Hein's Bakery — Restaurant in Melbourne

Very disappointing experience. I won't be back. The staff need to be properly trained and learn time management and basic hospitality skills. They really have no idea what they are doing. I attended for the first time for lunch today with my senior parents and sister. Although it was only 1pm I was surprised that the bakery only had 3 rolls available for sale (called sandwiches) and no other sandwiches or rolls. Those rolls quickly sold out and they said they couldn't make anything so I had water for lunch. My senior parents each ordered one of the rolls and asked for it to be cut in half (it was a long, crusty roll). The sales assistant took the money and told them to go to the table. Thereafter, she continued to serve every other customer as they came through the door rather than to finish serving my parents. She had no concept of time management, finishing the job she was working on, or saying to new arrivals, "I'll be with you in just a moment" and grabbing a knife and cutting the rolls and giving them to my parents, and then take a new order. Instead, my parents had to sit there and wait 15-20 minutes as she continued to serve everyone who arrived. We had to get up twice and enquire about whether their lunch was coming. There were other staff present but for some reason only one young woman was dealing with food orders and serving. It was difficult to understand why one of the other staff could not have done it as they did not seem to be dealing with time critical tasks. My sister had ordered a sausage roll, which was getting cold while we waited for my parents' lunch. The sausage roll was served on a little saucer (ie cup and saucer size) rather than a bread and butter plate or plate, and staff did not bring over a serviette, cutlery or even ask if we wanted water. After waiting for quite a while my sister had to ask if they had a jug of water, some glasses and explained she could not eat her food without cutlery - could they bring some cutlery too. My sister's sausage roll would have been well and truly cold by that stage. At one point a young woman came to the table and I thought we might be getting some action but soon realised they were just bringing over someone else's coffee. We told her that wasn't our coffee so she disappeared looking quite stressed. Another customer came in and ordered coffee to take away and they gave it to her in a porcelain cup. When she reiterated she wanted to take away they tried pouring the coffee from the cup into a takeaway cup (until the customer objected and asked for her coffee to be remade). The woman at the table next to us also expressed her unhappiness with them and said she would not come to eat there again. My father said his roll was nice, but my family found the whole experience very disappointing. I can't recommend it. I'm sure the staff are nice people but the overwhelming impression we were all left with was that the staff need urgent and basic hospitality training. Little things like saying to a customer "I'll just cut this and be with you in a minute", giving someone who orders warm food cutlery (or at least asking if they want some), giving them the right size plate so their food is not hanging off the edges, asking if the customers want water, getting orders right go a long way. The lack of any sandwiches or rolls at 1pm was also extremely disappointing. Not everyone can or does eat pastry. One might expect only 3 rolls at 2pm or even 1.30pm but we were there before the rush (there was only one person in the shop when we arrived, being the woman who said to us she would not be returning). Ultimately, it is not the staff's fault - they just lack requisite hospitality training. The owner/manager should ensure they get that training urgently if they want an otherwise promising business (which I am told recently changed hands) to survive...

Mixed feelings about these guys. Firstly, great bread and pastries, cant be faulted and certainly the best in the area. Secondly, customer service is woeful. I have, on multiple occasions, been made to feel uncomfortable and unwanted.

First instance was early into the mask mandate and I wandered in and, prior to being served, was blankly told to put on my mask as I sipped on my drink. Surprised, I pointed to my drink and asked if I was exempt (in line with legislation) and was robotically told over and over to put my mask on, ignoring any response I made and making me feel incredibly uncomfortable. I secured my mask, in order to be served, and pulled my mask down to continue drinking, replacing it after each sip.

Second instance I stepped into the bakery holding my new puppy in my arm and was abruptly told "no dogs!" in a short and rude manner the moment my foot stepped into their premises. I prompted turned and left.

Based on these reasons I've elected to not visit them in future as I simply...

Best chocolate croissant and tart in the area, coffee is very good too. I went almost every second day when I lived in the area. The only bad one I had was an opera cake which is probably off the menu. I order and ate there but it was so bad I didn't even want to have second bite. I took the cake back to them for a feedback, because I wanted this bakery to do well. But I was quite unhappy with how the mid-age lady responded. She firstly doubted straightaway, then asked the other young waitress what she thought because she had one in the morning. The girl said she thought it was fine. Then to my surprise, she forced that girl to tasted the cake! We were all shocked. I think this lady really need to improve her way of communicating with customers and other staff, as I can see some complains towards her in reviews. Such a great bakery and I hope it does...