XS Espresso Meadowbank — Restaurant in Sydney

Ordered 2 lets get smashed with 1 coffee =$62 They charge extra $10 each for 2eggs and salmon/bacon. It took me 10 min to order because the manager and the kid behind the counter were just mucking around and asking me to repeat the order 12 times. My English is perfect, so the error was obviously not in me, but in their understanding and not caring. I wish I just walked out then. The cafe's 3 tables, including us, were taken, yet we waited 30+min. You would think that it being a cafe by the water and in winter with all the wind, they'd at least invest in some heaters to keep the inclosed room warm, let alone outdoor heaters. No wonder it's empty. When the food arrived, we received two pieces of toasted bread, small pack of butter and 2 slices of salmon/bacon. For $60!!! When I asked the waitress where the rest of our food was (fetta, smashed avocado, tomatoes, radish....) she told me 'it's coming' after about 10min, she comes back with the manager who asked what the problem was. When I told her we ordered lets get smashed and this is not even half a meal she giggled and told me the chef made a mistake. Considering we were the only ones having breakfast, I find that hard to believe. When the food came after another 20 min, it was tasteless, bland, no salt, feta wasn't marinated like it was described on the menu, no chilli flakes, the bacon fat was barely warm, only one slice of bread this time, etc. My husband just said, 'eat what you can and let's get out of here, I can't wait another hour' We have dined at many places around the country and the globe, this was by far one of the worst where food was as bad as the service and the attitude and the atmosphere and the carelessness of the stuff, their presentation, their personal hygiene (unbrushed teeth, which you can tell by a horrible breath which I understand can be a medical issue, which is why hygiene is so important) the lack of care for customers and their comfort, etc etc. All they care about is taking your $$$ away and people deciding to treat themselves to a breakfast, some of us do it very rarely, you should appreciate they do that at your establishment. Instead of doing what you do. Two weeks prior, I took my kids for a babychino and should've not come back then when I saw your attitude and realised we had to wait 20 min for 2 baby chinos..... Shame on you and...

My worst experience at a café. I visited on a public holiday, which was a busy day. They don't take table orders, so I had to wait a long time just to place my order.

I wasn’t in the mood for anything from the breakfast menu, so I tried to order from the lunch menu. The lady rudely said, "You can order the lunch menu from 11 am." I understand that 10:40 am is a bit early for the lunch menu, but other cafés I’ve been to clearly indicate on their menus that lunch starts at 11 am. However, I couldn’t find any such indication on their menu here.

Frustrated, I had to choose something else from the breakfast menu and wait in line again to place my order. After finally ordering, it took a long time to get the food, which I understood given how busy it was. However, my friend’s food arrived nearly 30 minutes later, and my food still hadn’t come out. I noticed many people who ordered after me were already eating.

I waited over 40 minutes before complaining to a waitress about the delay. She just nodded without apologizing or saying anything. Five minutes later, I decided to cancel my order and ask for a refund. At that moment, a waiter came and told me my food would be ready in a few minutes. I was so hungry that I reluctantly agreed to wait.

When my food finally arrived, another problem arose. I had clearly ordered my eggs fully cooked, and the waitress confirmed this when taking my order. However, they served me runny poached eggs instead. I had to ask for new eggs, which took another 10 minutes to arrive.

On top of that, there were so many pigeons flying around the café. At one point, when my friend left his seat, a pigeon landed on the table and ate his leftover food right in front of me. It was absolutely disgusting. Other pigeons were walking on empty tables, which looked very unhygienic. While I understand this is nature and might be hard for the owner to control, it added to the unpleasant experience.

Overall, the worst part of my visit was the rude lady staff and the excessive wait time for my food, which was a simple order. I don’t understand why my food took so much longer than others—perhaps there was a mistake in the kitchen.

I will...

Please KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF MY FRIES.

Such a shocking experience overall.

Visited this cafe on a quiet night, as we were really excited to support this local business. There were only about 3-5 other tables with guests during our time here this night.

NEGATIVES.

The staff. The service. The food. The Hygiene.

Was served wrong drinks to begin with, didn’t offer to replace with “new correct drinks”, no apology, nothing. Just warm milky shakes that were not what we ordered, even after waiter admitting to making the mistake. The waiter wasn’t the brightest crayon in the box, just a clueless look on his face staring into a whole lot of nothing. Placing the drinks down in front of us still expecting us to drink them.

Although the above was annoying, we knew businesses make mistakes, we were understanding, we just hoped that the food and service afterwards would compensate the beginning.

Well it didnt. We then waited 45mins for doughnuts, only to have to chase down and find out eventually that they forgot our order. After missplacing it. After not finding it.

Another 15 mins passed, so I walked up to the counter, literally to find and catch several staff (4 to be exact) touching and moving our food around on the plate, playing with the doughnut fries with their grotty fingers , then hand the plate directly to me like it was a commmmpletely normal step in the process of food handling, and food & safety hygiene standards. (these were not kitchen hand staff).

Absolutely blown away that 95% of the staff are that clueless. As customers we don’t mind allowing for common minor mistakes, but these are another level, how management can be so oblivious to these issues is absolutely beyond me.

POSITIVES: young female staff member that served us at the till. She was lovely, polite, professional. Extremely hard working. Poor girl had to do everything herself though, all other 7 staff were bundling in a group chatting away the entire night while...