I went to Genies recently, noting several empty tables as I walked around to the entrance and the lack of people waiting in the coffee bar. It was weekday "not quite lunch time". I waited for a seat, only to be greeted snottily by the waitress saying, "did you sign the wait list?" DO I HAVE TO SIGN A WAIT LIST IF NO ONE ELSE IS WAITING? Let's kill a few more trees in our quest to use the most paper possible.... I left and went to Kettelman's instead. I used to really like Genies but I won't patronize a place that doesn't seem to want my business.

I'm actually from Raleigh, NC. I went to Portland to visit a buddy of mine, and he took me to Genies the second day I was there. I went about 3 more times after that. The coffee was great and it was a great way to pass the time waiting to be seated when there was a wait for that. But at the same time, it did indeed take a good while for the wait staff to either realize or care that we were there. That would be my only complaint, as the food was AWESOME.

The service was excellent. The food was better. My 3 year old loved her breakfast of eggs and toast and my pregnant belly was thrilled with the veggie eggs benedict. Go and be hooked.

the benedicts are pretty awesome, but the service is so bad i won't be going back anytime soon. we went on a weekday, the place was nearly epmty, 3 servers were on the floor, and no one came to our table for at least 20 minutes. i don't remember having the power to make myself invisible.

Genie's is great. the food has actually improved over the last year and it is always hopping with energy, which I actually enjoy when trying to get going in the AM. The other guy who reviewed this obviously had a bad experience and that is too bad they actually consider Cadillac Cafe food/staff in the same league as Genie's! YUK. I have to laugh--things happen. They still could benefit from some better chairs, but when the food is delivered to the table, I can't complain. My one complaint is when kids are there, the place can be a zoo with the SE Portland "I refuse to discipline my kid" contingent in full effect.

I used to be a big fan of Genies until I recently went there on a Saturday morning with friends the day after our wedding. We wrote our name on the list and then subsequently picked up 2 pieces of bannana bread and coffees. We waited for about 45 minutes and then began to notice that there was a number of people that were in larger parties than ours being seated. To my amazement I asked the maitre d about when we would be seated and she said that we must be on another list. Well another 15 minutes and other tables that would fit a group of 4 continued to be filled. At this point I had a newly infuriated wife and angry friends. It was at that point that she finally offered to seat us. My wife refused and asked if we'd have to pay for the bread and coffee, which the maitre d actually had the gall to even consider. I asked to speak with the management, which was a guy named Markus. About all he could offer was a half hearted apology, couldn't even look me in the eye. I think the guy was actually the dishwasher. Unfortunately, my diagnosis for Genies is that it's become infested with the hipster attitude that infects lots of cool places in this town. Anyways we ended going to the Caddilac cafe, needless to say the staff at Genies could take a lesson from the fine folks there.