The Boot Factory — Restaurant in Melbourne

I’ve always been attracted to cafes that have an eclectic theme and The Boot Factory has this in spades. The decor pays homage to the history of ‘The Boot Factory’ which was originally on the site with photos and mementos of times gone by. It’s also decorated with an abundance of unusual homewares, industrial odds and sods and interesting lighting. This cafe is located on the large site of the old Pentridge Prison site amongst one of the most popular growing by suburbs in Melbourne. At midday we secured a table indoors and perused the menu via the QR code which I’m not always a fan of but the photos of the meals was the clincher on what meal I chose. Having lunch with my savvy adult kids meant they pretty much took over the ordering, which made things easier. The 5 of us chose - Big brekky (shared between 2), quesadillas, halloumi burger and I built myself an egg breakfast. Portion sizes were good and flavours amazing. The velvet cake was delectably light and not overly rich. A fine way to finish off the family lunch. Drinks were hot chocolates and lattes, iced chocolate and not sure what the purple drink was but tasted something like a blueberry chai. Very, very nice. There is a water tap at the rear of the cafe so you can fill up your glass at your leisure. Special thank you to the staff who were fast and efficient, polite and friendly. Once you’ve finished your meal, take the time to explore the area l which has an abundance of history and plenty of signage explaining each section of the site. Notes: good access for wheelchairs or those who can’t use stairs. Plus disabled toilet available. I thought parking was going to be challenging but even on a busy sunny Sunday, I found a park quickly. Dietaries can be catered for - just ask the staff for assistance. Takeaway available. Dogs allowed outside. Kids catered for with high chairs and well tho get out menu choices eg. not just nuggets and chips. Keep up the...

Definitely a rustic vibe and the sort of place that on a nice weather day it would be beautiful to sit outside. Food was delicious- shout-out to the maple bacon!

I wasn’t a fan of the Mont Blanc ( I don’t think that’s this place specifically though) it tasted like just cream with a tiny hint of orange when I was hoping for a stronger coffee and orange flavour.

I only ordered it because the special pistachio drink had run out and a different waitress had to tell us and asked what else I’d like instead so I was under pressure to pick something (the pressure was from me- I’M the pressure lol). Bit of miscommunication though, because when the Mont Blanc arrived instead of the Pistachio drink the initial waitress asked us if we pressed the wrong button. So idk, but no biggie things happen.

Halloumi burger was tasty but honestly would not order again. Texturally it’s very soft and mushy, due to the ingredients not it being poorly made. It’s avocado, grilled eggplant? A little lettuce on a soft bun. Like it needs more crunch and acidity to be just that little better. It’s got a generous serving of haloumi though and I’m never mad at that. Chips were delicious and crispy. But again, just definitively would not order again.

The big breakfast was a big yum from me. I do think it needs to be served with avocado to balance with the poached eggs. The bacon was delicious, tomatoes were seasoned nicely, mushroom was awesome- I’d 100% order again.

Oat milk iced latte was good too! But obviously not the main event lol.

There was a self serve water station, so you could grab water yourself.

FYI the cafe charges a surcharge on weekends. I think the Saturday and Sunday rate is different. So all up the meal was $77.81? I’m not against this practice I get it, it’s more of an FYI. This brunch spot is definitely on the pricier side, so be mindful...

Very expensive for what it is. They charge an extra surcharge for everything, which is quite annoying. I’ve payed for a mushroom breaky and a coffee, $38 dollars! It would be fine if there was table service and the food was great, but it was pretty average and they didn’t provide enough bread for the meal. Also, you would never think you would pay $38 for a brunch and not even have table service, not even tap water bottles! Every time you want more water you need to stand up and fill up your glass it in their little tap. Also, they don’t do the basic hospo thing of bringing the meals to the table all together. So I have waited for 10 minutes with my food in front of me until the other person’s came and we could finally eat - and my food was already cold. The more senior waitress got annoyed at us because we didn’t want to use the QR code to order and went to the counter. She also got annoyed when we asked her to just break down the pricing to, as we were surprised with how expensive it was. There were so many little additional charges that we couldn’t get at first why the bill was so expensive. Just by the request of telling us what was being charged she got defensive and said that all restaurants do that, and asked if we wanted to speak to the manager. Chill out, we just wanted to know what we were paying for! So yeah, bad experience, not going back to this...