My son was one of the original waiters for the $3 Cafe when it opened. Talk about a train wreck! The family that owned it let their daughter (I believe, I know it was a family member) manage it with zero background in running a restaurant. The kitchen was a disaster area with numerous problems the worst of which was a vent that kept breaking flooding the whole place with smoke. There was some good employees there in the beginning, but they quickly got run off by management who preferred their friends to wait staff that actually knew their job. My son quit when he realized that the problems weren't getting fixed and his income was suffering accordingly. There's not much tipping on a meal that is comped or the patrons leave before willing to wait any longer for their food, etc. I wish the new owners well & hope the unbelievably poor reputation the previous owners/management built won't doom them as well.

Bladderq, I haven't been there but I talked to a family friend's son who works there this past weekend.

He said that when they re-opened they hung out a "help wanted" sign. Some 60+ people applied for positions as waitstaff, hosts, kitchen help, etc.

Guess what...they hired everyone who applied. Many of the waitstaff, kitchen help, etc are now working only one or two shifts per week, 4-6 hours at a clip.

Unusual business model.