Paperbark Cafe — Restaurant in Melbourne

Absolutely disgusted by the customer service. This one waitress was rude from the get-go. We told her that we had a booking and she told us that we were 10mins early (which we already knew). She then put us at a different designated table, which we were fine with, however went out of her way to make a big fuss that we were there early. If she had a level of decency, she could’ve just asked us to wait instead.

When deciding what to eat, we came to realise that the menu was limited due to Mother’s Day, which was explained by another waitress. So some of the items that we were interested in trying (specifically went there to try) wasn’t there. Although disappointed, we still ordered some vanilla slice and a few drinks as we wanted to be respectable, and we didn’t want to waste their time and also ours. Not even two bites into our slices, the rude waitress came to our table and told us in a ridiculing tone, “You know this is lunch, it’s not afternoon tea yet?!” Indirectly questioning us why we didn’t order off the lunch menu, despite another waitress saying we can order from the desserts option instead. Nobody told us about the menu being limited during our booking, and it wasn’t mentioned on their website. She herself even admitted in forgetting to tell us on the phone for booking. After this, she trot off like a child having a tiny tantrum, and came back with our bill, in which she SLAMMED it onto our table unexpectedly, WHILE WE WERE EATING!! Giving us the impression that she wanted us to leave. This was the rudest gesture she did in this already horrible and disappointing experience.

Thank you so much for ruining my wife’s special day on MOTHER’S DAY! And being labelled as the worst and the rudest waitress we’ve ever had. We’re never the ones to complain about people, but the customer service was SO appalling from this delinquent, we had to speak our mind!

Could not believe someone has the audacity to trash others and treat them with disrespect!...

The first thing I noticed was the rawness of the cafe. The decor is simple, it works well with the location. The cafe is open for breakfast and lunch, they cater for gluten free, dairy free, and vegetarians. The menu was easy to read and stipulates the different options for people with allergies. The staff were all helpful and polite. We came at a busy time without making a booking and they were happy to seat us outside. I had the smoked pork belly with avocado Mousse, Charcoaled Corn, Desert Lime + Jalapeno Salsa Verde | Coriander. The pork belly was rather dry and the crackling was chewy. There was a slight smokey flavour. If it states smoked, I like a real kick of the smokey flavour. The avocado mousse was more like a puree. I found the flavour a little bland. I honestly don't think the avocado went well with the pork. It needed more seasoning. I enjoyed the charcoal corn, the chars of the kernels went well with the pork. The salsa Verde was really sweet, together with the avocado, I felt there was no balance to the dish. I couldn't even taste the jalapenos. A carrot puree with caraway would be nice, instead of the avocado, this would compliment the sweetness of the lime salsa Verde.

Overall I found the dish confusing. There was no balance to the dish.

The presentation of the dish was nice and the promptness of the food coming out after ordering was less than 20 minutes.

The coffee was beautiful, creamy, strong and hot. I also had a gluten free dairy free orange cake. It was amazing.

I never expected to see a nursery/shop in front of the cafe. The array of plants, gardening material, is enough for the hobbyist gardener. The shop has plenty of homewares, books and First Nation Peoples craft and homewares. It is easy to...

TLDR: Would be one star, if the food is not great and well presented. Based on my experience the service is terrible but the food is great.

The first time we gave this place a try (December 2020) they have an interesting way of handling walk-ins. The place is visibly busy all the time, so we expected that we might not get a table, but instead we had the spiel of "Oh you didnt book!? Oh-oh. Well I dont know if we can seat you... and then an uncomfortable visibly stressed chess game where you feel that you are an inconvenience for trying to have a meal. Service was rushed and we felt like we put the place out of balance by not booking.

We did not want to make the same mistake, so we booked the second time last weekend. They were busy again, but we have been quickly seated and provided with menus. When ordering we asked for the specials, and the answer was : its on the specials board and had it pointed out to us. The rush and the feeling of "I dont have time for you" seemed to persist, to the point that I felt like our waitress was short and visibly impatient with us. We had our meals and runners were quickly taking our dishes, but when we asked for cakes or a tea, we have been told that the waitress will be notified and come back. That did not happen for another ten minutes so we flagged down one of the runners again, and then the waitress came over being extremely short with us, and took our cake order.

We ordered take-away cakes from the kitchen staff and they seemed lovely and we even got a smile. The food is great, presented beautifully but after all this we will resort to...