Degani Mernda Junction — Restaurant in Melbourne

Clean fresh café with great food. Ahmed is the proprietor confirmed that all their non-pork meat and poultry are halal. But they don’t yet do the Degani famous lamb shanks we used to enjoy at Roxburgh Park; that place has gone down hill since the change of ownership and we must return to update our impressions there. Back to Mernda. Recently there has been mixed feedback especially about service staff. Our waitress was mature helpful lady who did just fine and was most welcoming. I’m not sure who the other lady was behind the counter. There were two things she did I didn’t like… she was drinking her coffee from a straw and plastic cup standing right behind the cashier counter and spent most of her time staring at me, well I was looking at her in surprise really. Otherwise she was on her mobile so intensively that customers would approach the counter to place an order and had to speak to her to make her realize they were standing in front of her. I thought these were not the behaviors of an owner (is she the wife?) or of a staff member either. Ahmed didn’t say anything to her so I guess she might be his wife and co-owner. How was the food? We had prawn torpedos and vegetable rolls that were delicious although the prawn batter was not as tempura as I might have preferred. Could be less floured… The dips for each were great. The coffee ☕️ late was strong and my peppermint tea was good. Ahmed was doing running repairs to adjust the tables as GE ushered us in confirming they were open. It was Sunday Mother’s Day and we were the only customers. Others came purchased and went. Back to our food, we share a small NYC Cheesecake- very sweet and rather dry, and a vanilla slice that was much better less sweet and less dry. Ahmed and our waitress assured me the cakes were fresh, I’m not so sure. I prefer when customers like me ask, tell me when they’re delivered please? Today, yesterday, Friday? I can make a better decision. Anyway… Overall it was a pleasant service and experience. I’d return, we are local, so Degani’s Mernda remains on our can-do café list. We had a nice little visit at the end by a hornet 🐝 that flew inside. Ahmed helped...

I went there today to order some breakfast for takeaway and since there were two people in the counter I waited in the entrance giving more than 1.5m distance from the counter while browsing the menu. The barista aggressively yelled at me (I was 3m away) saying what I was doing there with a passive aggressive "everything ok there?" I said yes, and showed him I was looking at the menu to order. He aggressively asked again raising his voice "everything ok there?" I responded in a soft manner yes, Can I order food? And he looked me in disgust and didn't respond! A waitress approached me and I said I'm going to order just waiting for the counter to clear! But The whole restaurant looked at me like if I was doing something wrong! Even the store manager looked at him and me but didn't say anything... Needless to say I left without ordering... What an uneducated barista!... Seriously, I was on the entrance door browsing the menu and he yelled at me from the counter, so the restaurant turned confused to see what was happening. If he is having a bad day he should not be aggressive to customers... So disappointed I won't return, aggressive behaviour should not be accepted and specially if it comes from the barista... Terrible experience. I would give the store zero stars for not putting a stop to his behaviour but 1...

We have been supporting this cafe for a long time. Though the owner of the cafe (husband) is a very nice and kind man, we and others that go to this cafe have regularly noticed his wife and the male Baristta negatively gossiping about the customers, making them feel uncomfortable, speaking under their breath while smirking while making 6/10 overcharged coffee and serving average food. We are big believers of supporting local businesses however we believe that the staff need to be polite, appreciative of their returning customer business and of course not be rude, spiteful or act in a bullying and passive agressive manner. This we cannot and should not tollerate under any cirecumstance. I have not posted this type of review before however because of this unacceptable behavior from these 2 staff members it is important to inform our local community to support more deserving & appreciative people. We have found that the coffee at Billys cafe downstairs at the same complex is very good. We would suggest you go there as they are very appreciative of returning customers business. 0/10 for...