Vancouver Street Cafe — Restaurant in Western Australia

I was excited to have breakfast as the reviews were great however was sadly disappointed. Having worked in a couple cafes before I have great empathy for cafe staff, however would like to kindly offer some points for improvement to management. Overall the food was great and coffee was average. Staff were friendly however I think processes could be improved with better communication between teams (the person taking the order and then passing it on). My suggestions below:

1. I think the cafe could greatly benefit from a face lift visually - the vibe inside feels cluttered/messy (despite not being busy) and menus are placed at the front counter where you order, so patrons need to walk in front of other customers in line to take a menu. My suggestion would be to place these on a stand near the door.

2. In line with the above, I would also suggest combining the coffee menu with the food menu - I assume these have been printed separately because the food menus have changed however as a key component of a cafe, I think presenting your dishes/drinks on a nicely branded, 1 document menu can go a long way.

3. Consider a better order taking / POS system - the lady who took our order scribbled on a piece of paper and unfortunately this meant our coffee orders were misplaced / didn't arrive until we asked about them after our food arrived. An electronic POS could make things so much faster/more efficient for the teams executing the orders.

4. I think coffee making is something which takes years to develop - which is why I'd suggest sending your baristas to a coffee course. Even a milk/latte art short course could lift your coffee game and show customers you put that extra bit of care and skill into their coffee. Investing in Duralex glasses might also help with the art. Plus I'm sure management could claim these courses on their tax as it's development for their staff.

Overall the coffee taste was a 4/5 while food was 5/5. The atmosphere was a 3/5 and simple asthetic changes like upgrading the sugar holders to cute recycled glasses or adding some plants to each table could improve the atmosphere. Also the music player seems to be on its last legs so this is also something to consider upgrading (I did like the music though!).

I really hope to return to this cafe one day and be pleasantly surprised by the changes they've made to show they are the top cafe in town. Wishing the team all the best and hope you'll consider some of my suggestions...

Came for brunch with 2 kids as a treat to end our holiday. The cafe we usually go to when in town was unexpectedly closed for the day, and this cafe was recommended as an alternative with good reviews. When we arrived, I enquired about the wait time prior to ordering, and was told 20 minutes with a restaurant that was half full. (I can't see how the kitchen could function if the restaurant was at full capacity). We waited for 55 minutes for our food which consisted of only 2 meals! Other groups that came in a good 20 minutes after us had their food well before ours. Not sure if our order was forgotten, as I had to enquire after waiting for 45 minutes. No apologies when the food came, although staff were polite. Food was okay, but greasy, and not the nicest bacon. The entire experience was ruined for us due to the wait time with 2 young kids that were hungry. If we had known it would have taken almost an hour to recieve 2 meals we would have never ordered food. We even ended up spending more $ on coffee, as our coffee was cold by the time our food came. Disappointing end to our trip in Albany, and we will definitely not...

I like the coffee and until recently the staff were excellent especially Mia.

However on the weekend my 2 friends had the most extraordinary incident of being abused by a staff member at this cafe I've ever encountered. One of the friends owns a major establishment in Albany and has been coming since 2003 to this cafe. She is adamant she'll not go again without serious action taken on this staff member (which hasn't happened as my kids went the next day and he was still there and laughing about the whole thing to them).

I gave a 3 ... because I like to be fair with reviews.

In the past I would have given a 4 or 5. Today I'd give them a 1. So 3 feels fair. Especially because Mia is leaving and as a business owner myself I appreciate losing good staff can leave a business vulnerable ... especially in this climate where government handouts are making it hard for business to find really good staff at this time. But the quality of their staff attitude has significantly diminished since I last came.

Hopefully the owner will address all this as I do...