Would give zero if I could. Came here for brunch this morning - honestly one of the worst, most disappointing service and dining experiences I have ever had, and for anyone reading this, I'd recommend Clean Slate a few doors up, in case you're looking for an alternative. The standards of Hatter's Café have degraded shockingly since I last remember coming here, maybe 5-ish years ago. We should have seen the three tables of people and taken it as a sign we should go elsewhere, given it was 11am on a Saturday morning and this café could seat around 50 people including outdoors seating. In years gone by, this café would have been bustling on weekend mornings, with most tables full.
There was a server polishing the door glass - when we entered, she ignored us until I asked if we should just sit anywhere. She seemed sullen, but whatever, I would have been fine with this if her rudeness has been reprieved by the food. It wasn't.
Another server asked if she could take our order, then interrupted me to go fetch a pen, which seemed odd but I thought, maybe she's new at this. I asked for sourdough with my poached eggs and side of mushrooms. The food arrived, and I was disappointed to see one undersized slice of toast that was clearly NOT sourdough. For $12, this was an absolute rip-off. I can get poached, organic, free-range eggs with 2 generous slices of sourdough in Melbourne CBD for $10. Anyway, I checked with the server who'd brought our food and she confirmed that it was sourdough. No - this was just white bread, or at best the fake sourdough from major supermarkets that don't make sourdough from starters but add some sour flavouring to white bread and pass it off as sourdough. This was gobsmacking, given that Hominy Bakery, which makes proper sourdough/bread is two doors up. The butter came in a plastic disposable packet, like you'd receive in an aeroplane meal (come to think of it, our meals were far worse than plane meals, fact). I ordered a hash brown because there just wasn't enough food in my meal, and it arrived - clearly a reheated, frozen hash brown from McCains or similar, not made in-house.
None of our three meals were seasoned whatsoever. I poured salt and pepper on mine and only ate my meal because I was hungry and we'd have had to pay for them. The mushrooms were completely tasteless, and close to finishing my meal I found a clod of MUD in them, which put me off completely, but it was too late to send the meal back (and I had zero confidence that the replacement meal would be any better tbh). My mother finished them off, because she hates to see food go to waste, even if it tastes terrible. The only thing Hatter's didn't drop the ball on was that they poached their eggs properly (but again, didn't season them). Oh, and they didn't burn my almond milk chai latte, which should not normally be something I need to commend cafes on, but this is literally one of the most positive things about this forgettable meal. Neither of the idle servers came to collect our plates until after we'd already paid the bill.
Overall, there was absolutely no love or care put into any of the meals served to our table, let alone the added insult of lack of hygiene in food preparation. The service was inattentive and sullen, despite the lack of customers, and this is one of the worst ever dining experiences I have had, period. It tainted my family's day of planned activities and safe to say, we will never return to Hatter's. I don't think a café run with such lack of care can stay open for long. Hatter's are clearly banking on the fact that most customers are tourists who will likely not bother giving a review on a site like this because they aren't going to be return customers, anyway, which is clearly a terrible and unsustainable means of running a dining establishment. Go to Clean Slate (formerly Fresh Café) a few doors up, or the Korean Café, next door! read more
