The Tiny Giant — Restaurant in Sydney

Careful not to cross the Grumpy Barista Carlo whose vacuous smile gives way to white-faced fury and the direction not to return to the shop. The frumpy girlfriend Sarah of heavy thighs and arse and inversely proportional chest smiles in the background unaware that it's only time before she is the object of her champion's blind prejudice. And what was it about? Insult in the eyes of the beholder. A beholder who unhesitatingly insults his customers with stale pastries: it's good to go to the shop on Monday when the pasties maybe from the day or at worst be a week old. The Grumpy Barista is selective too in the coffee he serves up: proffering cool, indifferent coffee in deliberate insult to the targeted customer. And don't expect to be served coffee and a croissant at the same time. The logistics of putting a warm croissant albeit cold at the heart of it and coffee on the table at the same time is beyond the competence of the staff. Another insult indeed. But what would one expect of an undercapitalized establishment of grunge heaven with insulting tables and chairs and up-ended drums once holding a polish product from India? In the stakes of insults in product, service and staff including an intrusive, unchic, uncharismatic stubble-faced man it would be hard to outdo Carlo who is happy to take good things from someone and unhesitatingly dump on him. But one shouldn't blame Carlo: observe him, his haircut and the blind, mindlessness between him and Sarah and all...

I moved just down the road and was looking forward to this being my local. I gave it three tries but I won't be giving it a fourth. Customer service: staff are more interested in talking to each other about their nails, or watching the soccer on their phone then serving customers. I never felt welcomed here. Food: my first time I got the green bowl. It's a plate of fridge cold veggies with no flavouring at all served with two eggs. It was awful! Do something to flavor your elements or at least cook some of it. Definitely don't just pull it out of the fridge and give it to customers as is. The last time I went I ordered two sandwiches to take away for a picnic. When I took them out to eat they were so stale that they were inedible. Even the cheese had gone hard. You expect that these kind of sandwiches, which cost $10 for takeaway (even more if eating in!) To be fresh. These must have been at least a couple days old to be so bad. Coffee: underwhelming. They even stuffed up my order on one occasion putting sugar in both my coffees when I only asked for it in one. Most of the time it just tasted like warm milk anyway.

So many great cafes in the area, so I'd recommend you go to one of them instead....

My sister and I were keen to try your now famous waffles with salted caramel and fairy floss.

We had reduced our calorie intake that week in anticipation……we were excited…..we were looking forward to warm, light & crispy waffles with pools of salted caramel, offset by some tart berries and topped off with the shining glory that is Iranian fairy floss.

What a let down!

The waffles were cold & stodgy – not cooked to order, warm and crisp – they were obviously precooked, perhaps even the night before. The caramel was stuck to the bottom of the plate and there certainly wasn’t enough moisture on the plate to overcome the dryness of the waffles. When asked the staff provided some maple syrup which helped.

When we finally completed the meal – we were starving - the waitress asked how they were. When I said they were dry, she commented by saying they had “given you extra syrup”. And, “we have a trainee chef on today that we are trialing”. My suggestion of a discount on that basis was ignored.

What a shame……I live in the inner west and would likely have become a regular of your establishment. But on the basis of that dish, a return visit...