I used to love this place. My partner and I visited it on Monday of a long weekend, where many places in Civic were doing a roaring trade. This place was as packed as most, so we weren't too concerned about a bit of a wait.
Now, I've worked my share of cafes, and know how they work from floor to management. The floor staff were superb. The kitchen staff looked busy. The food we ordered was great.
But it was clear the place was tremendously understaffed. Only one of the two coffee machines was operating, with the floor manager running it and one person serving the take-away window and assisting. As such, our food came out long before coffees did. The table next to ours were equally displeased with this wait.
We could have lined up fifteen minutes to get our money back, or complain to a lovely floor staff who were trying their best. But the floor manager wasn't on the floor to take complaints, and really, staffing is the responsibility of owners and upper management who aren't there to experience our displeasure anyway.
It's the last time we'll go to what was once a great icon of Lonsdale Street. This isn't the first time it's been clear that the owners would rather pocket public holiday wages and have customers wait for coffees. Coffee Lab is the new place to be for us it seems. See less
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3.3
