18 Grams Kogarah — Restaurant in Sydney

Absolutely the worst café service I’ve experienced in many, many years. The manager was rude, aggressive, and gave the distinct impression he’d rather be doing literally anything other than running a café.

A group of friends and I were meeting at 10:00am on a Tuesday before heading off on an excursion. Most of the tables were marked “reserved” (though they remained empty), and my friends were sitting at the few available ones. I politely asked a woman at one of the reserved tables if I could borrow a chair — she said she wasn’t even a customer, just sitting there.

Before I could say another word, I was abruptly told to move outside. I explained it was 10°C, and I’d only be there for 30 minutes. Still no. Just “Outside.” No discussion. I offered to move the moment any bookings arrived — but the manager repeated, “I don’t have to explain anything to you.” Several times, like some sort of broken customer service chatbot.

So I left. Walked to another café nearby. Got picked up 20 minutes later. Meanwhile, my friends who stayed told me the reserved tables stayed empty, the woman I’d spoken to was asked to leave too, and the staff were just as standoffish to them.

Yes, you can run a business with rules — but this was just plain hostility. I won’t be back. Neither will my friends.

The food evaluation was...

Went here with a friend for brunch. Prices were reasonable (not cheap, not expensive). Located on a fairly busy road with lots of on street parking spots. Cafe had a decent number of tables (7-11?) reasonably spaced apart. I ordered an affogato and big breakfast, my friend ordered a mocha and french toast. The food didn't take long to arrive ~ 11-15 mins, and I really enjoyed it Their french toast meal is fairly sweet including sliced fruit such as Bananna, strawberry and kiwi fruit. The big breakfast was good quality imo - well cooked and not too oily or greasy. I've ordered similar big breakfasts from other cafes and felt lethargic or bloated afterwards, but this time I felt great. The cafe's 2 staff members were friendly and attentive even while busy with customers and online orders/deliveries. The cafe also seemed popular with the local police...

Came here for brunch as wanting to try out some of the local cafes. Quite busy on a Saturday morning but we were greeted immediately on arrival. Food did take a bit of time to arrive but we were told of the wait time when we were ordering so it wasn't unexpected. We ordered the fritters and the french toast. Fritters were great - not too salty and the avocado salsa was a great pairing with the fritters. The french toast is not your traditional french toast as it was fried and didn't taste "eggy" as you expect french toast to be. Very well presented and was nice although probably didn't need the fairy floss or charred banana (but this could just be personal preference as I don't like things too sweet). All in all, a great local cafe with delicious food and amazing customer service -...