Cafe Lava — Restaurant in Warrnambool

This is a great cafe to visit if you’re ever in the area! The cafe itself has tons of local artwork hung around and a massive, long wood table with an array of magazines to read while sipping or munching. They have a range of milk options as well as your typical coffee flavourings (vanilla, caramel, hazelnut, etc.), which makes customising your coffees easy.

I ordered the Big Breakfast and everything was fresh and made to my liking (the waitress had no problem taking into consideration my dietary needs of no dairy in the scrambled eggs). The meal itself is quite filling so make sure you’re hungry. The service was friendly and relatively fast for the amount of people that were in the cafe.

They have a cute little sign in the cafe that says they do not have wifi and “to pretend like you’re living in 1995 and actually talk to people” so keep this in mind if you’re trying to get work done while having a coffee or brunch (which is what I originally went in for). My second con for this place are the main doors being automatic sliding doors so when people enter and exit it can produce a rather cold draft if you’re sitting at the large middle table (especially if groups of people are exiting and having a quick chat outside in front of the cafe, they stay open because they sense people in front of them). Not a major I convenience but just make sure to sit away from the doors and you’ll be right. Overall I would...

We booked for breakfast recently here and were quite disappointed. When we arrived we looked at the menu and saw a message saying that ANY (yes any in caps) dietary requirements could be catered for. I don't have any but my partner is vegan. There were barely any options for her but she did not complain. She made an enquiry to the server to see if she could substitute two of the dairy side items from one of the vegetarian options in exchange for baked beans or something similar. She was told no, the dish could apparently be made without those side items but it would remain full price. She was then told she could order a side item herself but it would be at usual price. To be clear, the business was asking for full price for a meal they knew they were not serving in full. They refused to substitute for a lesser item (cost of their cheese vs baked beans? Come on). My partner is very polite and was going to decide on something else without making a fuss but I wasn't having it. I paid for the drinks ordered and we left. We found a cafe just around the corner who not only had several vegan options on their menu but were willing to make small changes. The difference in service is amazingly stark. Lava Cafe need to embrace the idea that alternative diets are on the rise and flexibility with menu is a must for people these days. Will never return - we are now loyal to...

I’m a local and have been here in the past before many times and had some amazing food and quality service. I was really shocked on how much it’s changed. Not sure if it is new owners since I’ve visited.

The service was terrible, took 5 minutes of walking in to be approached and then seated to a table which was dirty. I get it was a little busy but no excuse. There was plenty of available tables. Our Table was never cleaned after being seated. Took a total of 20 minutes for someone to finally come and take out order. Looking around it seems waiters were too busy clearing food and not taking orders from multiple people around us. Food arrived surprisingly quick yet would have to be one of the dullest meals I would of had in years in Warrnambool. I ordered the “French Toast which Tasted like a soggy flat pancake. The only plus I can give is the coffee which was very nice even though we received it after our meal was eaten. On multiple occasions the waiters apologised about the wait and saying they were flustered.

Won’t be coming back here and definitely need to train there staff better, overall experience very poor to what I’ve had in the...