Comments on: Good Cafe Gone Bad

By: Sir Garence

Sir Garence — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 07:53:28 +0000

Cut Paw Paw is still awful. A group of us went for lunch there yesterday and had a miserable experience. Music that was too loud; “risotto” that was just normal white rice cooked into a tasteless mush and featuring pumpkin that must have been “roasted” in the world’s coolest oven; lattes where the coffee seemed to have been omitted; crumbly, dry and tasteless mashed potato; a beef and bacon burger where the bacon arrived several minutes later; “french toast” that was a slighty scrambled omelette with a few pieces of sliced croissant thrown in; a water glass with a fingernail-sized blob of gunk on the outside; spelling mistakes on the specials board (as well as the ubiquitous “breaky” on the menus); and finally being charged for another table’s VBs.

The staff were polite but seemed very inexperienced.

To their credit they did deliver a stubby of Cooper’s ale that seemed to have been rolled correctly, and the cinammon cheesecake and chocolate cake were superb.

By: fridge

fridge — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 12:51:34 +0000

ANd another one people should be warned about is that so called Morocan place where there used to be a dear old post office. Like Amy above I had the embarressing experience of persuading a group of friends from work to meet there for a meal. We all left hungry. The prices were standard but the quantities were tiny. The food was nothing special that you would savour tiny forkfuls of the stuff. Nothing you couldn’t have bought in a bag of frozen bits and pieces from the fish market. Not even enough bread. And a very very UGLY scene with some other customers who tried to pay by cheque because the EFTPOS machine hadn’t been installed. Threats of violence from owners macho partner coming swinging in with his toolbelt dangling over his tight shorts, threats of calling the police, aggressive insults to mild mannered friend of mine who misguidedly butted in trying to pour oil on the troubled waters. Brilliant display of customer relations in front of everyone. As long as banks continue to issue cheque books and a person provides ID objecting to it can only make you suspicious of what they might be up to. Pretty dumb not to keep it quiet if they are up to some cash business tax evasion act. But the whole running of the place was dumb (I dont mean to be vitriolic): mean, slow, miserly, badly timed arrival of the bits of food. I suppose I could describe each lonely prawn, tired bit of clam, slice of nameless marinara mix fish looking for a grain of rice to cling to, square of bread stuff or raddled lettuce to hide under. I’ll desist and even end on an unvitriolic note. Oddly both these occasions were good fun because of the good company in spite of the culinary horrors. Praise be: Friendship drinks commerce under the table.

By: fridge

fridge — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 12:29:29 +0000

yeah, its sad to see a good thing wrecked in a fraction of the time it took to build up. I’d grown to rely on the agreeable and competent former owners/managers to do a decent coffee. Its not that easy, not going by the evidence of all the bad coffee about, due to various combos of laziness, stinginess or ignorance. It was a comfort knowing they were there, right in ones own little shopping centre, near the station. The food was fine as far as I was concerned, but I’m not a rabid foodie.
But now…I was so pleased I bought and tried just one coffee first when the new boss tried his opening gambit of a cut rate if you bought a card entitling you to 12 coffees. The one I had was so bad, as above, weak, burnt, bitter, nasty, I could smell how bad it was going to be before I even left the place. I couldn’t even drink it, and I’m really not that fussy, most got tipped on to the train tracks and I had to go on into the city to get a decent cup to get over the experience and then do my saturday mornings market shop at Vic Market instead of Footscray, so local business was deprived as well because of their horrible coffee. And the one meal I had there one day when everything was closed was, no, dont want think about that. What is going on? Dont they know you need to spend a bit to make a bit more? Dont they know its just insulting people implying they wouldn’t know the difference anyway if you offload a bag of rotten coffee on them? And it may be cheaper to employ kids but customers might not feel real comfortable about the situation for several good reasons? and wont come back? All they had to do was keep doing what had been done. It seemed to work well enough for the last people to be able to go and put their feet up for a while. What a waste of a great location and site. I used to love sitting out the side watching the trains, smoking a cigarette, flipping over the paper with the coffee. Sad emoticom.

By: Tony

Tony — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 20:39:29 +0000

This is in response to a comment that I have since removed. You can probably get the gist of what he had to say from what I say below. I removed the comment as it was vitriolic which normally wouldn’t concern me, I’ve been called worse, but when I responded to his email it bounced back and the url provided did not exist.

Hi Colin.

I helped run a 230 seat cafe from 1993-1998, I do know the business. The cafe still runs today and the staff I trained still work there. I also run my own business now and constructive criticism is one of the most important aspects of it.

If you check my post I never put the staff down – they are doing the best they can. It’s not her fault she wasn’t trained properly – she was lovely and all but could not make coffee.
The problem is with, and all my questions were directed to, management, or lack thereof. Simply put they should not let someone who can’t make coffee on the machine. I would never let someone who can’t cook be a chef – why would you risk your business by handing one of the most important aspects of a cafe to an inexperienced person?

Finally, sigh, I guess 35 really is the new 70.

By: colin weller

colin weller — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 14:42:56 +0000

COLIN – YOU’RE VITRIOLIC COMMENT HAS BEEN REMOVED AS THE EMAIL ADDRESS YOU SUPPLIED BOUNCED BACK TO ME AND THE DOMAIN NAME INCLUDED WAS A FAKE.

If you contact me via an email that I can respond to then I will reinstate your comment. I have the courage to write under my real name and provide a contact address, I expect my commentors to do the same. If they do I will post whatever they have to say.

By: Amy

Amy — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 02:13:18 +0000

I have just been trying to find a website and number for Cut Paw Paw to let them know what I thought of their breakfast yesterday morning. How disappointing! I have been going there regularly for a while now and have never been so embarrassed choosing a place for my friends. After waiting an hour and then having to ask for our coffees and breakfast I finally had my two poached eggs (10.50) arrive on one piece of Wonderwhite toast! I should have cooked at home. I will not be back and there was no excuse for slackness as the cafe was not even a quarter full.

By: beth

beth — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Yes. Well, Cut Paw Paw was always one of my least favourite cafes in Yarraville, but they did have good coffee (so M says – I don’t drink it). That sucks. Feedback was always my fave, Java is wildly improved and Fidama is great if you want to splash out. Cut Paw Paw need to pull their fingers out – competition is fierce.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Reviews like this have a way of spreading around... Second hit already: http://www.google.com.au/search?q=%22cut+paw+paw%22 My comparable review: http://www.google.com.au/search?q=zagarellis