As far as the coffee is concerned its very good and has been that way for a long time and I would recommend Hernandez to all coffee lovers. The other aspects of Hernandez are certainly not on the same level as the coffee especially the customer service and presenation. Definitely one of the top 5 Sydney caffes as far as coffee is concerned.
The coffee at Cafe Hernandez is great - no doubt about that! The service at Cafe Hernandez is atrocious. The staff (for the most part) are rude and have a sour attitude.
The last time I visited, was during the day, and there was no-one there at this particular time. The woman serving me, poured my take-away coffee and then just stared at me blankly. When I politely asked for a sugar and a lid for the cup, she quite rudely said that "we don't do that here - you have to do it yourself" ??? And they weren't even busy!? It seems they just don't understand the concept of service.
Everything / anything that you ask for here seems to be a burden for the staff at Cafe Hernandez. Being a local, I used to overlook all of this cause the coffee is so good. But recently I made a decision - no more! There are too many other good coffee shops with friendly staff. I'm not going back!
I went for a quiet coffee with my Sunday paper today, only to be disturbed by this 40-something waiter. He was talking non-stop to this poor fella (a customer) with annoyingly loud and nasally voice. Meanwhile, he managed to leave other customers (myself included) waiting, sending the "how dare you make me take your order, let alone bring you coffee?" signals. I must have done something very wrong, as he gave me 10-dollar change all in coins.
I've loved this cafe for its charming ambience and the opening hours, but noticed that the experience has been misses rather than hits lately.
What's going on in Hernandez cafe?? I've been going there for about 10 years and now they have a service buzzer? It's just tacky and trying hard. And the cafe is small, beautiful paintings nice staff, good service, very european, but with the buzzer, its just wrong!
I've been coming here for many, many years. It's one of the few places I will actually drink coffee, as I don't normally like it. It just seems to hit the spot after a late night. The food, although nothing special, is OK, though I tend to stick with the same few things (potatoes, mushrooms). In 15 plus years, I don't think I've ever had bad service or a bad experience here, it's always been consistent. I also don't think I've ever seen it closed.
Tapes for entree were very nice but the mixed plate not worth $26!! Two of us ordered a seafood Piatta which also came with chicken (which is traditional I know but was offered in the menu as 'Chicken OR seafood' which was misleading) this dish was horrible and tasteless. The worst of its kind that I have had. The others at our table enjoyed theirs slightly more but not enough to pay over $20 for a small and average meal. This place was nice aesthetically to sit in but was let down by the quality of the food. I would not go back there.
Very very disappointed with the food here! My husband got a steak and said that it tasted really good, a restaurant that understands what medium rare means.
However, it was a small portion and very thin. I had the patatas bravas and meatballs. The portions were again very small and half the dish was taken up by lettuce and tomato with no dressing and the spicy tomato sauce was bland. My meatballs looked like they had been microwaved and tasted like they used poor quality hamburger mince. Yuk. Never again, would not recommend it to anyone.
We came here hoping for a restaurant (don't ask me why) and were generally disappointed. It is very clearly a cafe, and the food is what you'd expect at a cafe.
The coffee is certainly quite good, although not the best as some people have described it. If you're in the area, it's worth the walk. If not, don't travel especially for it.
The highlight of the place is the decor. Cramped and worn-down - but always clean, it has a bohemian atmosphere accentuated by an assortment of paintings and old-world coffee makers. This is the type of place that made Glebe Point Road and Newtown famous, before they decided to 'modernise' (read: Dull) their look.
So if you're after decent coffee in lovely surroundings, come here. For Spanish food, you'll find no love here - only sandwiches and quasi-Spanish pies.