Melissa Cakes Cafe Bar. — Restaurant in Melbourne

We had previously been to Melissa's just for coffee and cake which was amazing, so we decided to order some food for takeaway tonight on my birthday.

What a mixed bag from very delicious to very disappointing and a number of items missing. We ordered takeaway over the phone and asked for the meat platter for 2. We had really high hopes and initially were pleased until we discovered that there was no Tzatziki, no pork rib or lamb rib as indicated on the menu. It appears that they were subbed out with more cheaper sausages to compensate. Disappointing.

Secondly, the pulled lamb that was put into our box was extremely dry and tough and looks like the leftovers from the bottom of the pan. Very disappointing indeed.

Thirdly, the tiny serve of chips that was served with a meal of $72 was bordering on embarrassing for a 2 person meal. In addition, the iceberg lettuce salad to accompany the other items was embarrassing. It was basically a bit of shredded iceberg lettuce with dressing. Let alone the container it was served in was barely 50% full. No tomato, cucumber, onion or fetta in there as you would want or expect at this price point.

Would I go back and give them a second chance, yes, but that was a very disappointing meal from such a local establishment to us. The value for money just was not there from the promise on the label. Maybe you get a better experience in the restaurant.

Updated 31st July 2021 To see whether we would receive better food in restaurant, we decided to take my whole family there for dinner Saturday night.

To our delight, the food we had was really fresh and tasty for everyone. To test out the food again, I had the lamb shoulder and potato meal which was succulent and tasty, while the roasted potatoes were delightful with an amazing seasoning. Other meals had were the Parma, Calamari and Chips, Kids Calamari, Pastitso and the Mixed Skewers.

All our diners, kids included loved the food and there was barely room for dessert and coffees.

The only downside of the meal was the extremely poor table service. I think they were short staffed, but that is not an excuse. Upon arrival, we werent told that there was a time limit on the booking, but as soon as we were seated the waitress told us it was 2hrs, only for minutes later to be told that we only had 45 minutes left without even having a drink. They were quickly corrected and we ended up staying around 3.5hrs due to large spend on table and no others asking for the table.

As soon as our mains were served they were non existent and had to physically get up to go and get service. We waited around 40mins for 1 scoop of ice cream.

In saying that, I would now go back for seated dinner, but probably not...

Once excellent staff gone downhill, food & coffee average:

Have gone here a lot over the last few years for two main reasons, we can sit outside with the dog and excellent staff overall, well trained and with a positive and helpful attitude.

Food has always been average to good but not great and if I really want good coffee I go elsewhere.

Over the last few months many of the old staff haven't been there and the replacement staff aren't anywhere near as good. The vibe of the place has lost it's welcoming positive nature bye and large and have hardly been coming here.

Came today with a friend and food was good but service was really lax and impatient.

Yes we were outside but previously that was absolutely no problem. Had to virtually corral a male young waiter to take our coffee order and even as we were trying to give it to him he was moving away from us being far more keen to take his dirty dishes inside than to take our order. It might have been busy but that was absolutely no excuse for his attitude.

Finally when we paid I was charged extra for substituting spinach for bacon in the breakfast I ordered. When I queried this the cashier female said they don't substitute even though they have done this previously many times and not charged extra. She had no interest in hearing my side of the story about it. As the friend with me said, she was just rude.

Whatever has gone wrong here must be fixable as previously the place was excellent staff wise so I just hope the owners get the...

Last Tuesday - 25th of March - Hubby and I were returning from an appointment coming into Templestowe on our way home. As it was just 12.00pm I suggested we go to Melissa for lunch. We walked into the cafe to find it was very busy. The fair haired lady manning the reception desk just inside door was bent over a diary busy writing, she didn't acknowledge our presence in any way - no eye contact nor did she tell us she'd be with us in a minute - we might have well been invisible. We politely waited for her to finish for about 5 minutes, still no indication that she knew we were waiting. Then the phone rang. I foolishly expected that she would answer it then ask the caller to hold the line while she inquired as to how she could help us, she didn't and proceeded to take the call which involved a booking for a future date. When the call had finished the lady picked up her pen and resumed writing. At this point Dale and I left - probably to never return. I tried calling the next day and asked to speak with the manager, thinking to make my complaint less public than this is, but have never received the promised return phone call. Such a shame that one person has spoilt our enjoyment of this Cafe`, I have been a customer for at least 15 years and have always enjoyed the food....