Yarra Glen Cafe — Restaurant in Melbourne

My wife and I and our 5 year old son stopped for lunch at Yarra Glen Cafe 06 .01.2019. Staff were friendly, we found a table. We waited for at least 15 minutes to place our orders. I had to go looking for a waiter to take our orders not a good start.

And no one came to check to see if our meals had come out. We ordered fish and chips for our son and my wife and ordered burgers and 2 coffees as well. We got our coffees straight away and the coffees were really good.

After almost 25 minutes we asked if our meals were going to be long as our 5 year old was hungry. My wife went to speak to a staff member to see why our meals where taking so long she came back and told us our order was not sent through to the kitchen. Not good enough Yarra Glen Cafe.

We were told our meals would take up to another 5 minutes by now we had waited 45 minutes for our meals. Our meals where really good after such a long wait.

A staff member came out and apologised for what had happened we told her sorry that's not good enough we came a long way to visit Yarra Valley and she told us we can try somewhere else for lunch if we didn't want to wait.

We told her our son is hungry and to go elsewhere was not an option.

The staff member came back to us and told us the manager was to busy and was not interested in what happened with our lunch order. Who says that to customers how rude.

We told counter staff that you should better train their staff on how to deal with customers. They took off our 2 coffees off the bill but still charged for our meals which took 45 minutes ?? to come out to us.

We expected not to be charged for at least one meal. They didnt charge us for our coffees which amounted to $10.00 for both coffees?

We will not be going back again to this cafe it was just a huge letdown.

I don't know how this business has lasted so long. They seem look out the locals rather then people driving though to Yarra Valley who stop for lunch is the...

UPDATED SEPTEMBER 2024, PLEASE READ BEFORE VISITING: We dropped in here while on a drive of the area looking for a place to have devonshire tea. It's a cute little building tucked away from the road.

tl;dr version of this review - don't come here for scones, cakes, etc.

Unfortunately this place has changed owners recently (in June 2024 it seems) and is now a Thai restaurant. Now don't get me wrong - I'm sure their Thai food is delicious - but they have kept a lot of the old items on their menu, including devonshire tea.

We ordered and it came out very quickly. Too quickly... Overall it was a huge disappointment.

Firstly, and perhaps worst of all, the scones were microwaved. The inside was almost tasteless, the bottom was soggy and the outside very soft. A far cry from the crusty, buttery goodness that one expects from a good, country scone. What little taste it had was like a bread roll and nothing at all like a second.

Next were the condiments. The cream was just double cream poured from a supermarket container - even though we are in the Yarra Valley - and the jam was very sweet and almost certainly also from a supermarket container.

And perhaps worst of all for a supposedly British meal, the black tea was served without any milk.

The whole experience was very disappointing for a cafe in the Yarra Valley that also states on its website: "We pride ourselves on our quality menu, featuring great quality traditional house made cafe food using a great selection of local ingredients." There are plenty of local creams and jams that would have been a great replacement for whatever store bought condiments were used here - especially when paying $15 for the privilege.

The previous photos before June 2024 in other reviews are sadly not representative of what you get when ordering today. As I said, I'm sure the Thai food here is great, but do not expect quality...

Went after a long hot day out. They were pleasantly packed, in these covid times its lovely to see a local business busy. Needed a table of 5. Was almost turned away but thankfully a party had just left and we got a spot. Cozy spot. Cool bright homely indoors so a great escape from a 35'c day. Iced coffee with no sugar came with ice cream though.... They could have told us that. Still a great starter. We ordered seafood basket, chicken schnitzel, steak sandwich, fish & chips and corn fritters. . What impressed me was the food came out at the same time and it was piping hot. Whatever methods they have going on in the kitchen for such a place equalled a high end restaurant with proper serving etiquette. Table gets served all at once and food is freshly hot. . Portions were ideal for me but a bit much for my party. Actually it was just a lot of extra chips. The meat stuff was perfectly proportioned. My steak sandwich was... Usually with a smallish piece of steak like this, its easy to overcook and become a rubbery sole... But these guys in the kitchen did their voodoo black magic whatever and perfectly cooked it. A butter knife cut through my sandwich like.... a knife through butter. Top #1 of steak sandwiches I've ever had because it was so well cooked and the sauces and steak and bun didn't overpower each other. . The corn fritters, fish & stuff was just as good according to my companions. . Too bad we were too full and didn't stay for desserts. . Great atmosphere, friendly service from the lovely waitresses and that bloke who brought the food out (was he the owner?), and all around superb food for the casual dining experience and expectations. Total cost was $170 for 5 of us. A bit on the steep side, but worth the price. Will definitely be going back again when we're...