Frank's — Restaurant in Melbourne

I was underwhelmed and disappointed with the service and quality at the café when I went for a birthday brunch with my family. It was my first time eating there and I won’t be back.

I have a few issues - and no incentive to come back. I tried to contact Franks on fb and messenger and never got a reply- hence the negative review here.

The staff that greeted us seemed ‘bothered’ to have to wipe down another table after what appeared to be a reasonably busy weekend lunch service period

We ordered drinks, received them and waited for our meals… this was at around 1pm so not particularly late in the day. Many patrons had started to finish up and staff were clearing tables. We continued to wait, finished our drinks and kids became increasingly impatient and hungry. Having waited more than 1/2hr since ordering we heard nothing from the staff and wondered what the delay was. Most patrons had already cleared out so no idea what the kitchen staff were doing- they clearly weren’t preparing our meals

We also had to flag the staff member down for some water (when the empty water jug was sitting at the edge of our table waiting to be refilled)

I got the attention of a staff member to ask how much longer and she said ‘oh, there was a mix up with your order, the kitchen thought it was take away and they’re going to replate it… all ok, it’ll be fresh’

Fresh? Well it was wasnt- it must have been replated back out from the boxes after packing it for takeaway. Cold poached eggs aren’t what I go to a cafe for, and pork belly really shouldn’t be served dry and room temperature…. ‘My son’s burger and chips too were not served hot.

Why didn’t anyone bother to tell us that there would be a delay? It’s a common courtesy in the service industry to keep customer informed about things like this. Take away orders shouldn’t even take that long!

The manager also flippantly reiterated just after that, that our orders are coming up and not to worry.

Although I had seen Franks Café presence on socials some great feedback about the staff, service and overall Frank’s experience but sadly, we didn’t experience ANY of this ourselves.

The bill came to over $140. I understand the surcharge but the overall experience and the food was certainly not worth that kind of money, or worth the wait.

As it was my birthday, considering the mix up and the negative experience we had, I asked if there were any specials, not expecting a hand out but as some kind of incentive to come back.

Needless to say we didn’t get one and you café won’t be getting any more patronage from me. A simple ‘coffee on the house next time you come’ would’ve made a difference to my perspective but you clearly did not care about the...

Nice coffee and interior, but was disappointed with slow inattentive service on my first visit (early 2017).

UPDATE (DEC 2017): A few months ago, the owner invited me back to give the place a second chance, which was a nice gesture - they really do want to look after locals. I've been back 2 times since. Service had improved slightly but sadly still has a way to go - it's taken a while to get given menus and then have orders taken each time I've visited since, but not as long a wait as my first visit. These later visits haven't even been during peak times, so I don't see a good reason for it.

I've also had my order stuffed up on those two recent seperate visits, as waitstaff didn't write it down. On my last visit I resorted to asking the staff member to repeat the order back to me. The order was still incorrect with multiple sides missing - I wasn't charged for them, so it wasn't that the kitchen forgot it, just that staff didn't record the order correctly. Could have been avoided if staff had notepads!

Management needs to push the staff to be more attentive. Little things like actually writing orders down and circling outdoor tables more frequently to ensure customers arent left waiting for longer than 5-10 minutes (I've waited even longer so this is not a big ask) would go a long way - I say this having worked as a waitress for a few years myself. It's not hard.

Food and coffee are still good, and the interior truly is a great space. Manager Harry is clearly passionate about his business and customers which is excellent, but staff don't appear to carry the same level of care. Don't go expecting great (or speedy) service from the wait staff. Had hoped I would have been able to update this review with more stars by now -...

Came here for Father's Day brunch for myself, my wife and our daughter, so understandably a busy day. No tables available so were seated at the window, which in itself was completely fine but meant we were completely ignored. Took our coffee order immediately but took another 30 minutes to get anyone's attention to take our food order. Another 30 minutes of waiting our food still had not arrived. One of which was a fruit toast for our 17-month-old daughter. Quite literally could have gone to the supermarket, bought a whole loaf, gone home and toasted it and eaten it in that time. Sat there watching tables arrive well after us (two couples and a table of eight that we noticed) receive their food with no issues. After spending over an hour there and still no food, decided to cut our losses and go pay for our coffees and leave. Staff were lovely and apologetic and offered the coffees free of charge. At that moment (very conveniently) the food finally arrived but we were ready to just get out of there. They asked if we wanted it to just take it away free of charge which we said sure since we were starving, only then to be told since it was only 30 minutes since we ordered we would be charged in full. By that point I had no energy or desire to argue I just wanted to get out of there so just paid and took our food and left. Our daughter fell asleep on the car ride home so went to bed without food. I regret paying for the food I should have...