The Glass Den — Restaurant in Melbourne

Terrible. The service is unbelievably bad. We spoke to them about an allergy/dislike (bacon) and wanted an item just simply removed (still paying for the item). The request was refused. Instead was offered a halal option. We are not halal nor of a culture that would choose halal requirements. We felt the approach to our request was culturally insensitive, undertones of racism, and staff were unable to provide effective customer service. UPDATE: As we went to pay, the day-manager/lead staff (unsure of their formal title) confronted us by saying “we are not racist”. So we want to be clear, we don’t think that offering halal to vegetarians is racism. However, the staff generally didn’t seem to know what “halal” meant and seemed to believe that halal was a non-meat option, when this is not the case - this is insensitive and not an appropriate vegetarian/vegan option. This is what we mean by undertones and ignorance regarding racism. The assumptions made and lack of accountability or positive customer service is terrible conduct. As we mentioned to the staff, your policies are inconsistent and that’s an error on your part. “No alterations” means not changing a meal at all. This is contradicted by you allowing customers to add to a meal (thus, altering the original menu item). How is this different to removing an item? Keep in mind, we were still willing/going to pay for the full cost of the original meal. It’s not good practice to operate in customer facing services without listening to and be guided by feedback on best procedures. Becoming defensive and confronting customers when they are paying for a meal is disgusting behaviour - I could have taken my money elsewhere, but we didn’t and you ended up getting paid for terrible service anyway. We felt ambushed at the end of our meal, very unprofessional. Inflexibility and confrontation about feedback is just an ugly look for businesses. further, we don’t feel it’s appropriate for you to dictate how we (as customers) should or shouldn’t feel about our experience. Rather, it would be more professional to validate our experience and look at how you can improve. Unfortunately, our experience wasn’t great - but we hope this feedback inspires you to reflect on being consistent and doing better in the future. Have a...

Partner and I went here for some lunch last Saturday, we were both really excited to try the food having seen photos of the beautiful dishes online. We had a reservation but when we arrived it was very chaotic. It is not clear if customers with reservations should be in a different line from walk-ins, nobody was really managing the situation. We waited 20 minutes outside and nobody appeared with any information, so my partner went in to ask. We continued to be left standing outside for a long while (we were ultimately seated inside 40 minutes after our booking time) - despite there being several tables free outside (what we’d actually booked) and them seating numerous people in the walk in line before those with bookings. This makes no sense. The staff member was apologetic for the delay and we received very nice service from the two waitresses who took our orders. However, our drinks took a very long time to come out - very simple drinks, a chai latte and a mocha. The chai was really tasteless and disappointing. We waited for a long, long time for someone to take our food order, and spent a further very long time waiting for the food. At this point, the cafe wasn’t that busy, so I’m not sure why it took so long. A couple seated behind us didn’t even get their drink order taken in nearly an hour, so got up and left. When our food eventually came - a mushroom dish and the pesto pasta dish - it was really disappointing, lacking flavour of any kind. It was clear to us by this point that this is a place that has gained a lot of attention and popularity from Instagram. It’s style over substance, I’m afraid. They clearly can’t cope with the number of customers they attract over the weekend and, most importantly, the food and drinks are really poor quality (and pretty expensive, even for Melbourne) - so the huge waiting times weren’t remotely worth it in the end. It’s a nice spot in Coburg with some nice staff, but management really need to...

Food is more than just the taste, it’s the ambience, the company, the music or even the silence. It’s the temperature. The decor. The service. And even the portion sizes. Everyone has a different perspective of what is a good meal and a great meal. Today was a very good meal for my family. After years of travelling around the globe and eating out with my now 3 adult kids, we are all savvy with our food. The Glass Den came as a recommendation and so pleased it did. The day we visited, the local Farmers Market was on at the primary school across the road, so traffic and parking was busy. Plus the number of bikes and bikes with toddler carriers were incredible. If you’re not sure what bike to buy with a toddler, this is the place to check out all the latest brands. We found a carpark and sat outside (in June) because we had our dog. The menu is comprehensive and catered for all dietary needs. I started with a Ball Planet which is a frozen sphere with was served with warm milk and syrup. Interesting blend of flavours. I had the crispy chicken steamed bau buns which were presented beautifully and the layers of textures and taste was sublime. The Glass Den waffles are rich, creamy and a visual delight. The Middle Eastern breakfast platter proved to have a lovely blend of exotic tastes but my only feedback is that having many of the elements in small bowls and dishes made it harder to "mix together" everything. The Triple Double Burger made with doughnuts instead of a bun took us all by surprise. Extra notes: Accessibility- very good. Seating - great for all seasons with a beautiful glass area at the rear. Location - central to everything in Coburg. Staff - very helpful. Price - $155 including meals and drinks...