Gellibrand Cafe — Restaurant in Melbourne

I went with a group of 7 girlfriends to Gellibrand for the first (and last) time at the weekend. Our brunch dishes were delicious (the takeaway gelato was yummy too!), the decor was very cool and we had a lovely group lunch.

Unfortunately though, the customer service experience was one of the worst in living memory.

At the end of our meal, our waitress offered us the option of paying individually, and we all did so accordingly. However over an hour later, my friend (who had made the booking initially) was called by the same waitress and told that one of our meals had not been paid for, and that we needed to come back in and pay for it. Our friend was happy to do this, and she did, however she and all of us were somewhat taken aback at the request. As a lot of us have experience either working or running businesses in hospitality, the idea of calling a customers to come back to a cafe hours later, especially given that the fault was on the waitress and not picked up at the time, seems pretty out of line to to us and poor customer relations. But I digress…

To make matters worse, after my friend went back to pay the “outstanding” bill (no thank you from the waitress for coming back, mind you) she asked us to check our bank accounts to see if any of our cards hadn’t been charged… well when we did this, we realised that ALL of us had indeed paid, and therefore my friend had been unnecessarily asked to come back AND was charged twice!! This friend messaged the cafe manager about all this later that afternoon, and got a very short message saying he would “look into it”. 4 days later we still haven’t heard anything more from him.

I’ve left the best until last: the little snide remarks that were also made my our waitress to a few members of our group, really sealed the deal for me. One friend, who only had a coffee, received a comment about “being a big spender”, and another one who had kindly offered to pay for the whole bill, if splitting was too complicated for the waitress, received a sarcastic comment which insinuated that she was showing off how much money she had by offering.

If you’re still reading: well done! :) I am so beyond annoyed by the handling of this whole situation, and this waitress in particular. It is such a shame, as the food was lovely and the experience great up until when we had to pay. But Gellibrand has just lost itself 8 local customers for life, so really its a...

You ever wake up, wander into the outer burbs, and ask yourself: How did I get here? Why am I here? And most importantly, why is this Big Breakfast staring back at me like it knows my secrets? Welcome to Gellibrand Cafe, Reservoir’s very own time capsule disguised as a breakfast joint.

Let’s talk aesthetic. The decor is either faded peach or sun-bleached salmon—like someone let the ‘Golden Girls’ design it during a midlife crisis. Archways everywhere. Fake plants that may or may not have been alive during the Hawke government. A vibe that screams: Yes, we do still use doilies.

Now, the food. I ordered the All Aboard, a breakfast so big it needed its own postcode. Eggs, mushrooms, tomato, a suspiciously tiny wagyu sausage (adorable, really), and a thick slab of halloumi so good I briefly considered proposing to it.

But then… the sujuk. What is it? Why is it? Why is it pretending to be bacon? It’s spicy, mysterious, and clearly from a land where pigs fear to tread. Honestly, it kind of slapped—but it also raised more questions than it answered.

In summary: the All Aboard is a hearty, slightly confused, delicious journey to a simpler time, when breakfasts were huge, decor was questionable, and wagyu was apparently fun-sized. Come hungry, come curious, and prepare to...

I tried their hot cakes. Food was okay. But the behaviour the owner or manager, a balled tall guy was extremely bad. I am new in this reservoir area and was exploring cafes. Went to this one with excitement but little did I know that the guest treatment is based on colour of your skin. I did not just ordered coffee, I spent $27 for food and coffee for one person over there so I took my time to sit. However after 30 mins I was asked buy this tall balled white guy, if I wanted to get the food as take away. All this while he was continuously starting at me and giving me like as if I am taking too much time. I also saw the other girl who was serving, starting at me, when this guy went to her to say something. Also this guy was treating other people from his own background (white) in most perfect way. He told the what were the specials for the day, while I was not given any options like that and made to feel as if they never wanted to serve me. May be their food was decent but their behaviour was the worst. I won’t return to this place and will not recommend this...