Cafe Brontos — Restaurant in Melbourne

A very disappointing experience indeed. My wife and I attended Brontos on Sunday morning after driving by many times and thinking it looked nice, and it was new. Sadly, our first time here was definitely our last.

After arriving to a fairly empty place, we put in our orders and began our wait. A couple of tables had finished their meals and the only other table was a large noisy group who had not yet ordered.

As time went by, more people came and took a seat and eventually ordered. About 10 mins after ordering, our coffees came. Sadly, we kept waiting and at 45 mins after order 2 meals, we still had no food and none of the staff said anything, so I decided to ask how much longer we’d be waiting for food… in the meantime, we had watched bowls of chips coming out to tables that came in well after us.

The staff member came back and said that she’s sorry but it’s going to be a while longer as the orders are backing up, to which we replied that out of everyone sitting in this restaurant, we were the first to even order anything.

Hungry and disappointed, we decided to get up and leave. While standing at the counter to pay for the coffee, the same staff member came and told us that our food had actually just been finished and was ready. Reluctantly we went back to our table which was a regrettable mistake…

A few mins later, the first meal came out, the Ceylon breakfast. Absolutely zero effort had gone into it and it and the food was barely edible. A few mins later (after being told it was cooked), my wife’s salmon and chilli scramble arrived, which to be honest, was an absolute disgrace.

The scrambled eggs was literally just poured out of the pan onto a piece of bread which you can imagine was a soggy mess, the hash brown that we ordered as an extra wasn’t even there and the salmon was just mixed through the egg rather than presented nicely with a little care. Despite the meal being big, it was watery and after waiting a total of 55 mins for scrambled eggs on toast and a meal that was a couple of pieces of bread with some caramelised onion, what seemed like mashed potato and some other grains, we couldn’t even eat it.

I am truly baffled how it could take 55 mins for what we received as when we ordered, there was no one else waiting for food at all and at no point did any staff inform us there were delays or when our food would come.

Sadly, we left extremely unsatisfied, disappointed and still hungry, and we paid almost $50 for the displeasure, despite not wanting to. I’m not sure where all the great reviews and photos of nice looking food are coming from, as our experience was the complete opposite.

Unfortunately, we can’t recommend this place which is a shame as we live around the corner and would have loved to have had a nice cafe to start going to. The only thing good we can report was the young girl who took our order and was very apologetic and wished us a nice day, despite none of it...

Cafe was empty, not a single customer. This should have been the first sign. We were very warmly greeted by the staff.

Don’t get me wrong, the interior is lovely, looks brand new after the revamp, very clean and modern - even has one of those flashy Brontos neon signs. From the name of the cafe, you’d probably guess that the cafe is based around The Flinstones.

Let me start with the Brontos Biggie, poached eggs were too sour from too much vinegar, so much so that the egg white’s texture has changed. It also seems that half the egg white is lost. The toast was soggy and wet from the eggs, hashbrowns were tasteless (not even salty), spinach was just blanched in hot water, very bland and tasteless. Bacon was over cooked, felt like it was deepfried til it was crispy; was also way too salty. Mushrooms were great, so was the cheese Kransky.

Next, the Good Morning Kuta had tempeh that tasted as though it wasn’t seasoned, it was very bland. Coconut spinach sambal was lacklustre - not sure what it’s meant to be. The corn on cob, although charred on the outside, was still raw. Sausage, bread and eggs were ok only. Roasted tomatoes (from the Brontos Biggie) was a bit over cooked.

When our food arrived, some things were already cold while others are still piping hot. Lastly, there was too much garnishing, the parsley and dill greatly overpowered the taste of everything.

Plates were very impractical in terms of the shape, it was unstable on the edges so you really had to start in the middle of the plate and work your way out. The table we sat at was also had a loose top that kept spinning when we used our knife.

Really didn’t want to be this harsh on a Google review, especially since the staff seemed so nice but this was a meal I tried really hard to enjoy, but couldn’t.

📷 Brontos Biggie, Good...

I don’t normally leave reviews but I can’t not share this place. From the moment you walk in you are greeted with so many smiling faces ready to get you seated. I was surprised with how many different seating arrangements there are you can choose to sit up at the window and watch the busy Main Street or there are really cool booths you can sit back and relax in. The big green grass wall looks awesome my teenage daughter said it was the place to go to take the good old instagram pics you constantly see popping up on your feed. As for the food we were very happy we had the pancakes and I’m so glad we did They were melt in your mouth and a great big serve they came with ricotta in between them and the most beautiful stringy fluffy fairy floss on top. I also had a chia latte best one I’ve had in years the milk was so silky. Many places I go always burn the milk and don’t really care what it tastes like so I was so delighted when I had my first sip. This place is going to be my go to. If you haven’t been I suggest you go you won’t be disappointed but make sure you go with an empty stomach as there is sooo much to...