Criterion Street Cafe

Food 4.5 🌟 service 4.5 🌟 I can here for brekkie I was between the pumpkin and the baked beans. I asked the waiter and she recommend the beans. They were so tasty loved the poached eggs and the green stuff when mixed all together was just amazing. The bread was toasted to perfection crunchy on the outside side soft in the middle. Not sure if it had olive oil or butter. Was nice though I’m pretty sure it was olive oil. Ice coffee was good, pretty strong. My friend liked her mean she said it was a little greasy after all it is bacon. She loved the hot chocolate said it was one of the best ones she had!!

Cosy cafe with delicious food & pleasant service. We had breakfast here & my order was the corn fritters. Two huge fritters with haloumi & a lovely salsa. Partner had the scrambled eggs with spring onions, chilli & pork. Both dishes generous serves & value for money.

Funky place - delicious coffee. Toast came with two big serves of lemon curd - and my choc-raspberry muffin came unexpectedly and deliciously with a big dollop of Tassie cream. Highly recommended.

First time back in many years and still just as wonderful as I remember! Pics are of the sweet waffles and savoury waffles, both of which were amazing. Staff were friendly and service was quick despite being reasonably busy. Will head back soon for sure!

Food was well-flavoured and delicious! The waffle with pulled pork was tasty, and well balanced with spices. The waffle complemented the eggs and pork well! We also ordered a lamb sandwich that was great. Service was great too.

Had a nice brunch here at Criterion Street Cafe. The servings were generous and both the eggs benedict and baked bean dishes were done well. Some pieces of the pulled pork were a bit dry by themselves but were fine when having it with the beans. The coffee here was great!

Visiting from outta town and needed a good morning pick me up. Decided on Criterion after a quick check on Google. My kinda casual vibe spot with with a warm and welcoming crew. Good long black and no frills scramble, halloumi and bacon. Lovely to spend the mid morning writing down my thoughts and to do for school and work. Thanks guys.

Friendly staff, nice food, the latte was great and the sourdough, French toast were so delicious, lovely!!

Ate breakfast here today. Not impressed, won't come here again, and will warn all my friends. I had corn fritters. They were unbearably salty and the rocket leaves served with the fritters were ready for the compost bin. The waiter asked if there was a problem when he removed my almost full plate, I told him exactly what I have written here, and that was the last I heard about it. No apology, no price reduction for the inedible meal. Absolutely rotten.

One of the original cafes on Criterion St- I imagine a fierce no holes barred duel between them and Villino a few doors up. Silly, because they are totally different. Still... They've recently revamped the menu, gone a little more "upscale" with fancier sounding ingredients and a Few more savoury lunch items. Homemade granola, gigantic muffins, Lamb sandwiches and frittatas abound, as well as some tasty coffee. Not much for kids to choose from- my 6 year old has graduated from babycino's/steamers to Hot Chocolate, so that makes pleasing her a little easier here. I'm sure they'd make a babycino if I asked, but I didn't see it on the menu. The kitchen is tiny but completely open, so you can play a fun game of "is that our food?" With the inquisitive aforementioned kidlet. Pick your place to sit: outdoors, downstairs or Bebe the heat and sit in the roasty toasty upstairs area. It's all table service.

This was disappointingly underwhelming after all the good reviews I read. The food was okay. The service was okay. Everything was just kind of 'okay'. Had breakfast here with my partner yesterday & while the look & feel of the place was fun & uber hip, it really didn't deliver in quality food or service. In fairness, it was their first day open of the year, which probably explains why a couple of menu items weren't available, but I don't think it explains away the slightly amateurish quality of the place. We were found a table quickly and the service was very fast & friendly. Unfortunately the waiter walked away after seating us, forgetting the menus &, despite it being roasting upstairs (it was a 35 degree day), also forgot table water or glasses. We managed, it just showed a lack of experience. Aunt Mabel's porridge was tasty with a lovely creamy texture, but a bit 'light-on' in terms of the rhubarb and apple (I found one bit of apple, it was tasty! Would have loved a bit more). My partner's scrambled eggs were ok but a bit on the watery side & we were charged $4 for his side of avocado which was just a small, half-avocado face down on the plate. Presentation was a bit 'road-house cafe' tbh. The only thing that really irked me though was ordering a freshly squeezed orange juice, paying nearly $7 for it & discovering it was store-bought juice, definitely made from concentrate, with some pulp floating in it. I was thirsty, but I didn't finish it. I don't like it when customers are taken for being stupid. However, as we left I noticed the lunch options some were having for breakfast looked pretty good, so maybe that's the trick.

I have the same breakfast in EVERY cafe so I can have more of an objective take, and plus I can also eat scrambled eggs in my sleep :) Love 'em... and this place nails it! Simple, nothing fancy, just excellently fresh and smooth scrambled eggs on really fresh, thick toast! Win. Coffee solid too :)

Oh dang, for some reason I'd stayed away from the Cri because I thought they were still under old management... nope. Turns out these guys are closely related to Salamanca's (in)famous Machine Laundry Cafe. I guess it makes sense with such a straight-up name. The Machine has laundry facilities. The Cri is on Criterion Street. Let's not muck about with these names. (I can't help it, I like more fanciful names. But I'll survive.) The Cri has a "same-same but different" menu to Machine, with similar imaginative and tempting menu items. I couldn't go past the Pork Sword, and yes. Yes, I did giggle the whole time. No, I'm not sorry. Great food, great coffee, sassy staff. Head upstairs for even more seating options, and yes, it's table service! If only they had free wifi, I'd settle in here comfortably for hours. (Maybe that's why they don't have free wifi. Makes sense.)

Nice to have a breakfast where you're not attacked by someone wearing a tight black t-shirt armed with a pepper grinder the length of a light sabre. Good food too!

I have visited the Criterion St Cafe on several occasions, each of which have been positive. I have had coffee and a savoury snack during my visits, and have been favourably impressed with all items. I like the casual atmosphere, the activity of the kitchen and coffee bar downstairs, and the big windows opening out to the street. The feeling is of visiting a friend's place, a friend with really good coffee and a flair for cooking. Family friendly, very nice staff, enticing menu, good coffee and food. I look forward to my next visit.

Good coffee (although not as good as Villino next door) and very good food. The staff here are really nice and a lot of fun and there is a fair bit of seating upstairs in addition to the area visible from the entrance. This place is only let down (a little) by the decor which is particularly warm or friendly (this is a personal taste thing and I'm sure others will disagree with me).

Food was awesome, but next time I will get the waffles, the table next to us got these and they looked so good ....!

Good coffee bit expensive quite noisy.good chic decor though too many stools.more chairs would be more comfy all made better with a blue eyed barista that made it that much better

Great cafe. Tucked away off the Main Street the food is excellent and service is great. Really loved the corn fritters with extra bacon.

Atmosphere was good. Coffee good. Smoothies lacked fruit flavour and resembled honey-flavoured milkshakes. Food was a bit hit and miss - zucchini fritters were bland. The 'billy the kid' was fine, however not exceptional. Our waitress was aloof and appeared uninterested. Service was prompt!

Top food, great coffee, unpretentious atmosphere. The wait staff are casual and nice, and it just does what a cafe should do - good things to put in your mouth.