Cafe Medici

8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  8     

Have been there twice (both in big groups-once for my birthday). I liked it!

Mar 26, 2012 

6 Average

Food  5      Ambience  7      Service  6      Value  6     

We went there one quiet Monday evening, and found the food ok, but not wildly exciting or otherwise memorable. For starter we shared a garlic and cheese pizza which certainly didn't skimp on the cheese. Main courses: chicken risotto and a chicken Caesar salad, both ok, but not much more to say than that. Kiddies had the Spag Bol (what's new?) and calamari and chips. Both passable, but also a bit on the boring side. Sorry, just can't get excited about the place.

Apr 12, 2011 

1.5 Not Recommended

Food  2      Ambience  2      Service  1      Value  1     

Came to Melbourne to attend the Air Show. Stayed at Docklands then Saturday morning went down with the wife and kids for some breakfast. This was the only place open. Needless to say, this business wouldn't survive if anything else around it was open. It was. Complete rubbish.

They have no idea how to make a coffee. I politely let the waitress know that the coffee was burnt and asked if she'd mind having it remade for me. From that point onwards we got nothing but attitude.

I ordered the big breakfast. The mushrooms tasted and looked like they came out of a can. The bacon was dry and burnt and even seemed to have been pre-cooked then reheated. The eggs were ok but I suppose its not hard to fry an egg. I can go on but my point is made.

My eldest boy ordered the porridge it tasted nice but was very thick. Again it seemed as though the microwave dried it out. My wife ordered the eggs Benedict and commented on how the hollandaise sauce was obviously out of a bottle.

I certainly don't expect everything to be perfect, after-all restaurants are run by humans and humans get things wrong sometimes. However, I do expect that when an imperfection is brought to the staffs attention that it was addressed properly and rectified.

This business does not know anything about service. It is in a location that preys on the tourist coming in for a meal and I'm certain that they aren't trying to get repeat business. But are just waiting for the next busload of tourists to pay money for very ordinary food and service.

Even in paying, I was left waiting at the counter and got nothing but attitude. Needless to say I didn't leave a tip. Don't waste your money and allow yourself to become frustrated. Go elsewhere.

Mar 06, 2011 

4.5 Below Average

Food  7      Ambience  5      Service  1      Value  5     

I left the restaurant crying because of the way I was treated by the waitress. I was at Medici for my birthday party. I had booked a table for 20 people outside and called to request one long table and to discuss alternatives if the weather was cold or raining. I was advised that I could still sit outside no matter what the weather. When I arrived there was no table outside as requested. They had seated us inside. There was not one long table as requested but two smaller tables, specifically what I did not want.

I asked the waitress what was happening and why I was not outside. She was so rude to me and tried to make me feel like an idiot with the way she spoke to me. Not happy with these tables but not wanting to start an argument upon entering the restaurant I decided to stay inside but sat on one long table on the other side of the restaurant. The waitress was unhelpful straight away. She turned her back on me and it was left up to me to organise my table.

We had organised a banquet (all you can eat pizza/pasta), I called before to advise that one person on my table was Gluten Free and, therefore, would be having a separate meal. When I arrived I tried to double check with the waitress that this food had been organised. She was rude again and Again spoke to me like I was stupid. 15 minutes after the pizza had been served the gluten free meal had not come out so I asked the waitress where it was. I was told it was on it's way out.

45 minutes later the gluten free meal was still not out. I spoke to a different waitress and was told that the kitchen were not told about this gluten free meal, they apologized and started to make it. An hour+ into the food, the gluten free girl received her food. There was no apology from the waitress for this. With it being my birthday we had a birthday cake and were singing happy birthday. After this happened the senior staff of the restaurant came over to us and yelled at us to be quiet and said we were too noisy.

At this point I had enough! I decided to go and pay so we could leave because it had been a negative experience. When I was waiting to pay the senior staff of the business asked how my meal was. I proceeded to explain the problems we had. The waitress was standing next to the senior staff with one hand on her hip looking at me and saying I was lying. She said she thought she was being helpful by moving me inside, I asked why she did not telephone me and she then laughed in my face and asked why I did not telephone her to inform her that I would have one less person drinking alcohol.

I looked at her gobsmacked and exclaimed that I am the customer. She laughed in my face. I turned around and started crying. It was then that my friends took over the dealings as the whole experience was too emotional for me. She then was overheard telling other customers that we were "disgusting". The senior staff eventually recognised the waitress's behaviour but there was nothing done or said to me. There was no apology.

It was a Sunday night and it was not very busy. Our bill was over $1000 but we were still treated so badly. I will Never Ever come here again. It is a shame because the food was nice. Do not ever have a function here! The waitress is a nasty woman who has no care who she makes cry (even the birthday girl!). There are plenty of better restaurants in Docklands.

Mar 04, 2011 

1.5 Not Recommended

Food  3      Ambience  1      Service  1      Value  1     

Bought a Cudo voucher for this place. I could see straight away why they were doing a promotion the place was a nightmare. You would thing if you are promoting you would lift your game but they were no where near prepared. For example a guy from the next door restaurant kept running in and out helping them it was really uncomfortable.
You could not get anyone to serve you and when you need they made you feel terrible.
Bruschetta was bland and way too much and the steak was really salty.
Piece of advice if you are buying vouchers of Cudo read up on the restaurant first as this one is not worth any money

Jan 30, 2011 

1.5 Not Recommended

Food  2      Ambience  2      Service  1      Value  1     

Awful costomer service! I made a reservation a lunch at 1530, but due to unexpected rain got there at 1545, and they just made us return sayin their kitchen was closed, they literally did not let us seat even in the lobby after so rudely telling us to go away. We asked for a booking (having already paid for a voucher worth $110) for dinner or anything else, they said they had nothing, again rudely.

Later I tried booking online, it even gave me a confirmation, the next day I again called to confirm the booking, everything went fine but again they almost sent us back saying they had no booking, even though the restaurant was literally empty. Anyway, awful customer service. Would not recommend.

Dec 19, 2010 

7.8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  7      Service  7      Value  9     

We had breakfast there, about the only place open in the morning, so no competition. Coffee was good and the serving portions were large. We had the muesli and bacon and eggs, both good but not much to select from a basic menu.

Apr 24, 2010 

3.8 Below Average

Food  4      Ambience  5      Service  2      Value  4     

On a recent holiday to Melbourne, we were expecting a great dining experience. Unfortunately, we were more impressed with the Pancake Parlour than Medici!

The place was full of patrons and the menu reasonably priced, so we decided to try it out. We had to request water, which was shoved in front of us (knocking my arm in the process) and the waiter barely let us browse the menu for two minutes before attempting to take our order. We were not ready but I wanted to know if the Risotto Pollo was made with wine or stock. The waiter confidently told me the risotto was made with cream.

In shock, I asked if the chef really spooned ladles of cream into the cooking rice? The waiter confirmed this but assured me it was not too heavy. This was odd and incorrect.

After asking for five more minutes to make up our minds, we were ignored by the staff for 25 minutes. We ordered and the food came out half an our later. The gnocchi pomodoro fresco was nothing special, with very obviously store-bought gnocchi. The garlic prawns were not bad, a little on the heavy and greasy side though. The risotto pollo was more like fried rice, dry and little flavour (not made with cream! Thanks waiter) and the warm chicken salad was okay, but the salad dressing did not complement the chicken flavour.

We wished we had read the below reviews before dining here. Would have saved us a wasted night out! When dining out, you should be able to expect at least a standard higher than you yourself could cook at home.

Jan 07, 2010 

1.8 Not Recommended

Food  2      Ambience  2      Service  1      Value  2     

Medici was the first eatery me a bunch of my girlfriends ate at during our recent trip to Melbourne. Our experience was not good.

For starters, the service was bad, the staff ignored us. Our food was so late, other guests who came after us got their food first. Not only was the food late, it didn’t taste good, our friend ordered ham, tomato and cheese toasted, the cheese was not even melted. So our overall experience was not pleasant.

Jun 19, 2009 

5 Average

Food  4      Ambience  5      Service  5      Value  6     

On the advice of our waiter, our very recent third foray into this docklands eatery was on a quiet weeknight, rather than a busy saturday evening or sunday morning (the very nice girl suggested coming when there weren't events on, this was back in august 08).

The staff seem to be all new each time we come, a bad sign already, and this group are a far cry from the first time I came. Incompetent, only one of the revolving door of servers knew anything about the menu without checking it. Rude and generally surly, we were ignored for long periods of time, which would have been nice, except we were trying to gain attention. I ended up walking over to the waiting bench to get myself a new fork.

Water was not immediately placed on the table with the (sticky) menus, and I didn't get a chance to ask for it until our waiter finally made the journey to come and offer us drinks. Our food took its time to come out, and when it did, it was less than satisfactory. The bolognaise pasta was terrible, undercooked and with a generic tasteless sauce (wonder if the kitchen changes as much as the waiters? It was much nicer last time we were here) and the pizza (which came out 5 minutes before the pasta) had a too-thick base and ingredients that tasted like they came out of a can.

Dessert was not much better, the crepes were tasteless and did not complement the much better fruity sauce. The icecream was nice, but a bit melted. When we made a comment to the 'senior staff' she appeared flustered and upset but at us, rather than the mediocre kitchen. Service was terrible, food wasn't much better and the management clearly needs some training in customer service. We will not be returning.

Apr 16, 2009