had new management and is now called the Bethel Cafe.

Sadly, the experience was so disappointing that we may not want to make the trip back for just the Cinema part anymore.

After ordering a main course salad and a Chicken Franchaise, we waited five minutes before the waiter returned to tell us the there was no mor4e Chicken Franchaise. A long search of the menu and a repositioning of taste bud expectations and I settled of an Oriental Chicken salad.

15 minutes later the Dinner salad arrived for my partner and a platter of Chicken Franchaise was plopped down in front of me with the comment "We found that we did have the Chicken Franchaise."
I was never asked if I wanted to swap my second choice for which I had already reset my culinary expectations. Frankly, I was stunned. We both stared at the waiter waiting for more details on why I was being served a dish that 1) I was told wasn't available (where on earth did they find it?) and 2) that I had already discarded as a choice in favor of another dish?

We chose to not argue and began eating. The Chicken Franchaise was totally without any lemon taste and was floating, with the associated pasts, in what only could be described as Liquid Parkay. No flavor. My partner noticed there was no bread on the table to accompany her salad and when we asked for bread, were told that they do not serve bread on the table. When pushed the waiter left and returned with a side-order bowl of ripped-apart clumps of what looked like a loaf of Italian bread.

The meal and almost unbelievable service was a major disappointment for this former gem of a cafe.

We felt bad for the theater, which we love, because a place like this will probably reduce attendance at the movies.

---JP