Penny Farthing Espresso — Restaurant in Melbourne

Three stars for Penny Farthing because I like good coffee, and their coffee was just how I like it! However, when I first walked in I headed straight for the counter and found newspapers strewn all over it. The staff didn't bother clearing them and I was left wondering if people were allowed to sit there in the first place. Feeling uncomfortable, I took a seat at the shared tables and a was nonchalantly asked if I wanted a menu. I accepted, ordered a coffee and advised that I was deciding on something to eat. I then then moved outside to the rear courtyard to have my coffee. Feeling uncomfortable again, this time because the table outside was too high for the chair I was sitting in. The wifi wasn't working so I ditched the plan to eat, paid for my coffee and left. I don't think the staff would have even noticed if I paid for my coffee or not (I was tempted to prove this theory to myself, but decided to avoid potential trouble so as not to disturb my Saturday).

As I paid for my coffee, I stood next to the counter and saw that the newspapers that were previously making a big old mess, were now stacked neatly upon it.

Visited early Saturday afternoon.

Update 17/112017

I went back to Penny Farthing about three weeks ago on a Saturday morning. When I walked in the door, I was greeted promptly by a bubbly young woman. I was slightly taken aback by this and the service I received that morning for ordering a coffee only was much more attentive compared to my last...

Terrible, terrible service.

Arrived one morning to have some breakfast with my girlfriend and decided to sit down out the front. After not even being acknowledged in the slightest by the 3-4 staff standing behind the counter who saw us arrive, my girlfriend decided to go to the counter to tell them what coffees we wanted and ask for menus, an action which was received with awkward stares and a line somewhere a long the lines of "I was GOING to come out...". Then proceeded to say he would come and bring us menus, after us waiting for 30mins, we noticed he decided to dry cutlery instead.

All in all, there was about 5 staff on duty, one who went outside to stand near us and talk on the phone for most of the time we were sitting there and the others staring blankly into space doing non-essential, non-customer serving tasks. It's also worth noting, the place was not even remotely busy. Probably about 8 customers in total.

The only even remotely redeeming feature was the relatively good espresso I received.

We decided to pay for our coffees and leave to go to Urban Alice across the road, where we received prompt and friendly service which you would come to expect from a city known for its great café culture. Not hipster 'too cool for school', cold service which we received at Penny...

Mediocre experience, one staff member struggled to take our order. I was pretty clear and had to repeat our order several times. Wasn't ordering anything different or altered from their menu, so not sure what was lost in translation. There were 3 of us ordering 1 x main and 3 x sides to share but staff member only brought out 1 set of cutlery. When I asked for an extra 2 she just brought 2 x forks. Corn fritter dish was nice, but I was mortified when we had ordered 2 sides of hashbrowns (and the staff member telling me there is 2 in a serve) only getting 1 per serve for $4 each. $8 for 2 x hashbrowns (the standard frozen McCains/McDonald's like, so nothing fancy). Unfortunately there are so many other quality cafes on high street I would rather spend my money and get a nicer weekend experience. Shame really 'cos it's a cute cafe otherwise.

I think the owners response says it all. Hence why things won't change. Change and leadership comes from improving on feedback where this would benefit the cafe, staff and their customers. Btw a 1kg bag of frozen McCain Hashbrowns is $3.40 (you'd get around 16). Have also just purchased 2 x hashbrown sides in Sydney Cafe innerwest (Marrickville) comparable suburb to Northcote. $2.50 per serve for 1. My...