MELBA Lunn Ave — Restaurant in Ōrākei

I would not give a star if there was an option. My friends secretly booked this place for my birthday and time was 8:30am. Arrived and sat at the table , outside and even it was only 8:30am the sun was a bit heated and the plastic cover directly behind our table was down making the heat even more effective. My friend who booked the table went inside to ask if okay we can move to a table inside. Now this was the kick off point. The waiting staff came outside I was still sitting down said , so you want to move inside? Same time glazing all that was on the table. When we reached inside she made another remark, so you know we not moving you again if you decide to do so again and walked away. Most of us now seated not a single person came to take our orders yet everyone else that just arrived was served. 30mins later we are still waiting including one drink we ordered when we arrived at 8:30am. When I approached the counter the waiting staff who made all remarks again made another by saying let me see where your hot chocolate at , okay? Its coming. At this point we all did not feel to stay , I approached the counter and kindly asked for the Manager , I was not allowed to speak but asked to speak to the cashier who advised she just started her shift but how can she help?? I proceed to explain all we have experienced and the response- we are sorry we are one person on the floor funny she took everyone else's order but US who was there from 8:30. I humbly request what did we do so wrong to receive such service no reply. AGAIN I asked did we upset anyone to be treated that way? Still no response. PLEASE LEARN FROM MANUKAU MELBA THEY ARE THE BEST AND THEY ARE TRIPPLE THE AMOUNT OF CUSTOMERS THAN YOUR SHOP. NEVER in all the many times myself , friends and Family been to Manukau ever we received a single rude treatment like we received from your cafe today.. The least your staff who made all the remarks could have done is apologize instead she pretended she was busy at the entrance counter but we could see her glimpses at us while we was in discussions. Please do not treat us this way. A very...

In this review I am not going to tell you that you should or shouldn’t go to Melba Lunn Ave, I am just going to tell you about the experience I had on Saturday 3rd April.

I was looking for a basic breakfast as I was running around that morning, so I decided to head into the Melba Lunn Ave which is my local. I was with my partner and we ordered food and drinks. The service staff were friendly and polite and took our orders.

I ordered a Mocha and a basic poached eggs on 5 grain. My partner ordered the S.E.B which is a bagel with toppings. Unfortunately when the food arrived it was just not up to the standard I would expect. The poached eggs were not properly poached and the yolk was half way to being hard boiled. The bacon on the S.E.B was undercooked and the presentation of the the S.E.B. was average.

After attempting to enjoy the food, we decided that it was still not up to standard so we decided to stop eating the food. We probably ate a third of each meal. I walked over to the counter to pay and expressed my disappointment at the meals and that I did not think it was good enough. I was addressed by the barista who came over to take my payment. When he took my payment he charged me full price. I was surprised and said I was hoping not be charged for the food or get some kind of discount. He said he was not able to do this and that he would pass on my feedback to the kitchen. What he did say and offer is that if I wanted, he could send this back and prepare us a new replacement meal each. I did not want this option and said I don’t like sending food back to be prepared again, especially when it’s the basics. He was friendly and polite towards me. I would have expected there to be a duty manager that could have made a call to offer a refund/discount or to tell me why I can’t have one of these options. So I am not sure why no one had the authority on this shift.

Once I accepted that nothing was going to change, I paid the bill and left politely. I look forward to a response from the business owner in the name of customer service.

I hope you have a better food...

My partner and I stopped off for breakfast at Melba this morning and unfortunately we had a very poor experience. The coffee was a disappointment. While the flat white was passable, the mocha was overly sweet and tasted like the cup had detergent in it. We were willing to ignore this until the experience worsened when the food came out. The toppings of the margarita pizza were sloppy, falling off, and creating a mess as soon as it was picked up. The avo toast was overpriced at $24 and was disappointing as it turned out dry, bland, and far from my expectations.

To exacerbate matters, the staff's response was poor. The waitress dropped a dirty knife on my partners new shorts, staining them. We decided to leave, offering to pay for just the coffees due to our dissatisfaction with the food which we barely touched. Unfortunately we were met with rude and argumentative behaviour from the man at the counter, intensifying our poor experience.

I have been to this Melba many times and used to thoroughly enjoy it, but unfortunately the service and food quality have gone downhill over...