The Coffee Club Café - Nepean River — Restaurant in Sydney

Warning ⚠️ ⚠️ ⚠️ ⚠️ ⚠️

Racially Prejudiced Staff

If you are African or of African descent, avoid this place, lest you lose your dignity at the hands of this establishment's staff.

I'm a Penrith local and have been to this establishment numerous times and each time, I have been treated like an outcast or a leper. I presume its because I'm African with dark skin.

Each time I have been there, I have had to get up from my seat and go to the counter to make a meal order. No waiter or server has ever come to my table, yet all other customers receive table service. They actual do do table service per policy.

I have observed, the servers and waiters walk around me and leave me waiting while they eagerly serve other diners who arrived long after myself. This is not a mere oversight. It's a pattern that I have observed in the numerous occasions I have visited the restaurant.

Each time, I have to get up from my table and walk to the counter to ask for things as simple as water or cutlery, since none of the waiters are ever willing to come to my table.

Other times, I have attempted get their attention by raising my hand or even calling out but they looked at me and straight up ignored me. Yes this always happens when I dine in this place. I'm a Penrith local and I have frequented this place.

As if that is not enough, the attitude of the ladies working at the counter when I approach them is that of contempt. The hostility coming from them is palpable. I'm always civil when dealing with the staff at this establishment but the same courtesy or respect is never reciprocated.

A rather interesting phenomenon I have observed is that, all the above hostility and negativity mysteriously disappears, when I visit the place accompanied by colleagues or associates of much fairer complexion aka so called 'white people'

I guess this is all because of my skin colour and the perception of who I am.

Coffee club Nepean, if you feel that dark skinned or black people are not welcome to your restaurant, kindly let us know whilst at the entrance. This way, we won't be wasting each other's time and getting mirred in negativity because of your distorted perception of darker skinned people.

Let us know and we will gladly leave you alone. It's a free country.

We won't need to touch your plates, tables seats, and cutlery and leave 'dirt' 'filth' 'stench' 'diseases' and other negative things that your staff are afraid we will bring. Yes, our skins don't drip of mud, dirt or disease but it seem your staff imagine otherwise

Let us know unequivocally that we aren't welcome and we will gladly leave you alone. We will take our money elsewhere or prepare our own coffee and meals at home.

Racism is well and alive in 2023. The worst part is that nowadays, it's hidden in plain view, similar to the way the staff at Coffee Clueb...

Such a disappointing outing with my family. Took my Mum and Mother in Law out for lunch with my son. I understand they were busy but that does not excuse the disgusting service we received. When I arrived (minutes after my mother's) I saw them at a table so I tired to join them only to be told that I needed to be seated and to join the line. I tried to explain I was joining an existing table to which I was told by the lady that she didn't care and to wait. A male staff member overheard and said I was able to join them. We waited 20 minutes for our order to be taken "Hey you know what you want or do I have to keep waiting for you to stop talking." We ordered our food and drinks, which seemed like we were asking for the impossible. When our coffee's arrived at the table I tried my coffee only to discover the Vanilla Syrup wasn't in my coffee. I waited patiently and called the waitress over to the table and explained what was wrong to which she replied "I doubt it, maybe it is in her coffee - pointing to my Mother In Law's coffee." When we said that it wasn't (we had already tried that) she walked away. A few minutes later she came back demanding the coffee "Well give it here then. I have checked the computer and it was entered correctly." My coffee came back, now spilling and was told to stir it and deal with it. The food came and it was tasty and would recommend the share platter. After lunch I went to go and change my child only to discover the change table was in the disabled toilets and I don't think they have ever been cleaned. I decided it was cleaner and easier to change my child in my car. As we were paying the bill, we were asked about our lunch, we tried to discuss the issues we had only to be told that the man was "TOO BUSY, leave it...

[ ] Locating/Ease of Access: 8/10 Easy to find in the shopping centre, with a sign out the front and good frontage from outside. Ground level with accessibility entrance and a good walk in space. Lost points due to the fact their table layout was atrocious, requiring customers to push past a line of diners to get to the tables at the other side of the Cafe.

[ ] Service/Wait Times: 5/10 Service is counter only, and after placing our order, it was a short time before it was ready. Sadly, it sat on the pass for a good 5 minutes before being brought to our table less than 1 meter away.

[ ] Atmosphere/Feel: 7/10 The Cafe was busy, but half capacity on seating. The TV was loud, but we were seated right underneath it. It's what you'd expect for a busy shopping centre Cafe.

[ ] Food/Drink: 3/10 Sadly, the food and drink is where we took a significant departure. For the price we paid, you'd expect serving sizes that didn't leave you wanting to pick something up from Coles after leaving. The eggs benedict had a bland premade jar sauce, English muffin, a few spinach leaves and the only saving grace - a generous amount of salmon. It wasn't so much a disappointment as it was frustrating that I could make this at home for around $9. Paying $23 for this seemed rich. The coffee was watery and could hardly be classed as such. I never leave a coffee unfinished, especially for the prices in Sydney, but I had to walk away from this.

[ ] Other: 4/10 The experience was far from what I've had at previous coffee clubs, and also different to dining here a year ago. Things have dramatically changed since last visit.

Overall score: 27/100

If you're looking for a good breakfast and coffee that's consistent each time you visit. Keep looking,...