The Generator Urban Eatery — Restaurant in Melbourne

We have been coming here for years since it first opened. Loved this place and the gentlemen that always used to be there (I assume he was the owner or manager) was friendly, efficient, kind, quirky and nothing was a brother to him. The food was always BIG but even if you couldn’t eat it all, it was creative, interesting and tasty. Coffee was always good and consistent and table service attentive and friendly. The decor was always quirky and a bit “junkyard chic” but was well cared for. It now looks a bit tired and sad like no one is really caring for the place :-( I’m not sure what’s happened in the last 12 months or so but it’s gone downhill big time. I keep coming back hoping the original guy will be back and it will be back on track but it never is. We’ve had weak coffee, poor service (you now have to go to the counter to order which never used to be the case despite the young waiter saying to us recently that it’s “always” been that way. Um, no it hasn’t. No shade if that’s how they now do it now, but when a customer asks if that’s a new thing, maybe consider that it DID used to be different before your time rather than respond in a snarky way). I also had a pram when I went in last time and asking if we could park it next to our table garnered a response from the young server like I wanted to put my dirty boots on the table. It was a hot day and their suggestion was to sit outside. In the end we asked another table if it was ok for the pram to go between ours and theirs and they were totally fine with it. Because generally people want to be kind and accommodating to other people not treat them like they are an inconvenience by just being there. We had the pumpkin and feta quiche- very bland. Lacking seasoning/spice/flavour. Croissant with ham, cheese and chutney- okay, nothing exceptional. Iced latte- okay. Better than the very weak coffees we had last time but nothing exciting. Sad to say we won’t be...

I've been supporting this cafe for 5 years buying a coffee, sometimes two, literally every day. Recently, I returned the coffee on two occasions in all of these years because it was terrible and let the owner know as I felt customer feedback is important and I wanted to continue supporting his business. The owner obviously took offense to this feedback and called my place of work (which goes to show how regular I am because he knows where I work) and told the owner of my business he was blacklisting me and that I needed to look for another cafe to buy my daily coffee from. I was in utter disbelief he took this course of action so I tried calling to speak to him about it but was lied to by the staff member answering the phone that told me he wasn't there even though I could hear him in the background. This was ridiculous behaviour for a supposed business owner. Can't imagine what would've happened if I told him about his stale bread rolls I bought for lunch from his cafe that gave me gastro but chose not to mention it because I didn't want to offend him. I calculated that in the five years of loyalty and support I gave to his business I spent around $7,500 on coffee. Thanks for your appalling customer service Dan (owner) because you have actually done me a favour. You can keep your coffee because I'll happily spend my...

The pride is shown in the quality of your food!! I love the food quality, MASSIVE servings and actually chef standards, always has been. I’m only coming with ❤️ on the quality of service. Your staff are great, just simple mistakes.

Today they mucked up my GF bread. The waiter tried to tell me he was ‘pretty sure’ the sourdough bread he brought me was GF. I know better but any other coeliac might have had a rough time. After this they made us come back in after our meal and pay $2 for the GF bread that they mistakenly forgot. 😂 I’m ALWAYS happy to pay extra and did of course but has happened a couple times, I just appreciate a lil accountability! Was just a funny, awkward interaction but both servers just trying to do right and both still kind.

Your staff are only human, and make mistakes. I do literally everyday, hence why I was very kind both in shop and I think fair in this review.. This was simply a heads up still without a doubt worth a...