EightyTwenty Cafe | Braddon Canberra — Restaurant in District of Canberra Central

I am giving feedback on the services!

It was a couple of months ago. I went there for breakfast on a Saturday morning - honestly I didn’t know for Sat, it charges a weekend % , As most cafes don’t? So when I asked oh why it is more than the menu price? The lady (Asian) looked at me up and down and said coldly - ‘it is Saturday.’ It is not what she said it is how she said it with a tone implying ‘ do you expect? It is Saturday so pay up!’ She should have said ‘oh ok there is a x% surcharge as it is Saturday today. Are you ok with it?’ It is all about serving the customer with politeness and some compassion? Yes most people Who eat there might be financially well? I am too but I am frugal and it is ok to ask about the extra fee. I said to myself - why is the staff so impatient and raise their nose so high? Shall I go back? Maybe it is just one instance.

And today we ordered a chai and a mighty breakfast. The plate came later and my boy finished the chai quickly.I was thinking the chai herbs seem still strong so I walked up to the counter and requested for some warm milk. The guy said no problem. Later a girl brought a small glass of warmed / foamed milk and a lady behind counter (with a nose ring) said to me - you need to pay $1. I said oh I was not told so, so shall I pay? She said it is not free. I said I did not know and this should be informed to me so I am not paying. (I would if she did not say things such way.) Then I was thinking I don’t want to make a fuss so walked to pay with my Apple Pay. But I need to make it clear so I said am ok to pay but you need to tell the customer first.’ She said ‘well he is in training.’ And I said ‘well I don’t know that he is a training staff and did not try to take advantage. I barely think I could make use of the herbs with some extra milk.’ She looked at me and said ‘I am also Asian and I don’t do that.’ I was lost at that point -‘ sorry now you are talking about Asian? Who talked about Asian? What do you mean? ‘ she said ‘well you said you are Asian!’ ( I didn't at all.)What is she talking about? Maybe in her mind she has a picture of Asian people taking advantage to get a free milk? And it just burst out from her mouth?! I said to her ‘I am maybe frugal and thought to ask for some more milk to make another tea. It has nothing to do with me being Asian or not. I am not taking advantage. I donate to the community. I am not what you think.’ It seems to me this Asian lady staff is a racist and disgraced herself by degrading me with her assumptions. It was very unpleasant. I asked her - are you the owner? I will write a Review about this. She gave me a ‘i don’t care.’

Food is not bad but the mighty breakfast was $34. The waffle plate with seasonable fruit was $21 and now $22 and the portion gets smaller and smaller.

Last but not least my son went to toilet and came back scared - ‘mama there is a cockroach!’ Children don’t lie? I did not see it for my self but I want to let you know. This will be rated C (bad) in Singapore for cleanness. Although I know it is hard as food is processed here.

80/20 expanded to north borne and Kingston. You must be doing well but your staff attitude need to change - so your rating va be higher. There are numerous cafes on lonsdale and in canberra after all?

Reply to Aakash - I did not use the word Asian until she said that. That is why I am taken aback. I wonder what was she talking about. I did not accuse anyone. I have no issue of me being Asian. 😂🤣 I would not assume you discriminate me for $1. This whole thing is about communication and tone. Not about me feeling discriminated or ripped off. Of course you have a cost and I should share it. Please don’t assume things without knowing the truth. I am a mother and he was with me -...

Responding to the below from the Manager to Terra.

Really? C’mon you can do better than that.

Not only did you refuse to admit that you forgot my order, you didn’t even apologise for the mix up and tried to turn it around asking me to calm down when all I was trying to do was explain to you the manager that I was lied to by the waitress when I asked if my order was forgotten and she said no and I knew it had been because we saw several other patrons get served before us, that came in 15-30 minutes after us.

I also tried explain that when two people go out to eat you expect to eat your meals together not 30-50 minutes apart and the reason you made a new fruit bowl is because my friend is more or less full term pregnant and she was polite enough to wait for my meal to come out however, by the time that came around her fruit had gone warm in the sun. It wasn’t about being kind enough it was about looking after your patron and taking some accountability.

Before this, we had to follow up on a cup of tea as it didn’t come out either.

I voiced that I appreciate its busy and when speaking with my friend I said it was a shame the manager was so rude because when the food eventually came it was nice.

Let’s not be boastful though it was avocado on toast with mushrooms and nuts and that shouldn’t take 40/50 minutes to come out.

I did order another coffee because my first one went cold waiting for my food….I wasn’t going to be a Karen coming back in to order it & I’m also not going to let something like a forgotten meal take up negative energy in my day. I was really taken aback by your attitude so I returned it with kindness & when you, the manager delivered my coffee it was as though it was a complete turn around and you were quite cheerful.

I don’t believe Terra deserves the response you gave her for her review. Sometimes its worth stepping into the other persons shoes and seeing things from their eyes.

Also, for someone who doesn’t go out too often, 9/10 times my meal is forgotten. I’m always polite, wait, follow up nicely and today was no different, I simply told the waitress I knew it was a lie my meal had been forgotten and wanted to speak with manager. I am not new to this situation and the lack of understanding & compassion from you was truly lacking.

It was nice to see you to put a smile on your dial at the end of it all...

I’ve been coming to 80/20 for about 5 years. I’ve written raving reviews in the past and watched this place change owners and adjust to COVID. I loved it!

There must have been a change in staff recently or something. While I have always been accepting of the high priced ‘add ons’ to a meal, I just felt todays incident was unreasonable. I ordered the smashed avo (which includes poached eggs), I let them know that I’m pregnant and that I’d need the eggs fully cooked, to this they advised it would be of additional cost. This is not something they have done in the past. This is not my first time eating there during a pregnancy (there were no problems in the past just cooking the eggs through).

Im not asking for free add ons, I’m not asking for significant meal changes, I’m really not asking for much at all. Just cook the eggs through.

I’ll be avoiding 80/20 in future as there are plenty of other cafes that don’t discriminate against pregnant women.

Edit to reply: Aakash, my story is not completely different, it is my experience. You stated you can’t reply, however you clearly have replied and have right of reply. They told me it would be $3 extra, not $2, and did not offer a boiled egg as the impression given to me was that any alternative would be at cost. Just because my experience is not yours does not make it false, just demonstrates a clear lack of communication.

As demonstrated in all my other reviews (which can been seen publicly, I don’t commonly give negative reviews. I WILL continue to share my experience and give an honest review when I feel necessary. I have reduced the amount of stars due to your terrible response. I thought 3 stars was initially generous considering this mornings...