Miss Marie Cafe — Restaurant in Melbourne

I went to this place because of the high point. It seems like its Matcha latte, big brekkie and their cheesy hash-brown are popular, so I ordered a Matcha latte and a big brekkie with additional cheesy hash-brown. In short, they didn’t provide justification to their high point.

All of the items I had were basically mediocre. The matcha latte didn’t taste any better than most mediocre matcha latte. The big brekkie is mediocre at best. The pieces of sourdough were only slightly toasted, so it went soggy quicker than I expected. The bacon and chorizo were alright, but they didn’t taste any better than cooking by yourself at home. Their Roma tomato was grilled with herbs, which is a thoughtful touch, but the execution was not great, so the tomato was dry and you can barely taste the herb. The mushrooms looked like it was sautéed with a bit of herb, but it was so blend that I would have guessed they boiled it instead. The spinach was just plain boiled spinach, so it was quite blend. The cheesy hash-brown is a decent concept, but the execution didn’t live up to the concept. The cheesy hash-brown is big, but because it is so thick, the hash-brown didn’t feel that crispy in general. The cheese could have been a decent addition, but maybe there wasn’t enough, so the texture of melted cheese didn’t stand out enough. Furthermore, maybe they used only 1 kind of cheese that melts very well, but the flavour is more on the mild side, the cheese didn’t add anything on top of the flavour as well.

My opinion to improve the cheesy hash-brown is to have a thinner stack of hash-brown so it feels crispier, and they needs at least 2 kinds of cheese: one that melts really well, and another one that adds a cheesy “zing” flavour to the hash-brown.

I think their big breakfast has a very large room for improvement. I may sound too picky for a simple plate of big breakfast, but big breakfast is not simple. Big breakfast is not a simple collection of cooked food items put on a plate. Each food item has a chance to be in the center stage, so each item needs to be prepared such that each can all shine by itself, and each flavour needs to be able to transit to another flavour harmoniously such that the dish is coherent. They need to work more on the bread, tomato, mushroom and spinach, as their flavours are lacking...

We used to come here often, but won't be back again. Went in for breakfast. Waited for 5 minutes without anyone coming out to serve us. There were only two tables occupied and no one waiting for take away coffee. Eventually we looked behind the coffee machine and found a waiter just standing there. Said excuse me, can we just sit down? She interrupted us mid sentence with "No! No! You'll just have to wait!" Then went off to the kitchen where she was clearly visible doing nothing. We sat down at a table where she eventually came over, slammed water down and said that she had been rude and she was sorry. We said that was fine. Waited another 10-15 minutes and then a different waiter came to take our order. We ordered coffee and the food at the same time, since we'd had ample time to decide what we were having. Food came out quickly, but as I went to cut into my food, a heap of water that had got trapped in the handle of the knife came spilling out, covering my food with dirty dish water. My husband called over the waiter and explained the situation. She grabbed a spare knife and a napkin and threw them on the table, leaving me to try and sop up all the dish water from my plate with the napkin. Sadly, my toast had already done the job for me. No offer to replace my disgusting food. Once it was time to leave, we went to the cash register and the original water who was rude to us was there. Thinking she would definitely know that we were there to pay for our table, I just stood and waited for the total. Instead, she gave me a look and said "yes?? Can I help you?" I told her we were sitting over there and want to pay our bill. She ran it through but showed no sign of remembering who we even were, when she had apologised to us for being rude not 30 minutes ago. This person is rude so regularly that she had forgotten the incident almost immediately. As a side issue, the food is not what it was under the previous owners. In Melbourne, where there is an abundance of places to have coffee and breakfast, being mediocre will not keep you in business long, especially when staff don't know how to attract...

I am a big fan of smashed avocado. So reading the reviews on Miss Marie, I drove there to sample brekky. The space is light and airy, plenty of customers, seemed like a brisk trade for take away coffees and pastries. I was greeted by a smiling server and told to sit anywhere which I did. I ordered a latte, and the smashed avocado. The coffee was expertly made by the barista who obviously takes great pride in her craft; it was delicious. The smashed avo arrived soon after. Now having sampled hundreds I was surprised by the large cherry tomatoes plonked ontop a mountain of smashed avocado and a bunch of green herbs chucked ontop. Focus on plonked and chucked. No where have I seen less finesse. It wasn’t as if there were dozens of folks waiting to be fed. Was the chef having a bad day? I cut into the brekky and noticed the toast wasn’t toasted. Hmmm. I diligently cut the slithering tomatoes, and chopped up the greens and tasted it. Delicious. The reviews are right, it is on a taste test perfect. But if you are going to have the audacity to charge $24 a plate, the plate that comes out of the kitchen cant be haphazardly chucked together. I finished my plate and set it aside waiting for a server to come and ask if I needed anything else. A young woman with a surly face came up and without eye contact curtly asked if had finished. I kept looking at her so she had to give me eye contact at which point she remembered her customer service and gave me the weakest most faux smile. Where do I pay I asked and she pointed to the line queuing up to buy their take out coffees. I joined the queue to pay and noticed four staff hanging about, one member taking orders, giving out take out cups while the others were chating about god knows what. No management? No system? I get its popular. I get the food is good. The staff stink and their lack of system/management/service is why I rated...