Very busy and popular bakery and restaurant. Reservations are strongly advised on the weekends. I get it that they are busy but the waiter for our table was a little rude to my family when we requested more plates and utensils. Food was great and the bakery items look delicious but service was lacking. read more

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Imagine this? The sun is shining, there is laughter and chatter all round and you're in one of the busiest places in Oakleigh for lunch. You couldn't ask for more, right? We stopped for a bite to eat and nestled amongst the other diners. There was nothing around to say wait to be seated, but I thought I'd double check after we'd sat ourselves down. The team gave me a quick dismissive, it's fine we'll be over soon. It would appear the definition of soon can vary. But that aside, we ordered. And to be honest, then came another very long wait. I was a little disappointed with my order of calamari - I thought with it being a Greek establishment it would be delivered in the traditional style. But this was not to be (I should have checked). Having said that it was an enjoyable meal and I certainly got some assistance from Master 1 with the chips. He devoured the children's pancake and inhaled my chips - so he was happy. If you're not time poor this would be a great spot for a lazy lunch. But certainly not somewhere I'd take children due to the wait times. When going in to pay you get to admire their sweets and there is something in there to suit every sweet tooth. Enjoy. read more

Vanilla Cakes and Lounge - Sweets a plenty. - Mediterranean Near Me - Oakleigh, VIC

Went to this establishment for breakfast and ordered poached eggs on smashed avocado and feta cheese. We received two small slices of bread with a minimal amount of avocado, two small poached eggs, a little bit of feta sprinkled on it and the bill came to $18.80 paid by credit card . Very poor value and wouldn't go back read more

There are plenty of delicious cakes here, but my cousin brought me here to sample their savoury dishes. This was my first time in Oakleigh, so I opted to try a classic dish Moussaka. It was rich and flavourful. Our waiter was friendly and helpful. I need to come back and sample some of their sweet treats. read more

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If you're in the area check out the cakes and biscuits on offer as this is Vanilla's strength, but get them to take away as the food and coffee is average and service is patchy. The coffee is more often a miss than a hit, the soy latte is regularly lumpy, which freaks me out. If you have the choice, keep walking for a better coffee. read more

Vanilla Cakes and Lounge - Cake cake cake - Mediterranean Near Me - Oakleigh, VIC

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Playing tourist my first time in Melbourne. Work colleagues took us to this busy trendy place in Oakleigh. They have this nice patio for dining and watching the pedestrian traffic.. We sat upstairs in a quieter but rurally nice setting overlooking the street. Menu has a variety to please everyone from Greek to some Italian to continentals. Ordered fried calamari main while colleagues ordered steak dinner, Salmon filet, and grilled meat skewers. Food was delicious and the service was friendly. My calamari was perfectly cooked and came with a generous portion of chips (ok fries for us North Americans) and a salad. What more could one ask for? read more

Vanilla Cakes and Lounge - Fried calamari - Mediterranean Near Me - Oakleigh, VIC

Super friendly staff. Had the Black Forrest with strawberry milkshake and it was fantastic. The strawberry milkshake portion is huge so I wouldn't order it for myself. I'd get the mini shake instead. Minimum eftpos charge is $20 and split bills is available after peak hours. Will definitely come back for the shakes and cakes! Ooh did I mentioned that it's also Halal? They prepare the bacon separately. So just ask your meal bacon free and they'll understand. :) read more

Vanilla Cakes and Lounge - Black Forest - Mediterranean Near Me - Oakleigh, VIC

As a new yorker this place left a really bad first impression. First off I waited at the front for some one to acknowledge me and all the staff made eye contact to me yet didnt bother to seat me or greet me with "hi we are busy we'll get to you shortly, yet im treated as if I was in a greek restaurant back in new york city .Now its 8:42pm I'm literally sitting here still waiting for the food me and my girlfriend order at 8:15. I made it my duty to keep note just for the fact it took them this long just to acknowledge me. And now im leaving great intro Not going to eat here again 8:50pm read more

Beautiful meal and coffee and our waiter Daniel was sooo amazing.what a lovely pleasant guy really really impressed with him and highly recommend him and his service read more

Very modern restaurant with stylish seating and a plethora of meals/cakes/beverages to choose from. Staff service is very fast and pleasant. Meals well prepared and portion sizes large. Recommend dining before 8pm, as it gets VERY busy. Main parking is around 200m away, which isn't ideal on rainy days. read more

All I can say is wear loose clothing when you go, for your tummy will expand! Mmmmm the cake!! Sooooooo good!! Coffee is so so and I wouldn't write home about it. But you don't go there for coffee, you go here to perve on beautiful well dressed greek people and to EAT CAKE!! The 'galaktoboureko'...hahaha I doubt that is how you spell it...but it is a greek cake thing that has a custard type centre in the middle of filo pastry and then served warm with a caramel type dressing over the top is BEAUTIFUL. On a Saturday night half of Greece is there, so be prepared to have to wait for a table, but it is most certainly worth the wait for some sweet, fatty yummy treats! read more

The food at Eaton Mall is primarily Meditteranean/European with Greek cuisine taking the lead. It is also a very good spot to pick up amazing cakes and bakes with Nikos and Vanilla ruling the roost. Though we had quite a few places in mind, we ended up at Vanilla wanting to experience both the food and pastries here. There's always a huge crowd dining here so make sure you arrive with enough time to spare. Vanilla has three seating areas - al fresco dining, the lounge and Vanilla upstairs. Take your pick! Though we would have preferred to sit outside, lack of space led us to the lounge where we were seated comfortably, albeit at a small table. The menus were bought out and for drinks, we chose a lemon lime bitters, Peroni and a glass of NV Lana Prosecco (King Valley, VIC). The lime bitters was exceptionally good. For entrée, we chose Loukaniko, a traditional spicy Greek style sausage. Grilled to perfection and with a hint of spice through the meat, this was really delicious. Totally recommended! For mains, the first dish we chose was from the daily specials. Fish of the day (fried mullet) with a Greek salad. Not recommended for those who do not enjoy bony fish like my hubby. He was expecting fillets and not the whole fish as eating it proved to be quite fiddly. Not much in terms of seasoning also; quite a lackluster dish. A good souvlaki is the sign of a good Greek restaurant and so that's what we ordered next. An open lamb souvlaki with tzatzki, chips, salad and pita bread. On the whole, it was a good dish but the lamb could have been more tender. The smoky flavour was spot on but the meat was a bit chewy which sort of made it an average dish. We decided to buy some pastries to take back home instead of getting any there. So bought a few slices of black forest and lemon pannacotta to take back home. Unfortunately no pictures; we got busy gobbling it up that I forgot. But must say, the best black forest I have eaten in a long long time. Both the desserts were spectacular and totally recommended. Which made me arrive at the conclusion that Vanilla Cakes and Lounge is more about the cakes, pastries and sweet nibbles than the food. And that's what you must try while visiting there. It's a good place to catch up with friends, chat over coffee with amazing cakes and pastries to accompany. The service was average and with the place so busy, do not expect any personalized attention. The waitress who attended to us just wanted to finish her job as quick as possible. She was not very knowledgeable about the dishes on the menu and when we asked her a bit more information on the Loukaniko, she said she had no idea; didn't even bother to ask someone else and clarify our doubts. read more

My Favourite place to go for coffee in the morning. The staff are amazing here, they remember my order, and every one of them say hi and have a chat read more

A very disappointing experience... Below average food and service.. We won't be going back and will never be recommending this place to anyone... read more

If you're looking for a slice of Greece, but without the economic woes, Vanilla hits the spot. There is a smorgasbord of delicious treats and sweets to choose from whether you have a sweet or savoury tooth. Highly recommend the spanakopita (cheese and spinach filo pasty slice) and frappe (Greek style iced coffee). read more

This my favorite breakfast in oakliegh. Greek omelette and a chi latte is what i need to start my day. Lovely place and delicious food. Friendly environment. read more

Vanilla Cakes and Lounge - Not my omelette but my friend favorite sandwiches. - Mediterranean Near Me - Oakleigh, VIC

what a wonderful evening we had indeed. the staff were absolutely amazing and my hat off to the chef, the food was A+ and the cakes well let me rephrase to A+++ Highly Recommend ! read more

Quality of food has deteriorated so much. From being my favourite it is now the worst. You need to pick up your game again vanilla. Today's breakfast topped it off. It was the worst breakfast ever!!! Very sad and poor that you've lessens your quality read more

very nice! both the food and service ! and an exciting place. you can also watch sports games here. read more

Vanilla Cakes and Lounge - Mediterranean Near Me - Oakleigh, VIC

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Food was good... Service was another story! Called around 4pm on a Saturday to make a reservation for 4ppl @ 6.30pm was told that they were no longer taking reservation for the night but we were welcome to try our luck as walk-ins. As the area is notoriously busy we arrived at 6pm to try and secure a table. After standing around for 5 minutes before some one approached to assist and try and find a table were seated and all seemed well. Wait staff seemed a little disorganized as were approached by at least 4 different staff between being seated, getting water for the table, inquiring about the drinks menu which was tedious in its self as we asked what the "Vanilla Special" was for the night the waitress didn't know and left to ask the bar staff, a different waitress returned 5 minutes later with a few wine samples but no mention of the cocktail special! When asked about cocktail special again the answer was "We don't know something with Vodka" Sorry but I'm not paying $18 for a mystery drink! Lucky I didn't as someone else on the table ordered a Cosmo which was lethal and was sent back and changed to a wine.... this somehow required the manager to come to the table just to say "Ok no problem" really was that necessary? A different waitress came to take our food order and 2 minutes later one of the previous waitresses came and asked if we were ready to order our food! Later when ordering dessert the waitress could hardly be heard when reading back our order because she was mumbling! Dessert was lovely as always which ended the night better than it started. read more