Most Bucharest inhabitants know the Nescafe coffee shop/pizza place/whatever from the Universitate metro station. Even if it’s just because the happen to pass by it on their way to the metro.

Last night I used it as a last resort. I met Alex C after work and we wanted to have a drink, eat (mostly me) and do the tons of pending catching up. As Bucharest people go out way to much for a Tuesday nights, the place we tried first was full. We entered this coffee shop and a guy with two menus popped out of nowhere instantly.

Great service! Fast and efficient! Well, that was what I thought of first. Then it took another 15 minutes for the guy to finally decide to hear me calling him to take our order. Two pizzas, a lemonade and a beer. Not that complicated. After another five minutes he came with the forks and knives and the ketchup.

He was basically moving fast enough to make everyone else suddenly feel sleepy. So another overzealous guy came out of, again, nowhere, asking us if we wanted something. We said no, it’s been taken care of. So he has the bright idea of taking the tray with the ketchup and forks back, without asking anything. We tried to stop him and barely could. By this time I could not help laughing. “At least I made you laugh”, he said. True, at least that.

The beer came long after the pizzas, after another explicit request. The request was answered to promptly, the problem was to actually make the waiter see/hear you or react in any other way than walking round the entire coffee shop, doing nothing useful.

The pizza, however, was delicious and not expensive at all. I ordered Quattro Formagi which they rarely get just about right, no matter where I have it. So that was quite impressive.

Getting the check, well that was another adventure. Before that we were waited on by a very nice girl who actually had some idea what she was doing. She also brought us the check, after another 15 minutes of trying to discover where exactly our waiter was hiding. Of course, when it was time to take the cash and the tip (yeah, there was a tiny tip cause I could not find a better solution!) he reappeared. Nice magic trick!

So if you want great pizza, a nice atmosphere and a rather empty coffee shop, you should try this one. But do bring all the available patience with you!