Norwood Cafe & Restaurant — Restaurant in Melbourne

A friend took me to Norwood Cafe who rated it highly and wanted to see how I'd rate it. That's a lot of pressure because you want to be as reasonable and fair as you can be. Also, since I drove nearly 6KMs for this coffee and breakfast, my own expectations were high too. Sadly, I was not impressed. Here is why..

My friend is a regular, so he was greeted, but I was ignored. As you might be able to see in my photos, the cafe was nearly empty when we walked in. Seriously guys or girls - whoever owns this cafe- a smile or hello is the first rule of hospitality!

The music was way too loud. You're not a pub!

The chilli eggs and sourdough was great in presentation, and bland in taste. If a customer adds or feels like adding salt to their meal, then the chef has missed the mark. Macha was okay.

Price is high. I get it that COVID hasn't been kind to businesses. But it hasn't been kind to common people too. I also get that you're at a prime location and must be paying high rent. But then you must match the service and quality of meals to the price.

Service is okay. Although, I would prefer observing that when the cafe is full.

The cafe is at a great location. Almost every car that comes to Burwood Brickworks sees their doors open. The cafe is indeed beautifully designed. It has a welcoming vibe. The ambiance is great. There is plenty of seating. Outdoor seating is tempting, even in winters when the heating is on. A little more attention by the owners can do wonders for them. No idea why they're...

Came in on a Wednesday around 11-12ish. It was decently filled with patrons but definitely picked up from 12:30pm onwards. I was greeted by a worker pretty quickly upon entering. She sat me at a table, gave me water, and explained I could order through the QR code or via the register. Staff service was quick and they were kind.

I can’t say the menu had anything extraordinary or special but it has what you’d expect a cafe to have. I ordered a Smashed Avo with poached egg, spinach, and smoked salmon for some additional protein. Also ordered a large oat milk cappuccino. Smashed avo is smashed avo - it came as you’d expect. It was nice they gave me three pieces of toast as it only says two. But it looked like one of the other slices was small so they tried to even it out! Everything tasted fresh. I appreciated the texture of the nuts on the toast, and the beetroot puree was really nice. Oat cap was good too - a large was bigger than I thought but it was a welcomed caffeine hit!

I was able to stay for about 1.5-2hours as I ate there but also decided to work from there for a while. Staff let me do my thing and didn’t ask me to leave which I appreciated.

It’s in a quiet spot, lots of great natural light comes through. Nice seating layout with smaller tables to the side, booths on another side, and bigger group tables around the middle. Plenty of seating outside. Parking is also easy since it’s located in an apartment complex and in...

Given this place 3 attempts before writing this review, every time I eat here I'm disappointed with the service and food.

At time of ordering the cafe was at less than half capacity, so not busy.

Ordered x3 breakfast dishes and x3 coffees. Waited 30mins for food to arrive and coffee was non existent, we were told they were coming, we waited and after we all finished eating we got a refund for the coffees that never arrived - when questioned they said it wasn't on the receipt but the receipt in hand clearly showed it when printed out.

Hash Brown Eggs Benedict $26 - the taste was ok but the poached eggs resembled hardboiled eggs. For the price it was lacking volume, X2 eggs, X2 hash browns, x 2 small pieces of smoked salmon with hollandaise sauce and a touch of fish roe for garnish.

English big breakfast $30 - the chorizo, mushrooms and baked beans were good in taste but the remainder all lacked taste... eggs were cold and looked unappealing and the bread seemed stale.

Plenty of other places around, don't waste your time waiting, as this place is always slow and you're left feeling unsatisfied with the experience. Shame as it has great potential with such a great location.

If you're the owner reading this, please see this as constructive feedback and improve your services, lastly fix your doors as there's nothing worse than having cold air blowing in from a door that...