Bayside Barista — Restaurant in Western Australia

I’ve been coming to this café for years with my family because it’s one of the few places I can eat safely as someone with coeliac disease. We’ve often overlooked the fact that the service can be a little cold at times, because the food has always been reliably safe. Most of the wait staff are lovely, but there are a couple of people behind the counter who can be quite unfriendly—to say the least. I won’t name them publicly, but today I left in tears, and I won’t be returning.

When I approached the counter, I wasn’t greeted—just stared at silently by a young woman (I’m sure you’ll know who I mean if you speak to the male waiter who took our complaint). No smile, no “hello,” nothing. I said politely, “Can I get the special please, but instead of the fried egg on top, could I swap for scrambled?”

She replied curtly: “No, I don’t think so. We don’t do substitutes usually.” I responded: “Oh, that’s strange—I’ve done it here before. But no worries if that’s changed, I just thought I’d ask.”

She said: “Well, we don’t. I can ask but it will be a no.” So I let it go and simply asked: “All good, I’m not pushing—can I just have the egg removed altogether then, as I can’t eat fried eggs?”

She turned to another staff member (who is always polite and friendly) and repeated the question. He explained that substitutes aren’t done on specials, which I acknowledged again. He then kindly asked if I needed the egg well cooked (likely because I’m pregnant), and I said, “Technically yes, but I just don’t want the fried egg at all.” He said that was no problem and could easily be done.

Then, in front of me, the young woman turned to him, rolled her eyes, and said: “I did tell her it would be a no, but she didn’t listen.”

At that point, I just said “You know what, don’t worry about it,” and walked away. I returned to my table and found myself crying. We left soon after, and my mum (who I was having breakfast with) went back inside to express our disappointment. The girl wouldn’t come over to speak with her, and with no manager or owner present, there was nothing the gentleman could do besides apologise—he’d witnessed the situation being escalated by her as well.

I’m not writing this to be unkind. I’m writing it because people with coeliac disease deserve to know that being medically safe doesn’t always mean you’ll be treated with basic respect. I’ve since read similar complaints about the service from these particular staff, and sadly, they’re often met with defensive, even sarcastic responses from the owners. So I don’t expect this will spark change—but perhaps it will help warn others.

What happened today wasn’t about a substitution policy—it was about tone, body language, and unnecessary rudeness toward someone who asked a perfectly reasonable question. I wasn’t rude. I didn’t argue. I accepted what I was told. And yet I was spoken to like I was less than the dirt on her shoes.

It’s such a shame it’s come to this. But nobody deserves to be treated like that. A little kindness goes a long way. Not all customers are difficult—some of us are just genuine people, trying to eat safely and be treated with respect....

This is not the first time I've been here. This cafe was my first go to Cafe for all things food and great barrista coffee.

Usually they're all the awesome standard they usually are but unfortunately today was different, VERY DIFFERENT.

Ordered 2 chais with one being dirty 3x shots in a large. Both with almond ordered this combo many times.

But unfortunetly the chai with almond literally tasted like full cream milk my partner could not drink it. I drove 10 minutes to the is cafe usually its worth the drive.

I got home my partner couldn't drink the chai. I called up the cafe spoke to he lady owner and she was very firm and said its an almond and I said well sorry but my partner can not drink it because there's diary is it and I even tasted it and it's tastes really different.. literally said hey we are going around in circles and the lady owner said "what do you want" ? I simply said "an almond chai.

So now I can drive back and get the almond chai and they will show me which bottle they used for the original one to prove it was almond, anybody could do that.

A simple solution would've been. Hey Mr customer sorry about that when you come back in I will replace it for you. And done. The customer service at this particular cafe is atrocious the only reason they're still in business is because they have great food and coffee but they could utilise a lot more emotional intelligence something is lacking in customer service when the customer speake up.

Im not sure I will go back. Well not for a while anyways. Hopefully they fix the problem

-5 stars for this...

Took 15 minutes to be served with one person infront of me and a further 20 minutes for two take away coffees, Coffees were luke warm and bitter gross. Friendly staff, but a bit too friendly as it took 35 minutes to order and recieve. Less gossiping with customers may help with lead times and better quality coffee.

Reply to your response as we cant reply, Please check your cameras from friday 10th July from the range 9-30 -11 (i was there and I am female, and you can see me looking at my watch numerous times and step in and out near the post office entry, i even popped into the post office, also a lady with a daughter waiting patiently and extensively)I dont lie. And yes I visited and purchased coffee not long after you first opened after a boot camp sesh in SB, i didnt like it then, but a collegue said to try it again but did warn of slow service, i just didnt think it was that slow for takeaway, and sorry i may have hurt your feelings with truth, i did try and give you a tip to avoid this happening again. I suggest you start reading critiques in a different manner, apply the critism at your business, and a positive change can happen. Good luck in the future. Also ill get my partber who had the second takeaway to...