In the last 12 months I have visited this cafe at least half a dozen times, mostly it is a convenient location for me. It is in a nice location, it looks nice, it looks comfy, they use good quality coffee beans and produce, lots of organic, gluten free and fair trade items. The menu reads well, so in all you would expect to have a good experience.
However, every visit I am left disappointed, annoyed or unhappy. From coffee order mix ups, too hot coffee, very slow service, meals that are not what the menu says, lame excuses for things being wrong, and the list goes on. However, my complaints are never the same, one visit the meal will be perfect and the coffee mixed up, the next the same meal will be terrible but everything else is fine, and so on.
A few weeks ago I went with some girlfriends and had poached eggs on sour dough, even though the coffee order was very mixed up, and the service was very slow, the meal was perfect, so perfect I came back again today for the same. Today I had poached eggs on sourdough with a side of bacon and a soy flat white.
The coffee was way too hot to point of the milk being burnt, the bacon was cold, the eggs whilst pretty perfect had a hair on them, ewwww, and I got 2 slices of toast that were cut from the end of the loaf and were very scabby in size. I don't mind one piece being form the end and being small but both was pretty disappointing.
I have concluded that I would not recommend this cafe due to being very inconsistent and constantly disappointing in one or more aspects.
Cute little place with ok service and ok menu to match the food is ok but the prices for what it is are a little over the top. Other places in the local area that I will be returning to first.
Went here for a sunday lunch. Very busy little place and very cute building. Wait staff friendly and efficient. Meals were good honest cafe style meals and plenty on the plate but without making me feel too full. Coffee was to die for and amazing latte art too!. Will definitely return in winter for a nice lunch by the open fire. Great too see the use of fair trade and organic products.
Really good if looking for an overall dining experience, with time to spare and not the biggest of appetites due to small portions. Service of high quality, atmosphere very relaxed, good for a cruisey sunday night with group of close friends with a nice wine.
The only real sore point was the slow service but I would put this down to it being "Christmas Party' season. When the waiter did serve our table he was terrific. My wife and I had a great meal and will be back. It was extremely pleasing to see the majority of the menu was either organic or locally sourced. Note the corkage is now $5.
This was my first time here to celebrate a friend's birthday. Atmosphere of the place was nice. We had eight of us dined at Mash for dinner on a friday night. It was not very busy with only about 4 groups the whole night.
Service was friendly however our waiter did not seem very experienced. Service at times was non existent. Food came out extremely slowly from the kitchen and the birthday person failed to receive his dish while we were all eating. When approached regarding his missing dish, the reply was "we forgot". His dish was finally brought out without an apology.
I do have to say that Mash however provided this dish for free at the end of the night (on their own accord) due to the long wait. I was not overly impressed with my beef eye fillet dish. It was overall quite bland - I could not taste any seasoning at all on it. Another friend ordered the same dish "medium well" but it was over done. Not good.
Dessert was okay but definitely not anything impressive. My pana cotta was very sugary with the grains still present in it. Ambience is the best thing going for this place. Is this place value for money? I would say not for the main meal prices, just have a look at the menu.
If you like the big plate, small meal type of place this is one of them. I ordered the chicken which was overcooked and dry. Basically non existent veges etc. Dessert was OK, but overall way too pricey for the quality and quantity delivered. Fill up on something else before you go!
Mash is an amazing café that I am so glad my husband and I found. I work in the hospitality industry and I’m normally very fussy. This great establishment has my huge tick of approval! We now travel weekly from Parramatta just to dine there. We have also taken almost every member of our family there for their birthdays it is that good!
On my last visit on the weekend, we had the pumpkin and lentil pastie from the specials board and it was to die for! Absolutely amazing! You could expect this taste & quality at restaurants charging $100 per head. Dessert was equally as delicious – Homemade Rocky Road baked cheesecake! Some genius had to have come up with this. I asked the waitress and she said it’s made on premises!
One word of advice though, book a table in advance. Mash can get very busy when the lunch/dinner crowds all arrive at once so make sure you call and book and not just expect to be seated straight away.
Sometimes it nice to just sit back and soak up the wonderful atmosphere created in this cafe and if the service is a tad slower in the busy peak then it becomes an opportunity to enjoy it a little bit longer. No complaints here at all. Well done to Mash café & its great staff… A job well done!
I really want to like Mash but it's just so variable. It's local for us and we go reasonably regularly but find that the quality of the food, coffee and service can vary wildly. One time it's a joy, the next it leaves me fuming. The last time we were there we made a valid complaint about the timeliness of the service and to be fair, our bill was waived, which is just as well, don't get me started on the prices! We'll probably persevere, it's one of the better ones in Glenbrook.