Last week when I was on a *minor* shopping spree for home decor, I happened past Cafe Oo La La in the Ridgeway Shopping Center on Summer Street. A cute little cafe with glass doors that open up to the sidewalk. Cafe tables and chairs spread about. A beautiful, long case with salads, sandwiches, baked goods, and yummy looking gelato on display. Modern, but quaint decor. A nice menu written on chalkboards for that authentic touch. The perfect setting for a lazy weekend breakfast or a nice little lunch date with friends, coworkers or your significant other.
After seeing how adorable the place was and reading some positive reviews online, we were really excited to go there Saturday morning for breakfast and to catch up on weeks of blog posts with their free WiFi! (bad bloggers, bad.) We found a table next to the holy grail, an outlet! For a cafe with free WiFi, they certainly are cheap on the outlets with only one. But, it’s not about that after all, right?
I walked up to the counter to browse the menu and placed my order. I asked the young woman behind the counter what came with the omelettes, to which she replied bread. I asked if you can order a side of potatoes, which I had to repeat 3 times because she didn’t understand English well. Finally a young man came by and answered my question. Yes, it does come with potatoes. I then asked her what comes with the eggs any style. Nothing she says. I said nothing? Nope. Can I get it with potatoes? No. Ok, what can I get it with? Nothing. Ummm ok. Her male colleague comes back and informs me I can get them with anything I would like. So, I suppose they don’t train their employees very well and that is a huge pet peeve of mine. Luckily, however, when they brought our plates out the order was correct so they earned some points back.
The meal looked very good. I ordered the Greek omelette with multi-grain toast, Danny had his favorite, the farmer’s omelette also with multi-grain toast and we shared some bacon. The highlight of the meal was the bacon. It was nice and crispy, cooked just how we like it. The highlights pretty much end there. The multi-grain toast was tough and definitely not fresh baked. Plus, they gave us ice cold butter that was solid, I know that’s such a silly thing but it’s another little pet peeve. When you give butter for bread, it needs to be softened. The potatoes were cooked well, but boring and bland. It was like they took frozen hash browns, threw them on a skillet, pressed them down with a turner and slapped them on a plate. The coffee was very weak and watery, blah! I couldn’t even finish it. And lastly, but not leastly (leastly? yeah, whatever), we have the omelettes. The ingredients did seem fresh, which is great, but the eggs weren’t fluffy and it was just very bland. The eggs almost tasted microwaved, though I’m sure they weren’t.
Overall, the meal wasn’t awful or disgusting by any means, but in the words of beloved hipsters, it was pretty “meh.” We are definitely willing to give it another shot for lunch because we have heard good things and because the ambiance is quite nice, but we wouldn’t got back for breakfast for sure.
Noms: 2.75 (but we’ll reevaluate when we go back for lunch)
Cost: $$
Cafe Oo La La Adress: 2325 Summer StreetStamford, CT 06905-4525
Phone: (203) 353-3300 http://www.cafeoolala.com/ Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cafe-OoLaLa/197883960239869 Twitter: http://twitter.com/cafeoolala
Dan and Kristien Del Ferraro
OmNomCT 
I went for coffe and ..it was decent and fortunately not starbucks.
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Glad you enjoyed it. There are lots of great alternatives to Starbucks in our area that are far better than Cafe Oo La La. Try Espresso Neat in Darien, Caffeine in SoNo or Zumbachs in New Canaan to name a few. : )
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Starbucks is kind of at the extreme of things. You find people that really love it and people that just don’t love it at all because they roast their coffee pretty darkly. Kristien named some good places to try out, but in terms of convenience, that’s tough…it’s all about what’s good and what’s close by…and whatcha like. :)
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I’ve tried this place twice, once for lunch, once for a snack. I won’t be back . The whole set-up for ordering is confusing and inefficient, the employees have no idea what they’re doing, and the food is mediocre and pricey. I think the owner is in way over her head. It’s a shame. Ridgeway really needs a decent place to eat, but Cafe Ooh La La isn’t it.
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Yeah, pretty much the same experience we had. I am willing to try lunch there before I swear it off for good, but I’m not hopeful.
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Ditto Janyll. I’ve been there twice for breakfast and twice for lunch. The ordering set-up is confusing and inefficient for sure. The employees have no idea what they are doing. The food is mediocre and pricey for what you get. They need to make some changes fast or it will not last.
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Sad, huh?
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