The Angry Gnome — Restaurant in Sydney

I had one of the worst customer experiences at Angry Gnome Café today, and I will not be coming back.

I brought in my 8oz keep cup and politely asked for my small cappuccino to be filled just below the top so I could put the lid on. Instead, the owner handed me a coffee that was barely 1/3 full – closer to a piccolo than a cappuccino. As a barista myself, I know how much milk should go in a small cappuccino, and this was completely wrong.

When I politely asked for more milk, he argued with me, insisted I had asked for “3/4,” and claimed their cups are “6oz” . I explained again that I just wanted the correct amount of milk. His response? Eye rolls, condescending comments about how the “coffee won’t taste right,” and even trying to charge me for an extra shot I never asked for.

After reluctantly topping up the milk, he rolled his eyes again and muttered under his breath, “Next time order a large.” Absolutely unacceptable. As someone who works as a barista, I would never treat a customer like this. People have different taste preferences, and it’s not the barista’s job to argue with customers about how their drink “should” taste – especially when all I asked for was the normal amount of milk in my own cup.

The owner lives up to the name “Angry Gnome” – rude, dismissive, and unprofessional. If he can’t manage to show basic respect to customers, maybe he needs to sort out his own issues before running a café. All this over a splash of milk? Pathetic.

Avoid this place – there are plenty of cafés around where you’ll be treated with respect and actually get the coffee...

Have you ever wanted to make love to your lunch? Yeah no me either, but after eating here I definitely considered it. The wife and I wandered in our of the rain on Saturday for a bite to eat and my word we were not disappointed. The place was an absolute buzz of happy customers from the moment we walked in. The smell of freshly ground coffee was floating through the air, closely followed by that sweet scent of bacon fat kissing the hot grill. We sat down and were greeted by cheery staff offering us up drinks and coffees (even a cheeky beer or wine if your so inclined) we had a latte and a spiced chai both of which were just top notch. I was having trouble deciding what to have until I saw the magic word "Reuben" and immediately knew what to order. The wife, not being a feral animal like me, went for the simplicity of a breakky burger. The food arrived and my sweet lord it was divine. Remember before when I said that thing about making love to your lunch??? Yeah well when this thing arrived, I was left with a hard decision.... Ultimately I chose to eat it instead and I swear if that wasn't the best foodgasm I have ever had then I don't know what was. The balance of meat to pickle to dressing etc was all just perfect with each bite being as consistently beautiful as possible. The wife's breakky burger was also divine, a simple dish whose flavours where anything but simple. And the soft bun just made it even more divine. So I guess what I am trying to say is go to Gordons cafe and eat the food. Or wear...

AVERAGE at best.

Mr/Ms Gordons owner. Keep the Cafe, the location, the menu... but get rid of your staff! They’re miserable!

I’ve tried too many times to go back and “give it another shot” because I want it to be better than the last time, but one bad experience after another at Gordon’s makes me permanently move the 4-5 minutes up the road to somewhere else.

Food is ok, standard - but ok. It’s the staff that are the worst. Every. Single. Time. I’m disappointed by the staff at Gordons. Order a take away coffee to a rude lady behind the counter who ignores you for 10 min before looking up. Only to wait a further up to 20 min (yes 20 min) on a takeaway coffee, then when you go up and ask if it’s far away, you get glared at and handed a coffee without any words. They had a steady stream of customers, but by no accounts were so busy that the 3 people behind the counter could not get a take away coffee done in 20 min.

Dine in is no better. 15 min for someone to clear a table (on a quiet day), a further 20 min for a menu, a further 15 min for someone to come back to take an order, a further 15 min for a Soda bottle to be brought to the table all while the wait staff ignore you and chat to each other.. and honestly, look miserable.

In saying this, there is 1 nice lady who works there.

In summary, walk the 5 min up the road and go somewhere else. Here are some of my favs to get you started. The Village Man and...