Chéri — Restaurant in Melbourne

We recently visited this café that’s been getting a lot of attention on social media lately. Tempted by the countless posts and glowing reviews online, we decided to make the trip, traveling nearly an hour and a half, with high expectations and excitement to see what the buzz was all about. From the aesthetic presentation we’d seen online to the supposedly unique menu, it looked like a place worth the journey.

Upon arrival, we were greeted warmly, and I must say, the service was one of the highlights of our experience. The staff was polite, welcoming, and attentive throughout our visit, which definitely made us feel comfortable and valued as guests.

However, when it came to the food and drinks, we were left somewhat underwhelmed. The menu lacked variety, and we found ourselves struggling to find something that really stood out. Most of the items were fairly standard, and what we did order ended up tasting quite average, nothing particularly memorable or worth writing home about. The drinks, too, while nicely presented, didn’t offer anything special in terms of flavor or uniqueness.

It’s not that the food was bad, it was fine, but given the level of hype this café has received online, we expected something more creative, bold, or distinctive. It felt like a place that prioritizes social media aesthetics over actual culinary innovation. For those living nearby, it might be a decent spot to hang out or grab a quick bite, but if you're planning to travel a long distance just to check it out based on its online popularity, it might not be worth the effort.

Overall, while we appreciated the friendly service, the experience didn’t quite live up to the expectations set by...

Well, i do not mean to write this review when all the food are amazing and delicious. But there was a thing happened right here when we came in this after around 2pm. There was only one lady with glasses on the phone. My dad came over from over sea just a fewdays. And there were 2 trays of cookies and scones up on the display area. He did not really know it was not for display. He touched 1 each to see what were it. And that lady ran over to us and told us that you had to pay for it. We purposedly came in to your store to have a cup of coffee and a ham and chive pastry. Without knowing what we were here for and she’s still on the phone, she processed the eftpos machine to ask us pay for it. She’s not even served us with the good manner. I did tell her we really wanted to order more food as we came for savoury thing not for cookie, she’s still on the phone with a booking i believed ( that’s what she said) and gave us a sign by hand to wait for her finished the call. I did say sorry right at the moment she’s off from her phone and told her what we wanted. Not even smile or interact with me at the time i ordered. At the end of it, i did ask her why you were so rude to me. She was angry and gave me a really bad manner answer. I admited that my dad touched the stuff untouchable. But is that a really acceptable reason for you to treat us with that manner? She did smile and interacted with the customer came after us. Is it because of our race? I am sorry about writing this much of words but please treat customer equally and with a good manner....

Cheri seems to have recently bought out or rebranded from Bibelot, also inheriting their Google Reviews.

We were excited to try this new brunch spot but unfortunately the dine-in experience was extremely disappointing.

There was no system for diners to receive any sort of service. No one was getting shown tables, no tables were wiped down or menus given out unless you tracked down a server yourself.

We realised they may have been teething issues as a new venue, so after waiting 20 minutes for someone to take our order, we tried our luck at the counter, only to realise the staff ignored anyone not in line for cabinet items. This created two confusing, unorganized queues, one of which was almost entirely ignored.

When we were finally served, only half of our order arrived, and we had to seek out the (seemingly) lone waitress that kept coming to our rescue. She was doing her best, but was clearly run off her feet and it was evident the place was either understaffed or poorly coordinated.

Every time we required service we were forced to go on an adventure to again locate this waitress. In the end we ordered mainly from the cabinet so that we did not have to wait for the kitchen, and we then waited over 30 minutes for two pastries that arrived straight out of the cabinet, not even heated..

The fruit toast was underwhelming, more like raisin toast with jam - the unheated savoury pastries outshone the a la carte options.

Overall, it was a disappointing and disjointed experience. I would re-visit for takeaway only but would advise...