Ned's Bake & Bistro South Yarra — Restaurant in Melbourne

We came here on Sunday the 29th for a quick pastry and coffee. The selection of pastries was great and there was a good mix of sweet and savoury options. We were quickly seated... although we were given no real choice where, even though it was 8.30am and the place was barely half full. The positives first. We ordered the Portuguese tart, pretty good and had a good consistency and texture for a Portuguese tart. We also had the escargot which was really nice and had a solid amount of sultanas inside... We also had the kransky pastry which was meant to be warmed, but still very cold in the middle. However the problem was with the service. We were served by a woman who seemed to concerned about her partner and child seated at the table behind us (near the open kitchen). We received our coffees and then I went to order at the bar as she never took our orders for food. After waiting 10mins at the bar to be looked at, there was 1 other customer and 3 staff members who just stared at me, i was told it was table service. I said no worries and waited a further 10mins for this woman to actually come and ask what we would like instead of pulling faces at her kid. She proceeded to them slam down our cutlery basket and the same with our plates with her backed turn. Her service was pathetic and working in hospitality for nearly 10 years I can understand Sunday mornings are not that exciting, however it reflects poorly on the business and I would not recommend Neds to my friends based on my experience there. Ned, your pastries are of good quality and so is the selection of rolls etc...but pretty disappointed with how we...

food was in no part terrible. I had the beef rigatoni, partner the soup of the day (pumpkin). we had the 'garlic bread', and orange poppyseed cake as entrees. The cake was the only truly delicious item had.

The rigatoni was overcooked, and tasted heavily of that horrid tomato flavour that happens when you don't know how to cook the sauce properly (and thusly underspiced). I went out on a limb, as I'm not the biggest pasta fan and I can say this has soundly put me back in never touching the damn stuff again.

the garlic bread was in fact, a garlic croissant. Overcooked, overly buttery, and the garlic (for me) was barely present. For my partner, it was too present. Overwhelmingly so, meshing awfully with what seemed to be an otherwise okay (if incredibly overcooked) croissant.

the poppyseed cakes were from the cabinet, and the icing was stiff but not yet completely dry from being out all morning. they were moist and well flavoured. delicious. we got a third for free as an apology for:

the pumpkin soup. didn't get served, was forgotten about. we didn't bother waiting further after the disappointments of the rigatoni and garlic bread. it was in the very least, refunded. which I did appreciate.

and the final thing was our chai lattes tasted nothing like chai, and more milky flavoured water with too much cinnamon. add a burnt coffee bean taste to the dirty chai my partner had too. utterly awful.

service was fine. clearly understaffed, the two women I saw were doing the best they could and I hold no ill-will to them. the chef on the other hand... I think should go back to...

We waited two hours for our food to come and it never came!! The restaurant wasn’t even full and we waited two hours. Everyone around was enjoying food so it was super disappointing. We had another outing booked after and we had to cancel it due to our food taking so long we couldn’t make it in time. We left and are very upset and disappointed as was a waste of time. We didn’t get any updates during our time from anyone asking if we were okay. Won’t be coming back. In response to the owner, We never RECEIVED our main meal. You comped our small entree and gave us a free drink to make up for the fact we had no main FOOD to eat. Simply a tech error? We never knew of this ‘tech error’, as your waiters never communicated this. Regardless if it printed or not, it is your job to check on customers to make sure everything is okay and they are satisfied. We felt extremely uncared for and ignored. It was not OUR responsibility to advise you of the wait. The waiters kept walking past us and they knew how long we had been there for, although they did not bother to update us or ask if we’re okay. We got a free drink, but we didn’t get fed! It was two hours of waiting and waiting. Your response shows the lack of care and compassion you have for your customers. Due to this I will not be recommending this restaurant to friends and family. My partner and I were looking forward to Valentine’s Day and the activities we had planned following dinner. Due to your incompetence we were not able to have a fulfilling night as we had to cancel due to the lengthy period of time spent waiting for food...