Mecca Coffee - Alexandria — Restaurant in Sydney

Flew to Sydney for the weekend for my friend's wedding. Had few hours to kill before my flight back to Melbourne. Checked around the area for some good Sydney brunch, decided to give the Mecca Coffee a go.

Arrived at the location, waited a a bit at the door since the waitress was busy with other customers, I was soon led to the communal table.

The cafe is located in a warehouse with industrial style decor. Kind of cool and didn't give me any sense of unpleasant.

Was offer the menu for foods and ordered a flat white. Had a good read on the menu and picked the Breakfast Plate. The waitress had some kind of six sense to notice exactly when I was ready to order - very attentive service.

Food took about 5 mins to arrive which is very reasonable. Usually cafe like this would serve their foods in a rather larger plate in Melbourne. The plate the Mecca Coffee used is just big enough to contain the foods. I supposed this is their own style.

The Breakfast Plate consists of 2 pouched eggs, 2 piece of homemade hash browns, a slice of sourdough cut in half, some pickled cabbage and tomato if I wasn't mistaken, some off the bones shaved ham, some chutney and a cube of butter.

The pouched eggs were served on a small separated plate which is new to me. Pouched Eggs are normally served on top of the bread, when you break the eggs, the thick runny egg yolk would ooze out down to the bread and act as lube in you throat for swallowing. I archived the same result by dipping my bread into the eggs. It is their own style and no biggy.

The sour dough has this refreshing fermented /sour fragrance which all nice sour dough should have. It has a nice crust on the outside and soft in the inside. As a carb lover, it was a nice sour dough.

I have to say the pickled cabbage and tomato weren't something that I would say I enjoy. But that would be just me.

Homemade hash browns are the highlight of the dish. Very crispy but not too hard on the outside, still soft and potatoy on the inside. lovely.

The off the bone shaved ham was very salty. I tried to combine the ham with poached egg white and other components on the plate and still way too salty.

Finally, I really appreciated that they put a small cube of butter with the dish. I honestly think bread shouldn't be served without butter. It is a simple thing but a lot of cafe don't do that and only available upon request. Unfortunately, my cardiologist said butters are bad bad boys - very sad.

Overall, I did enjoy my experience at the Mecca Coffee. Attentive service and pretty good...

We had been to Mecca for a couple of times throughout the years. Our most recent two visits had determined that we won't return. First was when we were sat in the corner and no one came to take our orders or gave us table water until we demanded attention. We were finally able to put our order with the staff but after a while we saw that the table next to us had staff took the initiative to take their order, then after a while their coffee orders were given to us. We were still waiting for ours. Then their food came, and that's when we went to the hostess to say we've been waiting for too long and would like to cancel the order if any was out through. The hostess confirmed that there wasn't any order for the table, and proceeded to blame the staff. After this incident it took us a few months to regain the desire to go back to Mecca. Finally we did, but was met with the same terrible service. This time we waited by the door as the sign says to be seated. As the same hostess was busy talking to other guests the barista saw us and indicated for us to come through and take a table. First thing the hostess said was that we were supposed to wait, and we proceeded to explain that the barista had acknowledged us and asked us to come in. Then she said "oh, he's new." No apologies were given in both circumstances from the hostess. Plainly rude. During our meal the hostess didn't even try to speak with us but was very happy to talk to other guests asking how...

Popped in with my partner this morning for what I hoped would be a nice coffee and a bite to eat. I'd been to Mecca a year or two ago and remembered it being quite good.

At the entrance we were met with a 'please wait to be seated sign'. We waited patiently while a staff member had a pleasant chat with the only customers in the place. She looked over at us, decided we didn't look important and continued her chat for a little longer. Finally she came over and directed us to a seat.

The long black was ok. A bit over extracted, but ok. The croissant was not. The dry yet oily pastry spread over my tongue both congealing and clagging my gums. This was a croissant bad enough to cause a major riot in Paris.

A few minutes later the waitress collected our empty glasses and the plate holding the almost intact croissant. My partner explained that it was stale, only to be told that it was fresh in that day, so she must be mistaken.

At the counter, she rang up the bill and I tapped my card. When I asked her if she had charged me for the stale croissant she looked almost offended that I had asked. Yes, she said, I charged you for the croissant.

Completely unsurprised the place was empty. The way they treat their customers, I suspect they prefer it that way. Perhaps there's less work to do when people stay away. Do them a favour and don't bother them with...