Degani Unihill, Bundoora — Restaurant in Melbourne

Extremely disappointing experience where I was harassed by the franchise owner.

I went in to order an over ice matcha latte with oat milk and a shot of vanilla syrup. The cashier asked if I wanted the matcha latte with ice cream, and I specified that I wanted it non dairy and over ice. It took a while to take my order, but I assumed she was new, so I was happy to wait.

After paying, I noticed I was overcharged. The over-ice matcha was $7, and with oat milk and syrup, my total should have been $8.91, but I was charged $9.81. I politely pointed out the mistake, but the staff insisted it was due to extra charges. I explained that my total shouldn’t have been that high.

They brought over the franchise owner to print the receipt since the employees didn’t know how. I realized I was overcharged upon seeing it, but they still denied it at that point. Up until this moment, I remained calm, thinking it was an honest mistake. However, when I tried to clarify further, the employees and owner argued with me, dismissing my explanation.

When I asked the owner to listen, she told me to stop talking so she could hear her worker, which confused me given her lack of customer service skills. After a lengthy discussion, she acknowledged the mistake without any apology.

As we moved to the cash register for the refund, no one had started making my drink. I had to ask someone to prepare it, feeling the situation was unnecessarily drawn out. After giving me change, I requested a refund to my card since I don’t live in Australia and had no use for cash. The owner claimed she didn’t know how to process a card refund, which surprised me. I suggested she learn, as it’s basic for running a business.

After her confusion about the refund amount, she eventually processed it but demanded the original receipt back without offering any apology. I felt uncomfortable. When I finally got my drink, it was the most disgusting latte I’ve ever had—barely tasted like matcha and overly pale. I couldn’t finish it and discarded it.

As I walked to throw it out (having already left the café), I saw the male franchise owner looking for me angrily. When he spotted me, he confronted me aggressively, yelling, “You gave feedback?” I thought he wanted to apologize, but he just berated me for my comments about their customer service. He told me never to return, and at that moment, I realized arguing was futile. The fact he went out of his way to find me is extremely harassing and borderline crazy.

Later, my father-in-law confronted the owners for their perspective, and the male owner accused me of threatening his wife for suggesting she learn to process refunds. They wouldn’t let him speak, immediately arguing instead. He even mocked my request for a refund, asking, "Do you know who I am?" This behavior was shocking and unprofessional.

This experience was never about the $0.90 overcharge; it was about how I was treated and their refusal to acknowledge their mistakes. The owner’s actions were disrespectful and damaging to their reputation. I might be seen as an annoying customer for confronting them, but I am certainly not rude. If they reacted this way to a polite customer, I fear for how they handle difficult situations. I hope they can improve their customer service, but it seems they have deeper...

Terrible experience.

Ordered an Atlantic Salmon, and upon cutting into the fish, I noticed it was raw in the middle. I politely asked the lady if it could be cooked all the way through — thinking it wouldn’t be a problem.

She first returned and told me they couldn’t cook the same piece of fish, for food hygiene reasons, so I would have to eat the raw salmon they served me. When I said that this didn’t seem fair, she returned a second time around, telling me that I could pay an extra $13 to have a new piece of salmon cooked up. Upon expressing my disappointment (seeing as this wasn’t my fault), she said there was nothing else that she could do.

I was so shaken up by their hospitality and service, that I told them not to worry about the salmon — that I would pay and leave, because I was on the verge of tears.

In their defence, after I said I’ll be leaving, they did accept that the fish was undercooked, and they rectified the issue. They gave me a $5 discount, some biscuits, and my food to take away. However, I wasn’t after a discount and freebies — I truly just wanted to sit and enjoy lunch with my children.

Before this whole encounter, the server told me that they didn’t allow outside food to be eaten on the premises when I gave my 2-year-old a sushi roll, as it could be perceived as harmful to their business. Totally understandable! However, I firmly believe that it’s much more harmful to your small business to expect paying customers to eat food that has been prepared incorrectly, without rectifying the issue.

I have dined here a couple of times since the new owners took over and had nothing but wonderful experiences, however I’m not sure that I’ll return here to eat, after feeling so attacked that I walked out of the premises crying.

I really do wish the best to this small business. The atmosphere is lovely, the food is usually very nice, the staff are usually so kind. Just hope they can take feedback into consideration for any...

I was left bitterly disappointed by my dining experience at the refurbished Degani's at Uni Hill. I took a client out for lunch and we were charged over $81 (including surcharge) for what was a very basic lunch with brunch type meals and a coffee and smoothie. The restaurant was not busy. I asked for a receipt after paying as the total bill seemed ridiculously high and discovered that we had several drinks added onto our table that were consumed by customers from a neighbouring table. We approached the waitress about the error after paying the $81.03 and we were blamed for the mistake, even though it would be physically impossible for two people to consume all of the drinks on the bill and the waitress was the one adding the menu items to our table's account. After much argument, including involvement of the manager, we received a refund of the additional amount. There was no apology. The amount refunded did not match my calculations (given that the credit card surcharge is 1.35% so we should have received $15.40 + 1.35% =$15.61 but the amount refunded was less than this - $15.53. When I questioned this, I was told that the "machine" refunds the amount automatically and it was outside of the management's control. The way we were treated was an absolute disgrace particularly as this was a business lunch with a client and I won't be coming back here. I am giving two stars as food was tasty but the customer service was lacking and staff need to be trained to add consumed items to the correct diner's...