Merlo Coffee Cafe | Fortitude Valley, James St — Restaurant in Brisbane City

Yes, Merlo's coffee is great and that's why we have been buying our coffee beans from the Valley and Paddington stores for over 20 years now, even taking their beans on overseas trips, we love it so much! We bought our first espresso machine from them 15 years ago because we like supporting local businesses. That Saeco Via Venezia machine has stood us well until recently, so we thought no further than returning to Merlo's Valley store again to purchase a new espresso machine. Unlike the first purchase, we weren't able to try before we bought. We were helped by a friendly salesperson, who gave us the run down on all that was on offer and we made our decision on an Alfi machine that we were told made "cafe-quality coffee" (and no mention of how long the pressure gauge actually takes to be ready) and the recommended grind for it.

Upon using it at home, my husband discovered that the machine takes about 15 minutes to be ready and then to top it off, the shot came out cool without any crema. Naturally that isn't acceptable, so he kept playing around with it and looking up YouTube videos to get some instruction. Several days and attempts later, we came to our senses and called the store for help. We were invited to come back 8 days later after that for a complimentary 15 minute session with our machine. In the meantime, we kept trying with the machine to no avail. At our appointment, it took the salesperson nearly an hour to find the right grind after the machine's pressure gauge was ready to go. We bought a new tamper and a new grind of beans after all the experimenting. Back at home, it was the same story all over again with the long wait for the gauge to be ready, the cool temperature and the lack of crema. We'd had enough and didn't want to get stuck with an $1849 machine that wasn't meeting our simple expectations, so I rang the Valley store to bring it back. The person in charge wasn't interested and blamed it on our change of mind. We just wanted it to work and why in a domestic environment would anyone want to wait around 15 minutes for their espresso machine to be ready? The suggestion of buying at additional cost an outlet timer was made and even our recently renovated kitchen outlets were questioned. I had to suggest that maybe there was an actual problem with that individual machine. The woman said a rep was coming to the store soon and could have a look at it, so we agreed to that. No mention of potential charges! After that, we were told there was nothing wrong with the machine. Well, something was wrong, and we certainly weren't going to take it back and be stuck with it. We even offered to accept a store credit to no avail. In the end, after a lot of insistence, we were offered a refund MINUS the $250.00 service fee for the rep looking at it. WE had to pay the service fee for a new machine! Appalling customer service; so much for supporting the local.

Overall, this has been a very unsatisfactory experience, both in regard to the coffee machine and the service received. Loyal customers surely...

I had the same disappointing experience at this place today for the second time. I work nearby and I walked to this place from the bank next door, to buy a coffee before I go back to work. I ordered a coffee and was waiting for it and I noticed that the young guy who was the barista, was having a conversation, laughs with a girl who was sitting in a chair close to the coffee machine and he had surprisingly does not care behaviour and did not want to focus on his job while a few people were waiting for their coffees. I noticed that he was making wrong coffees and he realises that it was wrong and says “oh shit, I got to do this again”! I saw 3 guys and 2 girls in there working but there was a lot of disappointment and frustration in the other customers as well because the staff did not care about their customers who paid for their coffees and waiting for a long time. There was no apology or anything and they were carrying on with their own talks, laughs and it was so sad to see really bad work ethics of the staff. There are a lot of people come to this place from their workplaces and this is the only cafe which is open in the area at this time for a coffee.

After waiting for so long, I went back to the counter and returned my number and the guy did not even apologise however he said that “it’s only 10 mins” and offered a refund but I didn’t want to even wait for the refund as it was a really unpleasant experience because those guys have no passion for what they do and do not care for their loyal customers. As I mentioned, this is the same experience the second time and I will never go to this place again and I would not recommend this place. I urge the management to really consider changing this for their own benefit too.

I’m sorry but I have to say that I’m highly...

Very handy spot for me to refill my Merlo can of superb blends of beans.

Just one suggestion: Please clean the can's top rim, clear of broken little bean bits, before trying to bash the heck out of the lid closed. The lid just can't be properly secured into the blocked rim, no matter how hard you hit with that rubber hammer! You don't need a hammer to secure the lid, when the rim is clean.The Paddington Merlo does this every time, and good on them for their attention to a simple little detail. Your staff I explained this to today just kept on explaining to me, that the reason why the rim is filled with little bits is because she tries to fill the can to its fullest (Which I thanked her for.). Yes, so lets move on to the solution, instead of not even acknowledging there's a problem for...