Substance Espresso — Restaurant in Gold Coast City

Have had this marked on my map as 'Want to Go' for a while now.

My chance came today but unfortunately it wasn't to be.

When I rocked up it was extremely busy - good sign

I stood at the outside counter (as per what the sign had stated for table seating). I saw the lady in front of me approach the server? And ask for a table, and when she turned to her friend she swore under her breath. I thought alrighty, bad mood?

But once she was seated, it was my turn to stand there.. I stood there for a few minutes and I just felt so out of place. The server made eye contact with me a couple Of times, while standing next to her colleague, who was on the phone making a booking (they were right in front of me, so I wasn't hard to miss). So I can see why the lady in front me wasn't happy..

Rather than cause a fuss, I left.

Very unprofessional really.. All that was need was, "Hi, be with you in a minute" "Hello, what were you after? We have a xx minute wait on seating".

I would've been okay with that! Not just left there to look like an idiot.. I've worked in Retail/Food Service, so I GET IT, it's busy. But maybe a bit of communication wouldn't go amiss hey? Thats why I'm writing this, otherwise normally I wouldnt.

I'll amend this rating if Im back in the area and decide to come.

Pro tip - Call and make a booking or to see how busy they are.

Lesson learnt 👌 Do...

The best breakfast place I’ve tried in the area since moving here. Their coffee isn’t amazing but the food was absolutely delicious. Really lovely staff and atmosphere. We tried two different menu options and can’t wait to return to try more. Couldn’t recommend this place enough if you’re looking for a new breakfast hub to add to your rotation!

Update: I wrote an amazing review for this place a month ago and after my visit today, I left completely speechless. I figured I’d give the coffee another try and somehow it’s the worst coffee I’ve ever had in my life. It was so burnt that it tasted like fermented kombucha. Not only that, there was something floating in my drink that by the end, there were several bits sitting at the top of the coffee. I ordered the same Smashed Avocado as last time and both my eggs were so undercooked that it was inedible. The staff weren’t as lovely and the atmosphere was completely off. My experience today has completely ruined my view on this cafe. I can’t see myself...

Substance, the substance in my smashed avo was hair and the substance in my coffee was a fly.

A bit dramatic, I know! I looked over the hair in the avo, this table service cafe doesn't do quality checks though which would've been a great opportunity to bring it up. Based on the below issue I doubt they would've handled that properly.

Speaking of quality checks, I brought up that a fly had died in the carafe with the remaining 2/3rds of my coffee when they were doing coffee last call and while somewhat apologetic the staff seemed ill-equipped to problem solve... I didn't order a V60 to only drink a third of it 🤷🏼‍♂️

Ambience ~4/5 (aesthetically nice but aurally could use work it sounds busy at quarter capacity needs some strategic sound deadening) Coffee ~4/5 (pre-fly was pretty good) Food ~3/5 (bland but inoffensive surprisingly hair doesn't add flavour) Service ~1/5 (friendly but...