Review Brown Sugar - Melbourne

Definitely one of my fave cafes in the city! Best coffee and the foooooooddddd!!! Omg!!! Fresh ingredients, both breakfast and lunch always satisfy the most difficult taste buds (like mine 😆) Amazing customer service, great prices and the owners, Robbie and Ivan, treat you like a family! 🙌🏼👏🏼 well done guys!!!

Always passed-by the restaurant which looked really nice, so went in with high expectations. Ordered coffee and steak sandwich which came with chips. Coffee is average Melbourne level (note that baseline Melbourne coffee is of good quality). The steak was a bit over charred on the outside so tastes bit bitter. The tenderness was alright. I got seated at the corner near a door and the counter. I was suggested it was kitchen behind me. According to the smell and the observation that customers go in and come out the door, I don’t think it’s the kitchen behind me. The service was good and service speed was fast. Chips were nicely fried and crispy. Overall it’s a bit letdown experience. It’s understandable that on a busy day someone got to be seated near “some areas”, but its reasonable to make sure the air smells fresh for a not-so-cheap restaurant.

I had brunch today here with my girlfriend, nice and cosy cafe in this beautiful lane, good heating for winter, outstanding customer service and the food was out of this world, the minestrone soup was the best I’ve had in a long time, salmon omelet was nice and tasty and the French toast was delish! Lovely to have this experience specially when you work in hospo and know how hard it is at the moment! Thank you guys.

Our first time visiting this restau after being recommended by a close friend of mine. I really enjoyed the food and atmosphere. We ordered Big Breakfast, Egg Florentine and Brown Sugar Deluxe Beef Burger. The quality and flavours of food have a remarkable depth. In addition, the staffs are very friendly and approachable. Will definitely come back and bring more friends over.

Very Melbourne kind of a lunch place... great laneway atmosphere, great food, great service.... Seating inside away from the laneway traffic is good too.

was walking around the city and found this awesome cafe in the Block Arcade. Ruberto was an absolute gentleman and gave top notch service, not to mention the magnificent coffee. Head down and try it!

This is my regular Cafe when I visit Melbourne. I love the food and coffee. I’ve experienced excellent service on every visit. This is a small Cafe suitable for my family. Toilet is available and always been clean. I’ve posted a photo of my vegetarian breakfast and the menu from my recent visit. I’ll definitely return.

6 of us had an early lunch here yesterday. We had 4 different Focaccias and they were all absolutely delicious. The food was fresh and the coffees and tea were hot and very good. I think the owner is new only recently taking over the cafe. The service was quick and friendly. Would highly recommend

We were searching for a place to have dinner in the city, and just when we thought we weren't going to find anything decent, we stumbled across this delightful little cafe. My wife is gluten intolerant so eating out can be a challenge at times however, the host (unfortunately I don't recall his name) suggested that they could make something up for her. So this fantastic gluten free meal arrived at our table. I myself am not gluten intolerant, so I ordered the gnocchi and it was delicious. The wine (both red and white) was exceptional as was the service. They also have a great selection of gf cakes of which the lemon sponge was amazing. The location was just perfect. Couldn't fault a thing. Simply wonderful. We will definitely be returning to this little gem.

Great meal, great service. Was walking down the alley way to find a restaurant, and Tony was fantastic and shown us the menu, as he caught our attention in a positive way. He had a great personality and humour, made our day more enjoyable in the city. Highly recommend the restaurant.

Customer service was excellent, food was great and we would highly recommend this place :)

Amazing coffee! Beautiful, well presented food and lovely service! Will be back and recommend all my friends!

Awesome service - coffee and lunch on Thursday as first time visitors, back for breakfast on Saturday and the lovely guy remembered us and our previous order! Topped off with great coffee and food. Highly recommend!

We are tourists from interstate and after we stopped and asked how they make their Chai Soy Latte to which we were told was the old fashioned way(💕), and if they used lactose free in their coffees we sat down to a delicious brunch and fantastic service!! So we were totally surprised to find the Brown Sugar Cafe in Melbourne CBD the ONLY place we visited for coffee (visited 10 other coffee places in 2days) who served lactose free! Being a keen coffee drinker, I thought for a metropolitan city such as Melbourne whose cafes not serve lactose free as an alternative is actually doing a disservice to the travelling public! Thank you Brown Sugar Cafe!! I will earmark your Cafe to our many travelling friends who can only drink lactose free beverages!💕

Food was great and we were very impressed by the staff. They were very welcoming and we went back the next day for breakfast. Highly recommended

To be fair it was busy, but to bring toast to the table at the same time as other meals without the jam was a bit odd. We waited thinking the jam would arrive any second. 10 mins later I tried to signal a waiter. Twice they looked straight through me. Twice. Eventually I had to get off my chair with the cold inedible toast in hand and walk over to the kitchen to request said jam. Jam was promptly delivered. No apology. Pretty poor. As a visiting Sydney-sider, this Melbourne cafe left us feeling a bit ho-hum.

Average food, average service, really expensive for the breakfast we ordered

Loveeeeee this place!! Great coffee, food and service!! Always stop by when I’m visiting Melbourne xx

Terrible service, average food, well below the quality of the price range, will never eat here again!!

The service first seems promising . I ordered pancakes and I have never seen such a thick pancakes in my life .. It looks like muffins.. The staff were so in hurry to take your plates as soon as you put them down .. I found it very rude specially when I'm still drinking my coffee .. They need a better chef and better staff training .. The atmosphere was good though

Apalling... Very disappointing. Risotto was stodgy and Luke warm. Soup tasted like it was out of a can. Service was embarrassing... The worst experience I’ve had for a long time. We will not be back.

Yum! The pancakes, the lamington, the tea the coffee: all awesome - quick, prompt service and friendly staff �

We enjoyed beautiful poached eggs on sour dough and a lovely cuppaccino. Served by very friendly staff. Each time I visit Melbourne I always have breakfast here.

Staff are very friendly, they'll be asking you how your meal and experience is multiple times.<br/>I had the Benedict on Turkish bread along with a chai latte. The Benedict was satisfying, it not often that you have it served with Turkish bread, I enjoyed it.<br/>They took away the serviettes and my cup of water quite quickly, I'd finished my meal, but would have liked to sit for a moment. It wasn't busy at all, so not sure why they were so eager to clear it all at once.

Amazing coffee and cakes . Great service . The food ambience is awesome . It’s a lane way and the best you can have at evening is an orange cake and long black

Fast service, knowledgeable and friendly staff. Located in very busy alley, Brown Sugar is another fine example of Melbourne's cafe culture. Ordered the healthy start breakfast which I could not finish duw to the size ofnthe meal. My partner ordered the big breakfast which he also enjoyed.

Its nice food, but that's all really. I had the field mushrooms, with a poached egg, baby spinach and feta cheese of multigrain toast. The feta was certainly creamy and the mushrooms has a nice roasted flavour to them, but it is nothing to fuss over.<br/><br/>The staff, while lovely and polite, seemed rushed and hurried; and a littleblasé with their customer service approach. My friends had the bruschetta and eggs Florentine. The bruschetta did look lovely, and they said it was pleasant. But the hollandaise sauce on the Florentine looked way too thick and gluey for my liking; the was presented in a sloppy way. Nevertheless, my friend said it tasted fine.<br/><br/>The atmosphere is busy and loud with other waitresses/waiters serving at cafes to the left and right of you. It is a nice spot for an average meal; overall, a decent bite to eat.

I visited brown sugar cafe on a Friday with a friend...like when all the places are full of people on a typical Friday evening...this turned out a great escape for coffee or couple of beers(I had coffee my friend had beer) Live music and lovely staff...less crowd and space to talk...made my experience even better!!

Yes I am of a generation who thinks of the Rolling Stones when I see this cafe name. Located just opposite Haigh’s I. The Block arcade this little cafe had a really good all day breakfast menu and some tasty lunch options. I chose the chicken & bacon club sandwich with chips while KD had a hearty potion of fried calamari on a balsamic & Parmesan dressed salad. I enjoyed my “club sandwich” but it imagined it to be a true tri layered club instead of just a regular toasted sandwich with similar ingredients. Either way tasty. The fried calamari was light and golden and KD enjoyed the dressing and the dish overall. She kept stealing my chips which is ok as is is married to me after all (what’s mine is hers ).

Small amazing cafe situated right in the heart of Melbourne. Loved the location and loved the place. The ambience is top notch and the staff is courteous. Try their hot chocolate and go crazy. We definitely recommend this place.

I had a coffee here this morning. The service was friendly and quick, but it was early. <br/><br/>My coffee was alright, a strong skinny latte but I don’t understand why my coffee is always scalding hot! I don’t want to drink it in an hours time ppl hahaha no, I want to drink it now! <br/><br/>I’ve been coming here for years and the food ana the coffee in the past has always been good. <br/><br/>Nice laneway for visitors to see in Melb’s.

Great find for breakfast. <br/>Lactose free coffee was great to find first one was only half full but second one was much better.<br/>Had eggs on gluten free bread which was also great.

Lovely lovely service by the waiter. So attentive to our needs and made sure we were looked after. I enjoyed my coffee here. The location made it just that much better.

Always great service. I usually have the big breakfast but had the smashed avo today. Quality was good, eggs could have been a little fresher (maybe some yummy big double yolks from Sth Melb market) and I had to order a second egg (I reckon it should come with two).<br/>Coffee was good. Service is always excellent from friendly staff. Ambiance in the Block is always great, great place to people watch.

We walked passed this place while we were at the block, and had the steak sandwich and the chicken grilled salad. There were an ok size, however it was very tasty which was perfect as we were going to have desserts at the Hopetoun rooms

Great service and extremely friendly staff! Very quick response time even when you send food flying off the table. Food was quick to arrive too! Would definitely be returning in the future!

We love Block Arcade Melbourne and it's tradition now that we have breakky there at least one during our southern stays... Another great place for breakky, our last big feed there was delicious with amazing fresh juice!

Friendly staff but food is so so. The Penne was not worth the money while soup special I ordered was bland, I was expecting more taste in it.

not good. Service is slow. Food is just so so. Steak is so rare when we ordered medium to done, and there was no Sauce with it. There's no vegetables like Spanish in the big breakfast.

Gorgeous little cafe tucked away with lots of character!! Great food and fantastic hospitality from staff- absolutely loved it!! I had the vegetarian breakfast whilst my boyfriend had the big breakky both with great success. Coffee was also pretty good

Had three coffees (not by myself!) in this Euro style cafe. Good coffee, good service and a cosy atmosphere. Great lighting. Cakes look interesting.

I like to eat tiramisu cake here. It's really nice and it's not my first time being here. But always the best choice for me when I feel wanna eat cake just for a bite. Service fast and really friendly. For sure will come back again.

We arrived at around 10:00 on Saturday morning, we seated straight away by some very friendly staff. <br/><br/>Coffees arrived straight away and they were good. Living up to the Melbourne hype.<br/><br/>I order the spiced scrambled eggs and chorizo. Presented beautifully and tasted delicious. <br/><br/>My partner and I had a coffee each and a breakfast for $38. Excellent value for the quality. <br/><br/>

very tasty and nice food at affordable prices. ambience and environment very friendly. very good customer service. overall very good experience. good work guys

Nice n tasty delicious food . Very good atmosphere and ambience of the place. Very friendly staff specially the owner Steve and gerogia are very good at what they do. Always a good experience.

Used to be much better... they charged us $2.5 for babychino that was only milk and chocolate sprinkles. Just for comparison coffee was $3.5.

Went here for a weekday lunch. Managed to grab the last table which was good. We both took a special, the mushroom risotto. My friend asked for them to leave the chorizo out because she is vegetarian which was no problem. Risotto was pretty tasty. Thought it was expensive though ($20). Service was friendly although a bit full on and pushing a bit too much.

Returned after a few years and it's just as good as I remembered. I suffered food envy as the dishes coming out for brunch looked superb and I'd already eaten. Great coffee, friendly and efficient staff, a good place to rest during a shopping spree!

Been here with a friend 1 week ago! It was almost 4 pm but they were nice enough to prepare breakfast for us!<br/>Food was good and serves were pretty generous.. freshly squeeze orange juice was delicious and coffee was ok.<br/>Staff were really friendly and the place had a good vibe.<br/><br/>I will definitely try this place again considering is one of the few open that late for breakfast with a good quality of food.

In a laneway called Block Place which connects from Little Collins St, I discovered even more cafes. After a short stroll I chose Brown Sugar Cafe because they had their menu on a stand outside which me helped decide what to eat. The menu offers the basic items such as eggs benedict, smashed avo, muesli, pancakes etc.

Nice café, hidden away in the side streets. The staff were welcoming and efficient. The meal was decent in portion for the price, and most likely I would revisit.

I'm not really sure how you can make pancakes hard, but they were. I can understand how you can burn pancakes, have them be raw or even have them turn out as crepes accidentally, but have them make a hollow sound when you tap them with a fork? I've no idea. The ones that weren't hard were so dry it made the surprising amount of maple syrup poured on them make sense<br/>Pretty disappointed. Had high hopes, nice people, seems like a nice place, was hoping for a nice breakfast but was disappointed. <br/>Coffee was good. <br/>I don't normally leave reviews because I don't think anyone who tries hard to cook food is genuinely bad at cooking and I would never want to offend anyone by leaving a review, but I was sorely sorely disappointed. <br/>Pancakes, guys. You can make decent ones from a packet even if you can't be arsed making them properly and you couldn't even do that.

Possibly the worst breakfast ever and seriously over priced. The healthy breakfast had 1 piece of very bland bread, approx 2tbs of smashed avocado, 3 slices of cold under ripe tomato and 2 poached eggs that didn't taste free range....all for $17! I wouldn't have given any rating, but it is requested by zomato.

I enjoyed a lovely soup here a couple of days ago. It was perfectly seasoned, the temperature was perfect and it looked visually nice. I also loved the warm Turkish bread that went with it.<br/><br/>Super fast service

Great basic eggs Benedict cooked perfectly. Good coffee and happy staff make this a regular when out and about shopping. Cute lane way location

georgia doesnt pay here staff properly. none of them have r.s.a. she is cheating tax paying everyone in cash. they should audit her. <br/>shit food <br/>shit coffee<br/>chimp in a wig

(Not the best photo)<br/>Although the food came out quickly and the customer service was great, I was not impressed with the pricing of the dish. $18.00 for poached eggs with salmon on toast. I could've easily made this myself at home. The presentation was a bit simple aswell.

The chicken and mushroom pasta is really good, but the coffee is a bit disappointing, I ordered a latte but the froth fill half of the cup but it's still a okish coffee? Anyway thought the Benedict and the chicken mushroom pasta are pretty good!

The staff were really attentive and the food came out quickly. It's a small space for a cafe though so everyone has to sit really close to each other.

Very crap. chai latte tasted like a hot chocolate . My latte was more like very hot milk in a glass. Friand was warm in microwave came out to hot & steamy to eat. Overall I can understand why this was empty when all the other Cafes were full. To sum it up KEEP WALKING.

Awesome from the moment we walked in - really fab service, friendly and helpful. Food was really great too, we had the calamari salad and chicken focaccia. We only have a few more days left in Melbourne and have lots more places to try but I'm actually keen to go back again tomorrow hahah!

Average menu, premium prices. Service was ok, portions do not make sense! 3 generous slices of french toast for $10 but 2 measley sized pancakes for $16.50 +$2 extra for a scoop of no brand ice cream? I would not recommend this cafe. Very disappointing. Don't waste your money.

We went there for breakfast and the service was 10/10 the presentation of the place 9/10 but I guess we couldn't go too wrong as we ordered the vanilla pancakes, fried eggs with bacon, the granola with yoghurt, which was a bit too dry and crunchy but otherwise edible and the coffees were nice. If they got these simple dishes completely wrong I wouldn't ever go back. I would say this place is probably more so somewhere I would go for a quick coffee and cake or a pre-outing cocktail more than anything else.

We ordered the mussels from the specials, the calamari with Parmesan and the humus with taziki dips. The food was quite average the flavors weren't anything special. The coffee was perfect. The staff were very friendly and attentive. <br/>

Having limited options on the Queen's birthday public holiday saw us have to cancel our plans and find somewhere open for our Monday breakfast.  The service was fine until one flying surprise.  We were seated right in front of the bar, and they were mixing a drink when the waitress must have lost control over what she was doing as suddenly there was an espresso martini flying through the air. A fair amount landed in my friend's hair and on her clothes, and the waitress didn't reailse.  Her husband pointed out what had happened and the waitress apologised (not very sincerely) and handed us a couple of napkins. Because of the mess the napkins she handed us wasn't enough to clean up after what she had done, so my friend went to get some more, only to get attitude from who we assume was the manager for taking napkins.<br/><br/>At no point was there any kind of real apology for what had happened, nor even token offer like a free drink to make up for it.  I didn't look at the final bill but I'm pretty confident they would have added on the standard 10% public holiday surcharge.<br/><br/>On the food and drink, I'll only comment on what I ordered. The hot chocolate was LITERALLY half foam, which was way too much, meaning that when I eventually got to the drink part it was overly sweet from having hardly any milk to mix into.  The corn bread with beans and bacon was acceptable, though the bacon was more warm than hot, and the corn bread was a very small serving.<br/><br/>We won't be eating here again.

Apple and Cinnamon Porridge. Really enjoyed the Apple and Cinnamon porridge was very delicious. A lovely young girl to greet you and show you the menu.

Great Breaky!. Had one of the best bacon, french toast and maple syrup breaksfasts ever!<br/><br/>Bacon was perfect!<br/><br/>God coffee too and real nice atmosphere. <br/><br/>I think I've found my new local!

Disappointing. Luke warm coffee, slapdash presentation of lemon tart. Melb has many better cafes than this. Friendly waitress but ....Keep walking.

Total disaster. The ice choco is ok, but the main dishes are catastrophe. Chicken mushrooms pasta are filled with olive oil, literally a mouthful of oil. My girlfriend's steak was welldone (we ordered medium). Also no one wiped the table for us as the last customers leave, no water as well. <br/>Overall: overpriced fot the quality , please spend your money elsewhere

My eggs were raw and had to be sent back. Looked like a meal from McDonald's. Very unappealing and would not recommend.

Transported to Italy temporarily. A warm welcoming at the door, followed up by friendly staff, a mouth watering vegetable pizza and mocha. Lovely european atmosphere that transported me to little Italy temporarily. A return visit is due soon!

Eggs good (cooked to perfection). Sauce, not bad (needs more). Ham, delectable (needs more). Bread, Chewy (GET RID OF IT)!!

Brown Sugar Cafe is an appealing place with decent food in a great location and well worth dropping by.

Brown Sugar Cafe, as long as you order right, is a nice space to stop out of the hubbub of Bourke Street Mall and get yourself a decent feed albeit a touch overpriced for what it is. (Some of the foccacias going out looked great though, and priced at a more reasonable $13-15 with side salad). Give it a go for lunch (or order better than Mr Behemoth did for breakfast).

Overall, I like the ambiance and liveliness of the cafe, however the coffee was average and the food seemed to be lacking that extra punch of flavour. Whatever this place lacked in the food was made up for by the good service.

“I’m no schoolboy but I know what I like!” exclaimed Mick Jagger in the famous Stones song. I wonder whether he was referring to the coffee and breakfast options at Brown Sugar café in Block Arcade. You’ve got to love Block Arcade. Steeped in history going about 130 years when the fine citizens of the day used to “do the block” in their leisurely stroll.

As you can probably tell, I am pretty happy with my visit to Brown Sugar Cafe

This was amazing. Better than any other focaccia or toasted sand which I've ever had. A really nice combination. The sweetness of the mayonnaise, the saltiness of the bacon, and the delicious fresh bread was just what I wanted for brunch on a Sunday.

Underwhelming. Went there today for some lunch. Had a $20 steak sandwich which was worth about $5. Low quality meat which tasted funny. And the so-called chunky chips were just normal chips. And guys, get some new chairs that don't sound like a jet taking off every time someone drags them over the floor.

Hidden gem. This place is absolutely astonishing for the people who thrive their life in the search for good food. staff is very kind and attentive. we were looked after well. great food. definitely must a visit

Hot chocolate was not even hot & was so strong it was dark brown. Not enough milk so it was so bitter. Mocha chino was not hot enough and too much chocolate so there was no coffee flavour. Chairs also make the most unpleasant screeching sound.

Terrible ! Won't be returning. Overpriced, poor quality food. Ordered corn fritters which seemed more like pancakes. Also order the mushroom which were sparse on the plate a greasy. Chai tea was flavourless. Would not return. Advised staff about the poor quality, the impression is that they serve " top nosh" well that's not what customers think .....

Terrible!! Perfect Melbourn.... Terrible!!<br/>Perfect Melbourne day, wandered the laneways and decided to stop for a bite to eat. Worst choice ever!! <br/>Waitress takes our order, food was written down correctly, drinks were upgraded from the lemonade we asked for to lemon, lime, bitters....pull her up and explain we just want a Sprite...thought we got the msg across, nope, two LLB's delivered after no less than a 10 min wait (there goes an extra $5- on the bill). Okay, it's busy, can't be bothered fixing it so go with that. Onto food. Calamari, fries & a chicken focaccia. If you like a bit of meat in your focaccia don't bother ordering this number. Received with maybe 2 1/2 pcs of chicken bits and a stack of lettuce and mayo. Send it back, returned with maybe 3 1/2 pcs this time, wow, $13- sandwich that is nothing substantial with no meat, that's what I'm here for. We deal with it, hungry and can't be bothered waiting again. <br/>Waitress picks up we're not happy and we tell her we'll speak to the manager on our way out. At least we'll enjoy the food we've got and then get going. We're interrupted again as the boss man comes to check on us....let us eat the food we've got please!! He leaves us be...good choice buddy. Will not be heading back to Brown Sugar ever again.

Freshly squeezed orange juice at $5.90 is mostly water. An extremely expensive cafe that lacks quality

I was fortunate enough to find Brown Sugar Cafe on the weekend when I was walking through the city.... There is no other way to describe this cafe other than as Melbourne's Hidden Gem! My food was absolutely delicious and the staff were very accommodating to meet my dietary needs! I would definitely recommend this place to those wishing for great food and exceptional service!!!

Went to brown sugar today for a quick lunch today and really enjoyed my first brown sugar experience! Sitting at the tables outside in the laneway made me feel as if I was in Europe! The coffee was really good and my burger was delicious! I'll be back..

Stay away from BSC. I was visiting my son in Melbourne and we went out for breakfast, we thought Brown Sugar Cafe looked like a nice little restaurant. I had pancakes that may have been from a ready mix, dry and tasteless. My son asked for a little Hollandaise sauce since his salmon and greens were a bit dry, the waitress, a young, shy girl, said she had to check with the kitchen and then she brought a little amount of sauce in a tiny plastic container, no worning that this was going to be added to the bill for $4!!!! I told them I could not believe they were charging that for a small amount of sauce, to what the guy in the register replied with a smile. A greedy, pretentious place

Best coffee in city. Amazing coffee brewed to perfection

Nothing great. My food was just okay but my wife paid $17 for a few mushrooms on toast. look elsewhere

Good steak ! will be back. Excellent steaks cooked to perfection ! love the mushroom sauce with rocket and parmansan salad.

Avoid this place.. Scroll down the page. There's a reason there are 14 bad reviews in a row for this place. It is terrible. It's a shame because I ate here several years ago and it was up there with the best breakfast I'd had in my life. Management must have changed hands or something because these days this place is simply horrible. <br/>Service is very poor. The waiter had trouble understanding English. Food (I ordered breakfast) was very, very ordinary and nowhere near hot enough. Coffee was bland but the worst part about this place is the price. $28 I paid for a very basic breakfast with a side of mushrooms and a coffee. Exorbitant prices for Melbourne.

Does not recommend!. Very very overpriced. The meals were drowned in olive oil and the seafood in the marinara was frozen! We waited a long time for our meals too. The staff were very friendly but the food was lousy. I'd never return or recommend the place. The inside was very dark and the whole ambience was just weird. <br/><br/>And not to be racist, but there was an asian chef in the kitchen. I'm guessing this is why the food was so awful. I'd normally expect an Italian person or someone with Italian background who's grown up on that type of food to be cooking in an Italian restaurant.

3 days in bed! Chorizo Omlette ruined my Melbourne holiday

Terrible place to be having breakfast if you are hungry. We waited for close to an hour for our meal. Staff are very slow and unresponsive. When food finally came out it was untasty, oily and missing ingredients that was meant to be part of the meal. Definitely not worth paying the money they charged!

Bland food, poor service, overpriced. Ordered the roast vegetable pizza that had no roast vegetables but way too much oil!

Not Bad. Not bad But wayy to expensive for me would rather go somewhere else for this money

Always impressed. Fantastic food and service!! Not sure why some have complained about service. We have been there 3 times at their most busiest time of the day and each time the food and service has been faultless! Very busy saturday lunch there !!! Their beef lasagne is quite tasty and generous portion. Highly recommended !

Terrible food , small portions , music overbearing and loud . Crap uncaring staff and lame service . Their basic attitude to any form of complaint is oh well that's how it is here .. Over priced to say the least .. Our dinner came in at just under 100$ , honestly avoid this place like the plague /: <br/>This expeirience I'd rather forget ...

Service was nice, but very expensive breakfast, with two tiny bits of avocado / not a very good value breakfast. And not much flavor. Definately will not be back.

Staff were friendly, food tasty & quick. Great location too. Recommend the French Toast with Apple & Maple Syrup & the Spicy Scrambled Eggs with Chorizo on the specials board. Delish.

Coffee was good but the meals were pretty average.

Don't do the dips!!. Ordered the dip platter and got 3 teaspoons of dips and a bit of bread for $15.00. Way overpriced and the dips were quite ordinary. To be fair, the coffee was good but I would not recommend this place for its food.

Delicious !. Amazing! Mixed beans Soup was the best I've ever had. Disappointed Brisbane doesn't have anywhere nearly as delicious! ! !definitely come back

Just had the deluxe breakfast. Was the smallest deluxe breakfast i've seen to date. Also ordered the spicy egg with chorizo special which is literally all it was. Not one visible herb in either dish. Very bland. There was no chilli or spice in the spicy eggs except for the ground pepper which we added. Big let down.

Worst breakfast in Melbourne, way over priced, barely warm coffee, be careful what you order as extras very costly and not worth it, very disappointed

A very good cafe in Melbourne.. I had really good grilled chicken salad with fetta cheese and my partner got a grilled corn bread with bacon and italian beans.He really enjoyed his breakfast. overall, the food was really nice, staffs are very friendly. Service was also very fast.Good place for quick breakfast and lunch.

Terrible breakfast. Overcooked eggs - burnt toast, no discount. Value for money - exceedingly poor.

We have been to some great cafes that are considered Melbourne tourist traps. We were most disappointed with our recent venture.

Worst breakfast ever!. I'm not the type to complain but after having breakfast here with my family this morning I felt compelled to register on this site & voice my disappointment. <br/><br/>Our order for five was two BLT's with fries, two eggs Florentine and one eggs benedict. All were served on shabby Turkish bread. The poached eggs may as well have been hard boiled. The mushrooms as a side were 5 of, and the size of maltesers. The fries may as well have come straight from Maccas. Coffee was very average. <br/>All in all it was the worst breakfast we have ever had.

Overpriced, extremely average food. I am almost embarrassed that cafes like this still exist, and are probably what people unfamiliar with Melbourne consider part of Melbourne's "laneway culture". (Vomit.) <br/><br/>I had lunch here today with my mother and sister - I had the roast vegetable salad with fetta. It was re-heated slices of the pre-roasted eggplant, capsicum and zucchini that we used to buy at the sandwich shop I used to work at; the kind that come in a bucket of oil. The oily slabs were laid on top of a few pieces of oil-sogged lettuce, that was completely inedible. It had a slice of fetta on top. <br/><br/>The man in charge was being extremely rude to a waiter who was clearly a trainee, and who had been very polite to us. It's awkward and unpleasant having to listen to waitstaff being reprimanded or talked down to by their managers, particularly when the wait staff have been pleasant, inoffensive, and trying their best. <br/><br/>Mum asked if we wanted coffee - we will usually have coffee before going back to work. There was no way I was going to sit in the place any longer, and judging by the "quality" of the food, no way I was going to even risk a coffee. <br/><br/>This lane has a bunch of cafes that I've been to once or twice each, and they're all pretty indistinguishable from one another. Over priced, "modern Australian" menu, all day breakfast, so-so or horrid coffee. The kind of place I've been to when interstate, the kind of place you find and eat at when you've gone for a walk in a new city and just wanted a quick lunch. There are plenty of nice little cafes and take away places in Melbourne, and none of them will charge $20 for what you could get in an outer-suburban pub for $15. I'm not averse to paying for nice food, atmosphere, service.. but this is just revolting.

Bad breakfast experience. Ordinary coffee, stodgy corn fritters and cold (cooked earlier then stuck in the fridge cold) poached eggs. Not very nice at all.

Had a great lunch here today, amazing lamb pie for my husband and lovely soup for me w war fresh bread. Good service, good price, a great location to stop for lunch when shopping. Will return!

Close to, if not the worst breakfast experience I have ever had. Absolutely horrible coffee. Luke warm, no crema no coffee art. The breakfast itself I find hard to say, was worse than the coffee. Freezing cold avocado, cold tomatoes, burnt bacon and soggy bread. Normally I don't leave complaints, but seeing as this one meal cost me Over 30 dollars I had to say something to warn others to avoid this place. Over priced, poor quality food and very bad coffee. Wil not return

Breakfast - Brown Sugar Cafe.. A quick visit to Melbourne with my lovely. We had to find somewhere to have breakfast, took a punt down an arcade which opened out into a laneway of small eateries. One that took our fancy is Brown Sugar, from the friendly greeting by the manager?, to the food an coffee.<br/>We are no world travellers, but my god the attention to detail was awesome.<br/>I ordered the spicy scrambled eggs and my lady ordered the eggs benedict, both were very good as was the coffee so good in fact we made it our breakfast spot for the rest of our stay.<br/>Do yourself a favour when next in Melbourne hunt out this little place, go with an open mind and I am sure you will be pleasantly surprised.<br/>Thank you Bown Sugar Cafe you have created a lasting memory and we will be back.

Terrible. Have to say this was quite likely my worst food experience in a very long time. The morrocan lamb salad was a cold dish soaked in a dreadful sticky sauce, on a yoghurt soaked bed of lettuce & couscous. The lamb was underdone and the dish quite inedible. A waste of $22.50

Ordered ravioli with burnt butter & sage, and cappuccino. Ravioli under done and floury, butter not clear or "burnt", instead looked like it had been melted in the microwave with sage mixed in. Sage was not infused with butter so couldn't taste it :-(. Cappuccino average. My friend had scrambled eggs on toast with baked beans. She was happy with hers and I had massive food envy. She didn't finish her coffee either. Plenty of better places to try before I give them another chance.

Location, location, location. Brown Sugar has always been the safe place to stop for lunch down Block Place, but now I’m not so sure! We popped in for a late Saturday lunch and the signs of the sloppy service was evident before we even sat down ie we were asked for our order whilst still trying to squeeze in to the snug dining space. And then (even though there were only 10 diners in the restaurant) the service went from ‘pestering’ to ‘non-existent’ very quickly – its amazing how long an espresso can take! The food was fine. But given its location, it’ll continue to do well. Would I eat here again? I’ll avoid it.

Great service and extremely tasty breakfast - sweet corn fritters with smoked salmon absolutely lovely and poached eggs cooked to perfection!!

Filling breakfast in Melbourne CBD. Lovely pancakes served with strawberries and maple syrup, I ordered a ham and cheese toast coz I thought pancakes wouldnt fill my morning cravings but NO, I had to have the toast take away!

Nice place for breakfast. I had the corn fritters which could have had a little more fresh corn in it but there was plenty of flavour with th tomato and rocket so overall was a pleasant meal with friendly staff and nice atmosphere.

Was quick & easy. food was decent, not fabulous but what we wanted. good service and nice location

Ordered the spicy scrambled eggs with chorizo and sundried tomatoes with gluten free bread. It was delicious!<br/>My girlfriend had the scrambled eggs and bacon with a side of feta and tomato. She said it was great and the bacon was very crispy.<br/>Long Mac and earl grey tea was also tasty and hot! Thumbs up.<br/><br/>HOWEVER! When I tried some of the feta (which was tasteless and could have been ricotta) I bit into something tiny and hard. I spat it out and it was a tiny piece of what looked like plastic/glass. When I let the waitress know she immediately took it away. Another waiter then came up to us a couple of mins later and explained that he believed it was from the container from which the cheese came in and apologiesed. He didn't seem overly concerned and if it had been my cafe I would have been more worried and made sure the customer was ok and if they could do anything to make up for the mistake. Don't get me wrong I know mistakes happen but it could have been handled better. <br/><br/>This experience greatly took away from what could have been a great breakfast experience.

I like this place but the food is average