The Flour House Bakery | Highett — Restaurant in Melbourne

Mixed Experience at Flour House

The Flour House had an attractive exterior that caught my attention, but unfortunately, my recent visit left me with mixed feelings about the overall experience.

While one plate of food arrived promptly and met expectations, I was disappointed when the second plate took an unexpectedly long time to reach our table. After politely inquiring about its whereabouts, there was a delay, which tested our patience. It was disheartening to observe other customers, who arrived after us, receiving their food before we did. Nevertheless, I appreciate the eventual arrival of the second plate, albeit later than desired.

On the topic of pricing, I found the cost of a small strong oat latte to be surprisingly high, at $6.20. While I don't mind paying extra for a well-crafted coffee, the latte I received was unfortunately burnt. I believe it would greatly benefit the cafe to pay closer attention to the extraction time in order to consistently deliver a satisfying beverage.

Overall, my experience at Flour House was a mixed bag. The delay in food service and the burnt latte were disappointing aspects of an otherwise potentially enjoyable visit. I would suggest that the cafe focuses on improving their service efficiency and coffee quality to create a more consistently positive experience for their customers. With some adjustments, Flour House has the potential to live up to its...

This mob rarely fails to disappoint from a customer service perspective. After boycotting them 2 years ago, I recently visited 4 times to find good service once (even if all pastries were ‘sold out’), but poor customer service all other times - from coffee machine being turned off half hour early, to kitchen not open during the week on some days (yet still apparently open for lunch - three pasties in pie warmer and 1 baguette on display, no pastries and young hopeless staff unwilling to make smoothies promoted on sign on counter), next time called beforehand to confirm kitchen was open and the kitchen closing time, so booked a table, only to arrive 45 mins beforehand and told kitchen closed early, nothing in pie warmer, nothing on display, no food to serve for lunch and ‘sold out’ of pastries…surprise surprise! What a circus…some things don’t change. If you keep doing the same thing year after year, it begins to look like flagrant disregard for your customers! Take note of similar themes noted by other reviewers, met with disingenuous responses/excuses like ‘we do occasionally run out’, ‘quality over quantity’ and we’ll speak to front of house staff.

Previous 3 star review from 2021: “Real bread, fresh pastries, good coffee and friendly service, but almost always ‘sold out’ of most things. The idea simply to make more of certain items seems continually...

Another five star review to report.

What a find this was. Staying locally in an Airbnb our host let us into the local’s secret when we complemented her on the simply incredible baguette she had left us on our arrival. That down the road and tucked away in a side street in Highett was this incredible artisan bakery (I’ll call it that. They don’t, and it’s a term bandied around ad nauseum amongst run-of-the-mill bakeries back home in the UK, but it fully deserves the title).

They don’t open all the week, and they run out of their products pretty quickly I’d say, having witnessed the throng of eager punters, but this is bread and pastry work to the very highest standard. They mill their own flour - can you believe that - and are proudly connected to local supporting businesses, and the pride and care emerges where you want it most - on your tastebuds! And there’s a wonderful cafe behind the servery with great coffee too.

Since we’ve been here we’ve sampled bread and pastries and have been blown away by how good each mouthful is. My favourite - the San Fransisco sourdough, all crunchy crusted but achingly soft inside.

As a bread maker myself I’ll give the Flour House top marks. It’s helped our long stay in this part of Victoria be even better each breakfast and lunch. Give it a try and make the effort to get there - you’ll never buy a...