LEVI — Restaurant in Melbourne

Food was definitely the highlight of the experience. Service was some of the worst I’ve ever experienced.

To be fair, the restaurant was very busy but that does not make up for the abysmal service or lack there of.

We were seated at a high table with young children and were told that they would bring over high chairs and that we could move once a lower table opened up. We were then promptly forgotten about. No menus, no water, no orders, no high chairs, nothing.

We ended up having to find the menus and bring them back ourselves. We were waiting for high chairs for a very long time but had to ask again and again before they brung them over at which point we realised the high chairs were far too low.

We asked the runner who brought over the chairs if we could order drinks, to which he said he couldn’t take our order but he would find someone who would. We then watched him proceed to not tell anyone to take our order and just forget about us again.

After45 minutes of waiting, we decided to just go up and order the drinks ourselves. I had the chai latte which was awful (just tasted like spicy milk). However, the rest of the drinks were good. We again asked if we could move to one of the many free tables that had been free for quite some time, and they said none were available.

We then waited for anyone to take our food orders which never came. We ended up needing to go up and order ourselves again (it is meant to be table service).

At this point, the owner (I assume), who seemed actually passionate, came over and asked how everything was going. We said that we were after a lower table and he asked our initial waitress to get us a table to which she said “I hear you guys are after a lower table” like it was the first time she’d heard this. Even though we’d already asked multiple times to her and other wait staff.

Once we moved, the food came out which was very quick, especially considering the number of people in the cafe. The food was super good and definitely the highlight of the cafe so props the chefs out the back.

20 minutes after we had sat down and got our food, we then had one of the only interactions we had with the servers when they told us we needed to leave because they needed the table, (there were a bunch of empty tables by now).

TLDR: Amazing and fast food, good owner,...

Destination dish is the BEST EVER pavlova, their chips are great + add $2 mac sauce, if staff forget to bring it, like they did for me, gently remind them, when it arrives - all good. Their toasties are pretty amazing too. Pricey, but obviously made with love, care + premium ingredients.

I was the last person to eat here before covid-19 lockdown kicked in, so I happily went in at 1145am knowing I'd have to leave at 12pm that sad day, Mon 23rd March. After I gobbled super fast while reading their FREE NEWSPAPERS YAY!!!! fast and paid/left, rolled at the door after my big scoff at 12.05pm, this place shut due to government lock down. I seriously hope they re-boot quickly and re-open, Yep, I'm the solo skinny eater older blondish hair woman, proud to have eaten here 5 times since you've been open, and to be the last payng customer to leave, and then suddenly we all became germy and werent allowed to eat "inside"

I hope your great waitstaff and cook team returns, your business deserves to thrive, I think I know who you are owner, you're the head chef, blond with the tatts, I've nodded you from my table a few times in the past, and you've nodded back I appreciate a great well run restaurant when I see it.

But you may have had yummy mummies making eye contact with you too, so have no idea who I am. I'm of no importance, except being a big paying customer when I come in, and I don't linger and waste table turnover space, dont you hate the twits that take a table up for 3 hrs and only order coffee? WOFTAM's for any business.

Your business has no place for the ditherers and low cost customers in the new world when you may only be allowed 10 people inside when you re-open.

I'm not on insta or anything, but I talk within a big work force that are still working right now in the hospital sector, they're busting their gutts to see businesses like yours reopen, and get your staff back on ASAP.

Daniel Andrews is months behind NSW, yet VIC has less cases than them, so it will be a slow wait.

All the very best...

I've been to Levi's plenty of times and mostly enjoyed it, but it has been not so good recently. Yesterday, I scoured the menu carefully as I have new (temporary) dietary requirements leading up to a medical procedure. I had to skip over many menu items which specificied that they contain sesame seeds. Even the fries on the menu specify that they contain sesame, so I thought I was safe in my choice. I ordered the soba noodle bowl, which when it arrived, I could see also contained sesame seeds. I waited for a server to come back to the table but no one did (it wasn't busy). Once my friend had finished eating, I got up to go to the counter and explain the situation - I had been served a meal I couldn't and hadn't eaten because it contained seeds, which weren't specified on the menu. The server (who I do not blame for this encounter) did not have any solution when I bought this to her, saying she couldn't take the item off the bill without a manager and there was no offer to remake the food. She said I should have asked when I placed the order. I pointed out that half the menu items specify that they contain sesame seeds, and this one did not, so I didn't think I would need to ask. She tried to get me to pay then and there for the order, when I asked for a box so I could take it home so it can hopefully get eaten by someone else. I don't blame the server for this, as it just seems like a poor policy. I then overheard the server speaking to other staff that I just "don't like" seeds, which is incorrect. And embarrassing- if you're going to talk about a customer in a cafe, please don't do so when there are only three tables worth of people, everyone can hear you. In the end, I paid over $30 for apple juice and a meal I couldn't eat that will likely be thrown out...