Mad Ram Cafe — Restaurant in Melbourne

A Sunday brunch gone wrong 💀

I generally like to format my eatery reviews - food, service, then atmosphere, but this particular review needs an experiential story line.

Imagine rocking up to your 10:30 brunch appointment for the staff to be like – the booking system shouldn’t be active. Then, they stick you and your mates out the back – which was fine at first because we had the place to ourselves, until we realised, there was no one out there looking after us. We get to 11am, and we finally get our coffee orders taken. Another 15 minutes, same staff member came out to get our food orders and realised our coffees hadn’t come out yet. Two of the meals eventually came out after another 20 minutes, then coffees, and the rest of the meals came out after the lucky two recipients of the first two dishes had polished their dishes (we were starving). One of the meals came out incorrectly. Food took so long to come out, we were ready to walk two doors down to Good Company.

The food itself – disappointing. Serving sizes were on the smaller side. Chips were good. Bread was rock hard. Some of the coffees had no saucers, and mix and match cups.

Despite the mishaps, the staff seemed to be genuinely apologetic and our coffees were taken off the bill. They had clearly bitten off way more than they can chew with group numbers that morning and the booking...

Was pleasantly surprised by its intriguing menu. For a suburban cafe it boasts some pretty impressive dishes that made the selection process quite difficult. I loved the open kitchen and the cake cabinet too. I eventually settled on the blue smoothie bowl and the Big Mac and cheese. The blue smoothie bowl had a great flavour but was presented very differently to what I’ve seen on instagram. Consistency is key because often people chose a venue or dish because they’ve seen what they are getting and that’s what they want so I was a little disappointed with that. The Mac and cheese was an interesting meal, Mac and cheese waffle with beef brisket and poached eggs. A well conceptualised dish but the beef was a bit dry and probably could have used a bit more slow cooking. Overall, there’s certainly plenty of variety to the menu and it’s a good option for those that want innovative brunch fare a little...

I was extremely disappointed when I ordered a meal on the menu that was listed as gluten free (I have Coeliac Disease and eating out is tricky at times) and it was served with normal bread on top, which was not even on the menu. I had told the waitress I had Coeliac Disease, but it obviously wasn't mentioned when the order was put into the kitchen. The chef remade the meal, but the worst part was the way the chef berated the poor young waiter about the mistake, who wasn't even the one who took the order, stating that 'everyone complains when there isn't bread with the meal' so he adds it. Personally I was SO embarrassed as the whole cafe could hear the chef complaining about the issue. I can understand his frustration, but he made a choice to alter the dish without notice and then berated the young person who wasn't even responsible for the error. TERRIBLE. I won't be...