Urbi Cafe — Restaurant in Western Australia

‼️SCAM WARNING‼️

I am sharing my experience to help others :)

There are several signs and advertisements looking for staff around town and online for this cafe. The fact a cafe in Perth is unable to find staff in this town was a big initial red flag, but I chose to view it in a positive light and give it a chance. Following this, the reviews on here describing the owner make complete sense and were very unsurprising.

From the offset, he was an unpleasant man. I went in for a paid trial shift and was given no introduction or guidance to that specific cafe just “start working”. Fortunately, I have a lot of experience in busy Sydney cafes. I jumped on the tills taking back to back orders from 8-9.20am. Approximately an hour in the old man there starts getting aggressive arguing I’d not worked in a cafe before, because I wasn’t pouring his milk into the jugs for him ahead of time, I calmly responded that I had and explained that all the baristas I’ve worked with previously had poured their own milk. If this was a stipulation he specifically wanted, it takes 5 seconds to explain that instead of going aggressive straight away because I wasn’t a psychic.

1.5 hours into the trial he begins to call me a liar and say I made up all my experience, despite the fact he has physical references in a cv next to him. I said no problem I’ll take my pay and go. He begins to argue he won’t pay me because I “lied”, despite the fact there is references to back everything I’ve said and there was both a verbal agreement and written agreement on instagram messages. He refused to pay for the work I did. Not surprised at all he has found nobody willing to work for him, and the scam had been reported to fair work. Grateful for the...

This café was my go-to place for lunch during my placement. To be honest, my placement was a very difficult and painful time for me—I often felt unsupported and had to fight for my own learning opportunities. In the middle of all that struggle, the happiest moment of my day was walking into Urbi at lunchtime, ordering a coffee, and enjoying a quiet meal. It was the only time I could truly relax and breathe.

I even had some of my university supervision meetings here. I loved sitting in the corner, hiding away with my coffee, wishing the world would just let me rest for a while.

Mike, the owner of James street Urbi, was always there with a big smile. Somehow he could notice my mood, and his kindness made a huge difference to me. Sometimes he even offered me a refill, and in the last few visits he didn’t charge me at all—I felt even more grateful. During those painful weeks, his warm smile and generosity supported me more than he probably knows.

Sadly, Since the James Street café also shut down, this was the only place left for me—and it meant so much. I wonder if Mike is already enjoying the sunshine in Queensland. Wherever you are, I wish you all the best. Every time I think of you, it’s your smile and the smell of coffee that...

I would give zero stars if that was possible. Leigh expects way too much of you when working with him! He had told me that I wasn’t the same person he hired… well that may have been the case since I was practically running the shop, doing food, taking orders from two seperate tills, putting lids on coffees, preparing iced and smoothie drinks, filling up milk jugs for him to steam and that still wasn’t enough for him! Throwing food across the benches when I haven’t done something I was never supposed to do and advising I get my hearing checked was mildly inappropriate. Never really made conversation with me so it was MY fault that I was so quiet. Telling me off practically in front of customers as I’m taking their orders which was embarrassing for me with the experience I have. Definitely the worst cafe I’ve ever worked at however Leigh would tell you that I don’t have the all-rounder experience required for the job! To make matters worse he didn’t pay me on time twice in row and actually underpaid me both...