Matinee Coffee

Came for brunch on a Monday and it was an unpleasant experience. It was not very busy, yet took half an hour to get two coffees, brought out 10 minutes apart. The servers were low-key kind of rude, and they came up and said “do you want food” in a dismissive manner, after waiting ages for them to come and take our order. I ordered the Gnocchi Hash and it was disgusting, I wouldn’t even call it gnocchi. We had a conversation to the table next to us and they said “what is happening here”… The place is cute so I thought it would have potential but I did not enjoy this cafe at all.

We had a group of six dine here over the weekend. Although we were told food would be 40 minutes when we ordered, it ended up taking just over an hour. The food was nothing extraordinary, and wasn’t presented well. The pancakes weren’t fluffy, and tasted bland. The poached eggs were cooked completely through. Although there is hype over this cafe, I would not recommend.

The chicken burger and fries were nice. I didn’t like the steak sandwich or the gnocchi hash. The coffee, although we asked for decaf, was still far too strong. Our gnocchi came out with chorizo in it, even though we specifically said the person eating was allergic and not to put it into the dish. We then had to wait ages for it to be re made and we all ate our food as it was getting cold, our friend had to eat hers later. Aside from all of this, the atmosphere was nice and I would probably try them again and order something different to see how it goes. It does have potential. The service was also friendly.

I really want to love this place because when the owner is on, the customer service is genuinely excellent — warm, attentive, and welcoming. Unfortunately, that experience is completely undermined by a few other staff members whose behaviour has been the worst customer service I’ve ever experienced. When i find a local cafe i love i get coffee there literally everyday. And as this is over the rd from my new apartment i thought this was it! Ive just been living in Byron and Melbourne and had amazing local cafes where i was rly good friends with the baristas quite quickly and they always knew my order. I know im spoilt as in the past (when i last lived in Marrickville, Sydney) i also had been a longtime patron of Rubylonesome Cafe (it closed down since i left sydney and the owners left to pursue their next dreams) which had the most amazing vibe, we wld always chat and they knew my order and i became good friends with the owners and everyone there over many years. It was quite a community! At the moment, I currently also drive over to Miss Sina Cafe in Marrickville on Illawarra Rd on weekends when im not walking to work - who have the most amazing customer service, coffee and fresh vegan baked goods! Theyre the absolute sweetest humans - and the food is amazing! Highly recommend Miss Sina Cafe! So I do have high expectations. But I would hope most ppl do as ppl deserve a nice start to their day and a great cafe/barista! 🥹 But on multiple occasions a particular few wait staff and barista at Matinee been super rude, dismissive, and unfriendly, and have outright ignored me standing for over 5 mins at the counter after I had said hello - with no response (while they were not doing alot) which honestly makes the whole visit uncomfortable. One time i just didnt get served so i left. Other times I had the barista ask rudely “What do you want?!” In an extremely rude tone. Like they actually hate and are mad Im even there. I’ve raised this directly, hoping it would be addressed, but no action seems to have been taken, and nothing has changed. It’s disappointing, because this is not how I want to start my day being treated this way. I have left here quite a few mornings now feeling rly awful. Its a shame as Matinee Cafe clearly has potential. But customer service rly matters, especially just being treated with decent kindness, and at the moment it just isn’t there. For a far more positive experience, I’d recommend Inas Bagels next door — friendly, professional, and a great way to actually enjoy your morning! Go to Inas Bagels next door for rly lovely customer service - Great coffee and matcha too! 🍵

I came here to check the reviews before posting to make sure it wasn’t just me. Been coming to Matinee for 5+ years, never had a bad word to say until today. Not sure if the owners changed or the chefs but I ordered something similar to what I’ve always had here and it was disgustingly greasy and generally average that I barely touched it. Zero seasoning in anything. And a bowl full of grease. Told a waiter, and his response was ‘so have you finished?’ And took it away. No one cared to ask questions, apologise, compensate. Where has good old customer service gone? When I paid I was greeted with a very frosty attitude from the barista. Quite a wait for our food too, and were one of two tables in the whole place at 8am. Disappointed to pay just under $100 for essentially a few coffees, orange juice and some scrambled egg and toast for my 4 year old. Hope this place can pick itself up again and return to an iconic brunch spot it once was, truly!

Could've, should've, would've been a great Cafe but lack of servers let it down. Our food was sitting under the heat lamp for at least 5 minutes with a bug flying around it. Shoestring fries were not crisp and soggy. Food & coffee overall was decent and would've been much better if wasn't left for such a long time.

Service was quite slow. We watched other peoples orders sit on the counter for around 20 mins without being taken to the tables. Our iced chocolates were very disappointing. Mostly iced water. The breakfast burrito was not available so we ordered a breakfast burger. The egg was raw and the white was slimy and watery. Sent back to the kitchen, but it came out again completely unchanged. Burger was loaded with onions when onion wasn't even a listed ingredient. It was missing the sauce and the hash brown, which were listed ingredients. After complaining about the under cooked egg, we were not charged for the burger. Have been here twice before, but none of us will go back now.

The space was fantastic, and the food was delicious with some creative twists and unique options. I tried the breakfast gnocchi, and swapping the bread for fried gnocchi was a brilliant idea. The portion was huge—so filling that I couldn’t finish it! Absolutely worth it though. The coffee was also amazing.