Penny University Cafe — Restaurant in District of Canberra Central

My name is Rob and I am a long term customer of Penny University for many years. I am writing this feedback with a heavy heart after a disappointing morning at Penny.

I visit Penny with two of my family members this morning between 8:30 to 9:10. We ordered a matcha latte, two juice of the day (Bougie juice), one fish of the day, a crisp fried baby eggplant and one Katsu burger.

Firstly, we ordered our drinks before we ordered our foods, one of the two bougie juice that we ordered were never served. placed by the girl who took our drink order. We had to call in other staff members after all foods has been served to ask for the missing juice order and found the original order only placed with one juice.

Secondly, we found that where we were sitting facing the door and we felt a little bit chill in the typical Canberra morning. We requested to move to another table that is further inside the shop and your staff member refused our request and offered to close the door for us instead. We understood that Penny often gets a lot of reservations on Sunday, we accepted the suggestion for the door to be closed. The door was left opened the entire time until we left without being closed even for one second.

There was also an incident with our table service when the food was served. When the crisp fried baby eggplant with other food, the waitress accidently dropped some eggplant out from the plate on to the floor. She went back behind the counter to get the dusting pan and brush to clean away those food on the floor, but the same waitress never returned to the table to explain the situation, nor offering any apologies. We understand accident happens, and people make mistakes. I still remember that when similar situations happen before during very busy lunch time hours, but I always received decent communication and sincere apologies from Penny University staff members.

As a loyal customer to Penny University, I am surprised with the drop down in the quality of services. It is very unusual to see this happening in your place, especially when staff members are not 100% focus on their job. During my visit this morning, I spot one staff member abandoning customers to chat with their friend who is visiting the shop; and at staff members congregating around the juice bar to chat for at least three times when customers behind were waving hands and yelling out “Excuse me” but no staff member attended.

I thank the hard-working team at kitchen delivering decent qualities of food and waitress at the checkout offering a free coffee at the end. However, I think the integrity and reputation of Penny University can not be brought off for a cup of coffee or any discounts. I believed that good service is an important part of the Penny University experience. People like to spend at Penny University for great foods, but more importantly to enjoy great times. Old customers will be reluctant to revisit Penny University again if the quality of service remains unchanged. I sincerely hope Penny University can address those issues seriously and I did look forward to revisiting you guys when above issues...

Went here last weekend for a casual brunch and found the whole experience a bit underwhelming. The waitstaff weren’t very attentive; we were seated on a long table, and the waitress seated another two people at the end of our table. The two people who were seated after us were served well before we were, and we waited a good ten minutes afterwards trying to get the waitstaff attention before eventually being served. Overall it probably took 20 mins for our orders to be taken. Food took another 40-50 minutes, it was a bit frustrating watching the people who came after us enjoying their meals while we sat waiting. When the food eventually did come out, we didn’t have cutlery so the waiter said he’d go grab some. He took another five minutes to return with cutlery, which was a frustrating 5 minutes with food sitting in front of you but being unable to eat it. Separate from the service, the food itself was very underwhelming. Myself and my partner both got eggs your way; add ons cost between 5-6 dollars each which is frankly absurd given that they charge $5 for half an avocado when avocados cost $1.50 at the moment. The biggest sin though was that the bread is served overdone and completely unbuttered. I’d excuse the service if the food redeemed it but paying close to $30 for bland eggs on toast with mushrooms and bacon on the side…. The least they can do is butter my bread. A week later and my partner and I are eating breakfast at home reminiscing about how mediocre the experience was, so thought I’d leave a review given it’s still clearly on my mind. Recommendations for the cafe: remind your staff to be more attentive, remember that if you’re charging $5-$6 for add ons they’d better be a bit special (cupping room is a good example), and put butter on your “award winning”...

Crowded, busy place with haphazard service. The menu is ambiguous - they charge at least $4 for each side, not a combo of sides which sound like they'd go well together (tomato salsa and harissa baked beans, yum yum). The toilet area in particular is amusingly retro but I'm not sure it's worth all the hassle. When you do eventually get your breakfast you'll enjoy the food but it will be after a long wait and no one wants to take your order. Beware the Sunday surcharge.

Edit for clarity in response to owner's comments: I was not complaining about the toilets. The toilets are fab. They're clean and aesthetically amusing, they have a great retro vibe and a long chain. Top marks there. "Worth the hassle" is a comment about the crowded seating (see below) and disinterested waiters. Yes I get that it's busy, but staff could look around occasionally and try to take an order if people are waving a menu at them instead of sitting at the bar with their back to everyone.

Similarly, I wasn't saying "don't charge a surcharge", I was saying "hey they charge a surcharge" so if you Google Maps users reading this are trying to decide whether to come eat here, know that there is a Sunday surcharge so consider that as part of your deliberations. This review is aimed at people trying to decide where to go for breakfast. If you want some delicious poached eggs on toast, consider this place.

Lastly, I'm not sure what the comments about seating arrangements are about. The whole restaurant looks very busy and crowded. It's popular. If there is a less crowded area, great, but you can't see it from the front of the cafe or from the main restaurant area, so no one is going to ask for it unless they're a regular who somehow found out about the secret bit...