Poorly run Cafe, Bakery ok
My friend and I went to the Cafe last month. I ordered their "half-a-sandwich and cup of soup" combo, and water. I asked for lentil soup and was surprised that it had meat in it - no description was given on the menu, and I think meat in a vegetarian sounding dish should be noted. The real problem came in paying for my food. The cashier of this cafeteria-style establishment charged me over $11 for this meal. I told her I thought it was more like $8. She said she was "confused" and thought that I'd ordered a full bowl of soup and sandwich separately. She rang it up again (correctly) but charged my tax on the $11 mistake, which my friend pointed out. After conferring with colleagues, she admitted the mistake but was only able to correct this mistake by giving me some amount of change. I repeatedly asked to make sure that she didn't screw up in a third way and charge my card for both the $11 and the $8. She said she didn't. Lo and behold my credit card statement comes and this is exactly what she did. I called the restaurant and was told a manager would return my call in a "half an hour" and that they would resolve this. I did not receive a call back from them.

The cafe food was bad (and expensive). Although I though the adjoining bakery was well run and sold tasty breads, I would never go here again!    [27 Oct 2004 12:33:36]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 
Recommended Dishes: Bakery Breads ONLY!

     ­Deborah   

Nothing else like it in Durham
The bakery is one of the only places in the area to get fresh REAL German bread, which is head and shoulders above what you find in American grocery stores. And the pastries are out of this world.

Although they are rarely on display, many cakes can be custom ordered. My personal favorites being the raspberry mouse and mango mouse cakes. Every loaf of bread you see was made that morning, with the exception of the “day old” rack, which is sold at a discount. Not surprisingly it was named “Best bakery in the Triangle” by The Independent.

The cafe is what I know best, because I worked in the kitchen as a prep and line cook for about half a year before leaving to go back to school. I must disagree with the review on this page posted by Deborah. The food is excellent! I love almost everything on the menu, but I suppose that my point of view could be a bit bias, so I advise the reader to check out some other reviews. The Guglhupf has received rave reviews from The Herald Sun, The News and Observer, Triangle.com, Die Zeit (a German newspaper), The Food Network, and NPR, to name a few. I think I speak for the whole kitchen staff when I say that great pride is taken in the quality of the food served at Guglhupf.

Nearly everything is prepared from scratch. For instance, the roasted red peppers used in salads are seasoned, roasted, pealed, and de-seeded in-house. This is a process which I personally spent hours performing, where most restaurants would use roasted red peppers from a can, requiring only a moment to open. This kind of attention to detail makes Guglhupf the best cafe in the triangle.

The review posted by Deborah was quite negative. I regret that she was not satisfied, but I feel that there are a few things I must point out. She begins by saying that her visit to the Guglhupf was a month before the date she had made the post on, October 27th 2004. At this time the new cafe had been open only a few days, if it was not its first day open. It was every employee’s first day working with new registers, and card readers (you will notice that the registers in the cafe are much more complex than those in the bakery). As for the food being bad, I must simply disagree.    [20 Dec 2005 21:04:45]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 
Recommended Dishes: Roasted Leg of Lamb Sandwich, Seared Tuna, any of the brunch dishes (served only on sunday)

     ­Jim W.   Jwysensk at vt dot edu