The Lounge Room, Guildford
Posted by | Categories: Breakfast/Brunch, Perth, Restaurants
As I dragged myself out of my warm cosy bed at 6am on my day off I thought about the long drive ahead of me in the pouring rain for a partners meeting and wondered if I was a little too dedicated to my business. We normally go to the Dome café in Midland of which I am not the biggest fan after numerous past disappointments. After such as lovely experience at Jezebelle in Guildford I suggested we try a change in scenery and go to The Lounge Room which is just a short way down James Street.
Despite a table booked for 7 am and the fact they open at 7am we were left waiting outside the front of the cafe in the cold morning weather. You would think that they could have made the effort to be ready with open doors to greet customers when they had tables pre-booked? We were to soon find out this was just the first in many incidents caused by a lack of preparation and attention to customer service.
Upon gazing at the chalkboard menu one could not help but be distracted by the multiple pieces of paper stuck onto several of menu items that were not available. This looked quite untidy and I would recommend getting a proper chalkboard and handwriting items if things regularly go out of stock. Perhaps maybe doing this in addition to ensuring you have adequate stock to start a new week are just like opening on time…. too much effort for a Monday morning to bother with?
I ordered the breakfast Panini without onion. I was then informed this would not be possible as the Panini were already made up – I wondered if it was really too difficult to make a fresh one? They certainly weren’t that busy. Instead I ordered scrambled eggs on toast with mushroom and tomato… unfortunately I was then informed there were no mushrooms left. Really? First thing on a Monday morning and you have no mushroom to go with your breakfast menu? I thought I would take a gamble and ask for avocado instead – nope, none of that available either! I reluctantly opted for bacon as my second addition.
I also ordered a short macchiato. I should have thought to describe what a short mac is before ordering as the ratio of milk to coffee was way too high for me. The meal itself reminded me of food you would get from a “diner” style restaurant, not a cafe marketing itself as upmarket. I got one piece of toast, a pile of unseasoned flavourless scrambled eggs, some pale tepid tomatoes and some bacon. Not a lot of value for the price which was a pricey $20!
It was certainly edible but not much more than that. We continued our meeting while our empty plates remained on our tables as the wait staff pretended that neither us nor our empty plates were even there. Not once did we get asked if we would like more coffees, desserts or anything of the like. Surprising as we stayed for another two hours while they ignored us and lost the business opportunity our seats should have been providing. Oh well, they won’t have to worry about that happening again!
Service 2/10, food 4/10, venue 5/10
The Lounge Room
187 James Street, Guildford, 6055 | (08) 9379 3791
