My Cafe In Manuka

3.8 Below Average

Food  5      Ambience  1      Service  1      Value  8     

This is one of the worst service I have received. The waiters/waitresses were unprofessional, impatient and rude. This is one of the worst behaviours I have observed from staff. Where is the rule of customer service "The customer is always right?" Whoever is responsible for this cafe's employment should be reviewed themselves.

The food was generous but the chips were overcooked and dry.

Jan 16, 2012 

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  10      Service  8      Value  7     

I went in on Sunday morning for some brunch with my boyfriend. We had such a good time! The waiters are friendly, the food took a few minutes to arrive but nothing unusual, and it was Good! The new menu has such delicious gourmet salads and the Moroccan Lamb burger was Delicious (apparently they marinate the lamb according to their own secret recipe).

Mimosas and vegie burgers in the sunshine? How can you possibly go wrong?

Sep 12, 2011 

1.3 Not Recommended

Food  2      Ambience  1      Service  1      Value  1     

I have been to my cafe several times in the past and have never had a problem, however, after going here today with a friend I will never be going back! My friend and I ordered pineapple juices to start with, however, they were quite watered down so we politely asked the waiter to swap them for soft drinks. He did so reluctantly and returned with 2 soft drinks both with black bits floating in them.

When we asked the waiter about this, he explained that the floating bits were coffee granules as the glasses were stored near the coffee. After explaining to us that the coffee graduals wouldn't make a difference to the coke, he said he could replace the ice in the lemon squash. About 15 minutes later, he returned with a glass 1/2 full of lemon squash and rather than ice cubes the glass had 2 huge chunks of ice in it and it still had coffee granules on top.

At this point my friend and I decided to leave. I have never experienced such blatant rudeness in my life!

Jul 09, 2010 

2.8 Not Recommended

Food  3      Ambience  4      Service  2      Value  2     

I went here with a couple of friends for a sunday lunch. We were new in the area and chose the busiest place in the strip. Pretty disappointed with the food. We ordered the kangaroo steak burgers and a spicy warm chicken salad. The burgers were very very ordinary to say the best, they were dry, tasteless and not what was expected. The chicken salad was okay but not spicy at all. The kitchen was apparently backed up so we were told it would take about 1/2 hour for our food, our mains were finally served after more than an hour. In the meanwhile we ordered garlic bread which was very stale.

On the upside though, the smoothies and milkshakes we ordered were reasonable through it doesn't make up for the bad mains. Find some other restaurant on the strip to have a meal.

Apr 05, 2010 

2.5 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  5      Service  3      Value  1     

We dined here for breakfast after reading about it in the restaurant guide in our hotel room and seeing that it seemed one of the most popular cafes in Manuka on a Saturday morning. We waited about 15 minutes for someone to take our breakfast order before finally managing to flag someone down. The wait for food was about another 1/2 hour and it was truly awful. Both our meals were cold, the toast served with my scrambled eggs was half cooked and stale and the crepes my fiance ordered looked and tasted doughy. The coffee was good though.

Feb 28, 2010 

2.5 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  4      Service  3      Value  2     

Probably the worst restaurant I've eaten at in recent memory. The food served was wildly different to what was advertised on the menu (i.e. white toast instead of Turkish bread) and the drinks menu was incorrect as well. Stella Artois started brewing under license in Australia several years ago, so it's a little bit disingenuous to list it as 'imported' beer.

The mains we had were nothing short of heinous: overcooked, overfried, and overrated. The salads were passable but average. Service was prompt and friendly but aloof, and the waiters seemed to be in a constant rush to clear the table even whilst two of us were clearly still eating our meals. Basic cutlery wasn't provided. This is the kind of cafe that needs Matt Moran or Gordon Ramsey to go in and give the kitchen staffs a serve of abuse. I suspect until that happens they should stick to serving chat potatoes with sweet chilli and sour cream, anything else is a serious risk.

Jan 23, 2010 

1.5 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  2      Service  2      Value  1     

We came to this restaurant seeing that it was almost fully seated and not knowing the Manuka area, we thought it must be good, but how wrong we were! After waiting 40 minutes for our food, we noticed all the diners had drinks served but no food. We could see the orders were building up in the kitchen. With 3 chefs, you would think they could handle a full restaurant. And the owner, stood behind his coffee bench smiling at customers whilst his kitchen staff were obviously struggling and the wait staff kept apologising with a simple "I'm sorry, your food will come out in 5 minutes"..

It is simply not good enough. When my eggs benedict did arrive, the egg was not poached properly, the yolk had been broken and the whites were not wrapped properly and thin in some parts. The bread which accompanied my friend's omelette had not been toasted. All dishes had different versions of toast with no regard to what our preference was. It seemed they were just throwing together whatever they could in an attempt to sell "breakfast". Terrible experience!

Jan 12, 2010 

2 Not Recommended

Food  5      Ambience  1      Service  1      Value  1     

Worst service. I've been here a few times simply because they serve food in the late afternoon, and have never had good service. It may not be all the waitstaff, so I'm sorry if you do a good job there. But it's always been either clueless or plain rude.

The last time (and I mean last) they lost our order. Then they dropped a glass on the floor and cleaned up about half the mess, leaving broken glass under the table next to us. We ended up at McDonalds.

Nov 24, 2009 

3 Below Average

Food  2      Ambience  1      Service  5      Value  4     

Yes I agree worst cafe in Canberra ! What a joke, besides the food always being just tepid warm, the staff are too young to ask how was it? They don’t care. We witnessed an all-in-brawl with what we gathered was the "owner and his mother" screaming, yelling does anyone out there know if there’s another 'hitler family? We have been back there a few times but after the last incident never again ! The food and the service are plain and simply terrible. Not recommended Canberra !

Feb 08, 2009 

3 Below Average

Food  1      Ambience  4      Service  3      Value  4     

My goodness! Hands down worst ever breakfast I've ever eaten. To my mind, Hollandaise sauce should not be nothing more than melted margarine, toast should not be burnt on top and waterlogged on the bottom, omlettes should not ooze grease when touched, ham should not contain bloody gristle and eggs should be drained to avoid eating your meal from a plate filled with water.

Our food wasn't eaten beyond initial tastes and our satisfaction was not enquired about. It's certainly not 'my cafe'.

Jan 01, 2009