Review C1 Cafe Brasserie - Chatswood

Some fellow reviewers had a bad experience but it wasn't busy when I was here. Food and service wasn't bad at all. I guess one should avoid the busy hours.

Decent food and drinks, but too expensive. They only have one waitress taking orders and serving, definitely not enough staff to serve the large cafe. Usually have to wait ages for the waitress to come by. Extremely slow service, we had to wait for a long time for our meals and drinks.

Over priced with underwhelming service! The staff and slow service made this experience a terrible one today. Firstly all the staff look miserable and make you feel like you’ve inconvenienced them if you ask them for anything. We waited over 20 minutes just to get our drinks which were coffee, sparkling water etc. The meals were decent size once they eventually came out. We had to ask the staff to clear our table so we could order some dessert. The lunch plates remained sitting on our table for 20 mins after we had finished. When the desserts arrived at our table I asked if they could re-serve mine without the cream and raspberry coulee as I don’t eat either and had no idea it would be drizzled all over my plate as it was not on the menu or mentioned when ordering. When the female waitress came back out with my cake she was noticeably frustrated and angry and instead of placing it down in front of me, she stood opposite me and reached the plate over the top of the other people on my table and glared at me to take it. I was very taken back by the rudeness it should be industry knowledge and standard procedures for a waiter to not lean across other guests while serving food. Overall it was a terrible experience and the staff looked completely tired and flat with no customer service skills.

Love the layout. Staff were very pleasant and attentive with welcoming smiles. I had lovely pancakes and it was no issue substituting butter for icecream & they proactively suggested a half serve of banana and walnut bread for my wife. I liked the coffee as it had bite and depth but my wife find it slightly bitter. Great place for breakfast.

Was here over 3 years ago with my late mother (I live in Melbourne). She liked coming here for breakfast when she lived off Victoria Ave and on occasion when she was in the Nursing home. The service and food is still a comfortable and consistent experience. Many same faces front of house all these years. They remembered me with a nod, in fact one has just come up to chat with me. OK back to this review. The nice feature of the cafe that it is an elevated island in the middle of the ground floor at Chatswood Chase. It gives you sense of separation from the shops and shoppers that circle it, like a oasis. Meals are well presented and satisfying. Great place to seek rest and sustenance after shopping.

Extremely rude manager and unfriendly staff. There were plenty of empty tables, and we wanted to choose a particular table to sit at, and he refused, saying that it was for patrons with strollers and prams. I look over, there are people in the area with no prams or strollers. Also, a waitress wanted to charge 50c for hot water. Seriously? Coffee then took ages to come, even though there were not very many people, and when it finally arrived, it was disappointing. Don’t come here. Go elsewhere. There are heaps of other places to get coffee in Chatswood.

Food was slow. After waited over 30 minutes, we politely asked one of the waiters to follow up on our order. And he replied that "If you're in a rush, then you shouldn't eat here". Never have I ever experience such poor hospitality and manner. Also food was not great.

Extremely rude staff with glacial speed in food and coffee preparation. It’s mid afternoon and the place is more than half empty and yet the we waited more than 15 minutes to get coffee and let along any signs of food. P.S. every single staff looks like they are hating being here ....

The staff were friendly and caring and provided good service. The food is priced reasonably and the wait times were short whilst providing good quality dishes and drinks. The atmosphere was good and seating was comfortable.<br/>Food: 8.5/10<br/>Service: 8/10<br/>Comfortabilty: 8/10<br/>Value for money: 8.5/10

Absolutely poor customer service and lack of empathy for toddler. My wife and my 1yr old son arrived at this cafe and was escorted to a table, but no staff helped with bringing a high chair nor asked if she needed any help. My wife had to carry my son and dragging a high chair to her table. <br/><br/>Then her friend arrived with her 18 month old boy. Unfortunately little fellow choked on the fries and ended up spewing onto the floor. The staff and as well as the manager or maybe the owner Male in his 60s were all clearly looking upset with this accident, and wanted my wife and her friend leave immediately even after my wife and her friend apologised numerous times. <br/><br/>Other patrons nearby were nice enough to offer some comfort for this very awkward situation. <br/><br/>By the way, chicken mushroom risotto and chicken crepe were very poorly made (Way too creamy) as you would expect in this type of open kitchen.

I recall coming here a lot with my mum in my childhood but the friendly service I once remembered was no longer there. The mocha I ordered was great but... There's probably other cafes in Chatswood I'd visit over this one

C1 cafe has been around for ages.<br/>Been here before and today has change to review it.<br/>Burger was presented in modern cafe style.<br/>They are using top mince meat patties and taste good.<br/>Served with chips and tomato ketchup.<br/>Veal Schnitzel was pan fried to perfection, served with a little salad in the side.<br/>Coffee is average, using Lavaza coffee beans.<br/>

I only gave this place a good rating as the tempura fish and chips were excellent. The mochas were great too. But they really need to improve on service. We had to chase the waiter not once, not twice but 3 times.

Should have read review before visiting. Avoid like the plague! Worst service ever! Makes you wonder if they know anything about customer service.<br/>

Was here over 3 years ago with my late mother (I live in Melbourne). She liked coming here for breakfast when she lived off Victoria Ave and on occasion when she was in the Nursing home. The service and food is still a comfortable and consistent experience. Many same faces front of house all these years. They remembered me with a nod, in fact one has just come up to chat with me. OK back to this review. The nice feature of the cafe that  it  is an  elevated island in the middle of the ground floor at Chatswood Chase. It gives you sense of separation from the shops and shoppers that circle it, like a oasis. Meals are well presented and satisfying. Great place to seek rest and sustenance after shopping.

Well first of all the service here was pretty terrible where one particular staff spoke to us as if we had wronged them in some way while continuously trying to hurry us and persistently asking for the menus back. It was rude and made us feel very unwelcome, which is definitely not something a customer should be feeling when dining in their café/restaurant.<br/><br/>My friend’s dish was too creamy and the meat was very dry. She mentioned by the end of it she felt like her mouth had run a marathon. Probably didn’t help that the service was not friendly at all. I thought the club sandwich was pleasant enough to eat, but then again most are, probably at a better price also. Regardless of the sandwich, not somewhere I would want to go back to unfortunately.

You wouldn't have thought that at 3:30pm in a relaxing Friday afternoon, an very grumpy waitress can just spoil it for you! She made the worst café experience possible for my friend and I ??!!  They took a very long time to take our order. The waitress spoke very rudely with a harsh tone and was almost angry with something we don't know. She left us without letting us finishing our order. We called her back and she was obviously abusive. It is almost like we were begging for food.  I was curious and asked her if she was unhappy with us. She was not pleased and said "You know how tired it is? Just tell me what you want". She was about to leave without taking our order again...  I felt sorry for her but she was just being really rude. If she was tiny bit polite, I would have said something nice to her to make her feel good. But I felt I was humiliated by her at the that time.  My friend and I said, if you are that tired, we won't eat here then. We moved to another café inside Chatswood Chase and were treated "normal".  I remember going there a few years back and the experience was not positive either. Something is not right there. Is it fair for the paying customers to get all these bad vibes, on a TGIF day?Today I noticed that the coffee are pricy. Well, if you want to experience the worst café in Sydney (or I may say, in Australia) or want to be treated like a second class citizen, give it a go and you may be very unlucky like me to have your day spoiled just like that. Hope no overseas visitors will go there or they will think we OZ all like that??? :-(

This place is weird?! The service is great and plenty of staff on hand. The set up is nice but the good needs to really step it's game up. Don't get me wrong it's not bad but they charge $20 for and average burger?! Have you seen how much a good burger is in similar establishments? Anyways, I got the Wagyu burger and it was disappointing... Such a shame to have such a nice set up in a good location with great staff and have a mediocre menu

HORRIFIC EXPERIENCE. There is a old man in his seventies who can only be the father or father-in-law of the proprietor. Yesterday I attempted to walk a pram to an empty table where my wife and 3 week old had just sat down, when he caught me halfway, stuck his face 5cm from mine and told me loudly and aggressively I was not permitted to continue. I signaled to my wife that we were leaving, at which point the old man got quite aggressive and stuck his face even closer. I told him in no uncertain terms to learn some manners, at which point things erupted. The owner appeared and I explained that this man should not be allowed to work here, and least of all not be allowed within 10m of customers. I attempted to get his name written down on a card but he grabbed my arm and violently shook it, pen and paper flying, while screaming "Don't touch my things!". We then witnessed how the owner, a stone-faced, unapologetic female - defended her abusive relative, while he shouted the odds. After seeing the other reviews here I am very glad we were spared the experience of patronizing these people. AVOID.

Very very average. Does well with the silver set as it's a very 1980's menu and style of food. Service took forever and the owner has an attitude that appears to say give me your money and leave. I had been told about his attitude to children and I'm not sure what suburb he thinks he is in it its a family area. People who sat beside us 20 minutes afterward got served before us! Its success is purely due to its location centrally in the middle of the Chase. There are a dozen other cafes in the centre that are ten times better.

I only went here for a coffee and felt like I was inconveniencing them with my presence and my measly $4.50<br/>Can't comment on the food but the kitchen looked clean enough

I dont know why all the negative stuff here, C1 is one of my favourite places for casual eating especially when shopping woth friends in Chatswood<br/>Its not 5 star and its not meant to be. Its a great location and very handy and its always packed at lunch...

I have to say the lady manager is absolutely rude. My daughter spilt some pasta on the chair, one of the waiter was very keen to clean all the mass for us, but that lady said to him, don't do this, let them clean it, leave everything on the table. Then she also said Jesus after that. I was so unhappy abt her attitude!!!

I was rather surprised when I read all the negative reviews of C1 Cafe, which is located in prime position on the ground floor of the Chatswood Chase shopping centre. We may have just been lucky, visiting late on a Monday morning for an early lunch when the cafe was quite empty. I wouldn’t say the service was outstanding, as we did have to regularly request more drinking water but the waitstaff were friendly enough and our food came out quite quickly.

"Freshly made pasta" is a pun, it's freshly made from a packet complete with the strands sticking together and coming out uncooked.

Good food and service. Had lunch with my wife and five year old, good service and food. Ordered a risotto and battered fish. Was wary after reading all the negative reviews, but didn't have a brush with the owner, and enjoyed my lunch.

I really didn't like anything about this place. The food was not fresh and packaged ingredients were used. The chicken tastes like it was from a packet (I had the chicken wrap). There were not good options for kids, only chips, which is surprising given that a lot of kids are in this area. I wouldn't rate the service.

Rude racist scumbag of an owner. Despite being in an interracial relationship, I'd never been racially vilified for it before, prior to my encounter at C1. Regardless, the old scumbag managing this establishment introduced me to a new experience. This came as quite a surprise, as he has Asian staff, a restaurant in the middle of Chatswood, and insulted my 'Chinese' partner and I... which would seem like bad business sense in a predominantly Asian area.<br/><br/>The old Italian coot behind the bar should be stuffed in a time machine and shipped back to whatever hateful era spawned him. What little of the coffee we were allowed to drink before being shooed out of the restaurant was sufficient; however, I hope this creature's business fails as a result of his sick and twisted attitude toward other human beings.

Hates Children!!!. Same experience as everyone else... got abused by the owner for daring to sit in the wrong spot... was told "we dont like people like you here and told not to come back"... So rude... never coming back!

Utterly Offensive. Here I was thinking that I need to say something about this Cafe on Urbanspoon so people know the extent of the horror that was experienced, but looks like so many others have gotten to it before me. For the love of God, read this review and never go.<br/><br/>The rudeness of the staff has surely been filtered down from and encouraged by the manage/owner. As a paying customer, I felt that I was the single biggest inconvenience in their day and that my presence was a nuisance. This was particularly the case when I was paying.<br/><br/>Not convinced? Go to the Cafe and write a bad review for them.

Angry and rude staff. Manager called me a smarty arse behind my back after I had paid and was leaving the restaurant. After I went back to confront him about the lack of respect he and his staff showed me... He started screaming at me like a raving mad man. At that stage I quietly exited the restaurant. What more can I say.

Horrible manager and unfriendly place. Will never go again what a shame that we have this coffee shop occupying a fabulous location in my favourite shopping center, its is a real downgrade

Mums with bubs...DO NOT GO THERE!. Went there with my bub in pram and the manager refused to give me a seat even though there were seats available. When I confronted him about the empty seats on the far corner, he rudely replied to me and said "what you going fly over to that corner with your pram?!" I will never go there and give them any business!

Extremely rude owner. I was with my husband and toddler(asleep in stroller) out for lunch in Chatswood Chase and asked the manager/owner for a table. There were about 5 empty tables that could have easily fitted a stroller on the side and he said he didn't have any at the moment in a very rude manner, turned and walked away. Whilst discussing with hubby a waitress approached not aware of what had been said and indicated to us a table when the manager I believe said not to sit us. Then the older manager also approached and also very rudely said it will take time, when we said how long he said he doesn't know, there is no space for strollers. Don't go to this restaurant if you have a stroller you won't be welcomed, extremely rude, won't ever be going there!.

Bad Value, Bad Service. The food is pretty average and overpriced. This place caters to tourists and traffic through Chatswood Chase. The older Gentleman does not seem to like customers. I think he feels that his time is more valuable than yours. For great coffee, try any of the cafe's run by hardworking and friendly Korean families. You'll even get a free cookie at some places.

Service is brash and rushed, food is ordinary. Low urban spoon rating is not for nothing

Just horrible!. I have never waited so long or paid so much for a pile of lettuce!<br/>After ordering and then having to ask twice about our food, it appeared 25 minutes later (remember this is a quick lunch spot, not Rockpool)<br/>My 'Thai Beef' salad consisted of a mountain of lettuce, drowned in seemingly liters of some very acidic dressing and topped with 5 thin small slices of very fatty roast beef. The only saving grace was that the beef was rare as stated in the menu.<br/>My mothers 'ham, cheese and tomato sandwich on rye' consisted of three paper thin slices of tomato, one slice of ham and one slice of cheese, both of which looked suspiciously the same as the ones that come out of the pre sliced packets at Aldi. The black (not rye) bread was stale. In addition, there was yet another mountain of lettuce both in the sandwich and around it - thankfully the dressing was missing this time. <br/>No drinks and the bill came to nearly $40!!!

TERRIBLE PLACE!. I went there over the weekend as a new family of 5, we asked for a table of 4 plus the pram with the newborn. Was told by the owner that he couldnt seat us (the restaurant was half empty!!!!!!) as there was nowhere for the pram!!! Was astounded that he didnt want our business - he said it was 'his rules'. What bad service!!!! WILL NEVER BE GOING HERE AGAIN!

The food is alright, but the service is a bit lacking. I asked for a glass of water and was told by the waitress (who was just standing around) to get my own water. I am more than happy to do that if we were in a bar or if she was actually busy. I mentioned it to the manager, who was very defensive. I'm not too keen to go back at all.

Underwhelming. Setting is nice in the main area of Chatswood Chase. However, the coffee and the service were complacently ordinary. Expensive meals for what you get too, with very 1970s food and styling. So much potential yet to be realised.