Cafe 54 — Restaurant in Victoria

The good things: -It was a super quick kitchen. Despite being very busy, we had our meals within about 10 minutes. -The food looked nice in the display cabinets. -It was clean.

The bad things: -They only do take away. Wierd for a Cafe... -They sell iced coffees, and mochas, but my partner had to explain what an iced mocha is. The coffee was already brewed and put in the fridge, so was slightly stale and flavourless by the time I received it. This makes me think no one there had any actual experience making coffee. -My partner saw the cook drop a cooked fried egg on the floor and pick it up with the same spatula that then went directly back to food on the hot plate. It would probably get 2 stars if not for that. -Expensive!!

The service: -Not great, but not awful. -One lady was rude to my partner about some disposable cutlery. -Because they were so busy, a few times a minute the staff were yelling out order numbers. Not much of an issue, but didn't create a very nice environment. There are better methods for a cafe to serve food than the old fish and chip shop, yell a number method. But hey, it was very busy, I get it. Not much of an issue.

The food: -My brother in law ordered 2 ham and cheese croissants. They seemed good. -My mother in law ordered a bacon and egg roll with tomato sauce. She got barely a dribble of sauce. Like, a 20c piece size in the middle. Otherwise, it seemed good. -My partner ordered pancakes with maple syrup and bacon. She didn't receive cutlery with her meal and they questioned her about like as if she was lying to them in an attempt to scam them out of a wooden knife and fork. She only got syrup on one pancake. The other was dry. They were store bought, reheated pancakes, not housemade. -I ordered a breakfast box and got cold sausages only lightly browned on one side, raw egg whites on top of the fried egg, and soggy toast. The hashbrown was good. This explains why it was so quick I suppose?

Would...

So disappointing, for a lovely town and generally welcoming people of Mallacoota that the service in this cafe really left a negative feel as we departed Mallacoota. The lady who took our order was nothing short of rude and grumpy, giving us the feeling we were more of a bother just for entering the cafe. To add to the disappointment, they only serve coffee in paper cups (two paper cups per coffee actually), the carrot cake was sort of stale, served in a box and paper bag with throwaway forks. Such waste! Even when I politely said we were dining in, I was told that's the way it comes. Sadly, the only cafe open in town, so there's no option. We opted to leave town for brunch next day, rather than go through that experience again. It would have been our preference to stay longer. On the only upside, the coffee was nice, but not worth it for...

We tried this establishment twice while in Mallacoota. The first time I was served by a young girl (training) and when she asked the other younger lady and the barista a question the were both snappy (uncomfortable) when I asked if or decaf the older lady snapped “no decaf!” And then I asked for a hot chocolate with oat milk and in the same flat tone she said “no oat milk!” I ended up having nothing. I don’t know why I gave them a second chance but it was the same experience - bad attitude and tone. At least the young girl wasn’t there to be humiliated. If you don’t want to be in the customer service and hospitality business then don’t! No one is forcing you. I was in customer service all of my working life and I never spoke to people like that - don’t bother with this place as there is Origami (best coffee and...