The Invy Cafe Al Mare — Restaurant in Victoria

I don’t normally do this but this needs to be called out. We originally came to this place after a big lunch for their gelato, as our Google search suggests. But it turns out there was no gelato and hence the kids went to another place to get their gelato to avoid disappointment. The adults stayed on to order coffee, cake and 3 affogatos instead. Their affogato costs $16 each by the way, which is the cost of a meal already. However we didn’t mind as we wanted to try them. While waiting outside on our tables, the kids came back with their gelato on hand. Then one lady staff stormed towards us abruptly and told us off with a loud voice saying that we’re not allowed to bring any food from outside and eat them in the cafe. Even our 9 year old was told that he’s not allowed to be in there while the parents were waiting for their coffee! Though we totally understand the point, however I thought the way she said it was totally rude, showed no empathy, very disrespectful and absolutely lacked customer service skills, not even a little consideration to a kid. People around were looking at us which was totally embarrassing. Oh and by the way, our order took ages to arrive. When they finally came, our order was stuffed up. They served up the wrong affogatos and the one coffee was missed (even if the order was taken down by the cashier). This has been a traumatic experience to our family who only wanted to enjoy the day. I’ve seen that there were same situations that transpired here months ago according to reviews. Hope this can be rectified and nothing like this happens again to their...

Very disappointing gelato ( I wouldn't even call it Instead I would describe it as icecream with very little flavouring) and customer service! I have never heard of an ice-cream or gelato business never offering samples ! The sign on the window says no gelato samples AND no eating gelato on the inside chairs ! After reading that I would have left except we had 3 children waiting for the gelato as promised. The young lady serving us really couldn't be bothered and made no effort at all to even try to be friendly. Not only could we not have samples but she didn't even offer or attempt to take the lid off any of the flavours so we could see them before us ordering, instead she waited until we had all received our gelato and moved away to eat them. At $6 a single and $11 for a double the prices are up there and I would expect a great ,creamy gelato and good customer service but this experience was neither of those things ! After spending significant amount of money for 5 adults and 3 children to have icecream then be told you can't eat it inside or on the outside tables, you instead need to move up the street to a bench seat not undercover ( yes it was beginning to spit rain ) to eat your icecream was very poor and particularly as there were no other customers inside or outside ! I don't usually write anything but good reviews but this disappointing experience was just too much to not let...

Did a little detour after soccer today so the kids could enjoy an ice cream from a place we frequented whenever we were near Inverloch. I stayed in the car with the dog confident the kids could make their usual and simple choice of flavour for each of our ice creams. That’s where things turned sour - not the wake-up-your-taste-buds delectable kind of sour. So many flavours not available, so they eventually landed on the unexceptional vanilla and hazelnut. A couple of bites in, master 12yo described the ice cream as “chewy”, resembling that gelatinous texture from ice cream that should have been eaten a while ago. Sadly it was destined for the bin. The choc sorbet was also really very average too but master 10yo ate it . Each cone was a double scoop (unsavourily small) and the 3 ice creams were $31.79 including eftpos charge! Kids couldn’t find a price list or menu and like me, were totally shocked at the price. Needless to say we were disappointed, dissatisfied and gobsmacked at the experience. As I pondered how tricky it can be for small business, I reminded myself that as a customer entering a premises to buy ice cream, regardless of it being the off-season the quality and selection should be more generous. No more detours...