Urbane Café Ventura - Restaurant Reviews

I stopped for lunch today at one of the most potentially interesting of Ventura restaurants: the Urbane Café over by Barnes & Noble. Yes that's Urbane with an E, not urban.

Urbane Cafe - Ventura Restaurants

The Urbane Café is interesting for a couple of reasons. First the menu is fairly reasonably priced. Next that same menu is full of seemingly delicious sounding items that also appear to be relatively healthy to consume.

While the place tries to give you the sense that it's a tiny local eating establishment, the truth is the Ventura Urbane Café is one of six locations, so far, in a rapidly growing restaurant chain.

I've eaten at the Ventura location several times over the past few years, with mixed results. I really want to like the place. I really do. Just listen to some of these sample items from their menu: Rosemary Chicken Sandwich - grilled rosemary chicken, roasted red bell pepper, provolone cheese, green leaf lettuce, and aioli sauce. Sounds good, yes?

How about this: the Californian Sandwich - artichoke hearts, avocado, sun dried tomatoes, mushrooms, jack cheese, green leaf lettuce, and herb mayonnaise. Yummy, right?

My favorite, which I had today, is the Gourmet Grilled Cheese Sandwich – cheddar, gorgonzola and pepper jack cheese, avocado, and a bit of tomatillo salsa.

Taste, texture and flavor wise, the sandwich was very good. It's also served each time with a small side salad. Today I got mine with the balsamic vinaigrette dressing.

That's a decent value for $6.99, without any beverage.

The biggest problem I have with this place is the uneven hospitality and service.

For example, today, after I ordered my sandwich, knowing that there was a salad on the side, since the order taker failed to ask me, I had to ask her what dressing options were available. I suppose if I hadn't raised the question, I simply would've been served the default.

A year or so ago, in the evening, after I place my order, I saw a food prep chef actually wipe his knife on a trash can rim and then continue to use the same knife to prepare meals.

Without any embarrassment at all, I canceled my order and asked for my money back. It was sometime before I gave them another chance. And only after talking to other people who had better experiences. A lesson to restaurant managers and employees everywhere: People do pay attention.