Middleborough Latte Cafe — Restaurant in Melbourne

Real score 3.4.

We’ve got a buzzy little cafe here in the Kerrimuir shopping centre. It was enjoying good patronage on another sparkling sunny day. That northern light was prominent again and there was barely a breath of wind. This weather can’t last - a chill wind from Antarctica is due soon - so people were out and about. Today suggested the cafe appeals to the older demographic. But, who knows what the weekend brings.

I fancied the veggie breakfast which turned out to be large, generous and tasty. I’m not sure how much was made on site - the beans and the hash brown, for example - looked and tasted like bought ones. There were some inconsistencies too. One of the poached eggs was cooked and beautifully runny. The other had a decidedly firm yolk. I’m pretty easy to please though and enjoyed the dish. It was a good size and it was nicely presented and delicious in its own way.

I gained an impression that they were either one staff member short or had deliberately lean staffing. The energetic lady who served me seemed run off her feet. Maybe it was the good weather bringing out an unexpected number of people. Who knows. It led to a couple of small mistakes, eg my sparkling water bring delivered late after the meal arrived and then with no glass only a bottle. These were minor things though. I found myself liking the cafe which offers good reasonably priced meals. The service too was happy, amiable and obliging. I’d happily...

Inordinate delay in serving, lady rude when asked about the delay. They said it will be served in 5 mins every time we asked them. Waited for an hour and was told that we need to be understanding that they are busy. The restaurant was actually not busy. Hardly other sit down breakfast customers. Only take away coffee orders. With hungry children we thought we could cancel the order and go elsewhere, the lady said if we can’t understand them being busy (after 1 hour of waiting) we can cancel and go. Rude, lack of reasonable service levels, no apology from the lady, customer is at fault for complaining about the inordinate delay! It took the guy from the kitchen (owner maybe) to come with the order and understand our wait time to finally apologize. Brushette was average (not authentic bread considering the price) some of the other breakfast items were also average. They waived the holiday surcharge due to the delay. Will not visit the place again - food not worth the price and lady...

Sharing my experience as a warning to others with a nut allergy. I ordered a chicken risotto off door dash. The description was ‘with mushroom, onion, spinach and Parmesan with chicken’. No mention of nuts. I asked for no mushrooms and extra Parmesan. When I got the dish, it was coated in what I thought was cheese so I took a bite and a few seconds later I could feel my throat swelling up. I’m allergic to cashew nuts, pine nuts and pistachios. I called the cafe and was told they had put ‘cashew Parmesan cheese’ as a vegan option - I never indicated I was vegan and am not sure why they didn’t put normal Parmesan instead. The person I spoke to said ‘I assume you wanted a healthy option’ - what???? I’m honestly outraged a mistake like that could be made given the high standards of food safety in Australia. Luckily I am okay but could have been a worse outcome for another...