This is a busy (the times We have been there) place however ample seating, we all liked the atmosphere. The service was good friendly, due to being busy, there was a wait, It was worth it. The Food well presented. Having said that at this level of Restaurant. it should be. The taste of the food was good. We will go back a few more times for consistency observations. Enjoy read more

This cafe kept popping up on my places to visit near me. So decided to give it a go. On the Main Street on centre road great location and quite a lot of space inside, pram friendly too! We ordered strong flat white and long black. Coffee was good . I ordered the superfoods salad. The portion size was good. Not one but 2 eggs! WINNING. Loved the cottage cheese but thought it would have been better off on top of the salad instead of smear on the toast. The kale needed to be wilted or sautéed a bit as it was hard and chewy, there was a lot of it to so it was quite noticeable. The chunks of avocado were great through it. There was no sign of any chilli in the dish. My hubby ordered the maple glazed pork belly. It presented really well and looked amazing. The flavours were all there but the pork was over cooked and more like a maple syrup pour over rather than a glaze. The macadamia through the salad was yum and such a great idea. All and all we were happy but not too sure we would i her returning. read more

Merchants Guild - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Bentleigh East, VIC

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So I finally got the chance to sit down and taste from the delicious menu that I read every time I stop in for a coffee, and I must say, I am very disappointed I have not done it sooner. I had my guide dog with me on this outing, and the waiter was not phased in the slightest, I was greeted with "table for 2, and the cutest puppy in the world, take any table available" It is so refreshing when this happens, and I don't need to explain that a guide dog in training, is able to be in any restaurant she feels like, or more to the point where I feel like. I ordered (and let's not kid ourselves who wouldn't) the 8 hour slow cooked pulled lamb with green beans, mint and radicchio leaves served on a chick pea and yoghurt smash topped with almond flakes. If you think the name of this dish makes your mouth water, wait until they place it in front of you, then you had better be wearing a bib, The dish looked fresh, and you could see the chef has mastered his art. There was a perfect balance of flavours on the plate, and it danced on the pallet like beauty and the beast having their first waltz in a glitzy ballroom. The lamb was cooked to perfection, and paired with the salad, worked perfectly. I am not a fan of yoghurt unless it is full of sugar (I need sweetening), but after asking the waitress when ordering if I could taste a little, she was more than happy to oblige, and I must say, glad I asked, as the flavour of the yoghurt I don't like, was masked by the chick pea smash, it was almost like a light hummus. Being a carnivore, I do like to see meat in my salad, and this paring was made in heaven, smart construction from the chef, and a definite 5 out of 5 for me. read more

Merchants Guild - Pulled lamb salad - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Bentleigh East, VIC

A cafe known for it amazing coffee and even better food. Has ample space and a charming courtyard. Appropriate space for a work meeting or friends catching up. The display of food is picture perfect. However there is minimal surrounding parking so would recommend parking off centre road. Has such a vast variety of option on their menu from potato and pulled pork for breakfast to crispy Korean bao. Suitable for all ages. read more

Merchants Guild - Prawn tacos - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Bentleigh East, VIC

This part of Bentleigh was screaming - and I literally mean screaming - out for a place like this. Enter Merchants Guild. Always packed and always pumping, MG is a little slice of hipster heaven in the middle of suburbia full of delicious breakfasts, lunches, coffees and cakes. I am not sure why they set up shop here but THANK GOD they did. I have been here a few times and had the french toast, smashed avocado with bacon and savoury scroll. Delicious. They also serve Prahna chai here which is tres important for moi. Word of warning - gets majorly packed here. Be prepared to come early - I am talking before 9.30am or to sit and wait and admire the waitstaff's calf tattoos or do takeaway. read more

Love this place! Lots of seats which is important if you don't want to be waiting ages for a table, great food and even better coffee. I ordered the short cut bacon, Avo & corn salsa with poached eggs - everything was perfect except I didn't love the jalapeño pesto on the bread, it didn't matter though as it was easily scraped off. My friend had the special of Parmesan toast, pork sausage, salsa and poached eggs. He said it was a great dish but what made it even better was adding some of My Avo to it, so maybe get that as a side if your with a friend who doesn't like sharing. Coffee was fantastic and I also tried the chai which was great. Will def be back for more. read more

Merchants Guild - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Bentleigh East, VIC

This is a great cafe that has mastered the art of beautiful food, quality coffee, tea and quickly asserting themselves as the chai experts of the eastern suburbs, if not Melbourne. Maybe I'm biased as this has quickly become my local spot for a scrumptious brunch or even a take away coffee. Usually I'll get some poached eggs on a pumpkin and soy bread, I'll add avocado, tomatoes and mushrooms and my day couldn't of started any better. This with a beautifully crafted chai latte and there isn't a time I haven't left practically jumping for joy. The staff are all super friendly and the service is impeccable. If you're in the area you should hands down make a trip to merchants guild. It won't disappoint with a great menu for food and drinks. All in all it's a cozy little cafe that takes suburban cafe to a whole new level. read more

Merchants Guild - Poached eggs, avo, mushrooms and tomatoes= Delicious - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Bentleigh East, VIC

They seem to take their tea and coffee seriously, which is good for a non-coffee drinker like me. Pancakes were great - probably too sweet if you drown them in the syrup. Duck banh mi deeelicous. Funky space, cute waiters :) read more

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The food is fantastic! I haven't ever ordered a dish that I didn't like! Always prepared immaculately :) The venue is usually busy so expect a small wait for seating when you get there, but it's well worth it! read more

Merchants Guild - Doughnut French toast with vanilla bean mascarpone, banana, cherries and pistachios. - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Bentleigh East, VIC

It's a 3.6 out of 5. It could have been higher. A tale of two dishes as I'll explain shortly It's an earthy, industrial fit out here that works well. The bright, airy north facing aspect helps that too and the place is happily light not dark. We liked it. We noted a lovely courtyard out the back too. That would be very inviting on a warmer day than today. There are other things we loved and others we found a bit odd here. In the latter category was that our table was quite sticky. Not much of an issue you'd say. It can happen anywhere, of course. But, the off putting bit was that the two other tables close by were both sticky too. Clearly an issue then. We loved the sparkling water on tap here. The best places do this these days. Melbourne has beautiful water. Why not just carbonate it on site as they do so wisely here rather than trying to sell you bottled sparkling water with huge food miles on it. Even better, they give you the choice here at the table and you get both sparkling and still. A small thing but we really liked it. Onto the food then and the tale of two dishes. I asked the excellent server for a recommendation. He said that the Bacon Avo Salsa was very popular so I chose that. It was a great recommendation. I adored this dish. I've had much fancier brunch dishes in recent time and this dish wipes the floor with all of them. It's cleverly composed and arranged and beautifully cooked. The bacon is astonishingly good. It's a generous serve of two good thick slices which are deliciously smoky. You also get a very generous serve of smashed avocado on the side. Perfect to have with the two toasted slices of really gorgeous bread which was itself smeared with heroism amounts of a pesto dip. Add some nicely done eggs and you've got a really good brunch dish for mine. I absolutely adored it. The only slightly negative comment is that the Jalapeño wasnt as evident as I would have preferred. The warmth in the dish was a bit subtle for me. But, overall, a great dish that I'd happily travel mikes for. On the other hand, the world's most beautiful woman didn't like her dish at all. She had the breakfast bruschetta which she thought was a bit messy and tasteless. I did notice she finished it all though. I had a little taste myself. It seemed ok but nowhere near as good as my dish, is all I'll say. We finished with coffees which were excellent. Very fine Melbourne standard coffees. I'd happily drink coffee as good as this anytime, anywhere. There was lovely service throughout here. Our young server was smart, attentive, polite and efficient. Other servers gave us cheery smiles and the odd nice word as well. Good stuff. This place has a nice feel. I liked it very much and in my mind it deserves its current high rating. read more

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very popular cafe with a constant feed of patrons either waiting to be seated or paying. We ordered the short cut bacon with avo and the roast spring lamb. Love the short cut bacon the most on a bed of chillie based pesto on sour toast .. the lamb was good some parts of the salad was tossed in fish sauce so you get a mixture of different flavours. Problem is ... don't expect to get full from it!! Coffee here is was quite good. read more

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People rave about this place and yes if you're an Omni the menu is interesting for brunch, but let me count the ways I dislike the place: 1) You can't bring large groups, they have a communal table, when I tried to book it I was told I couldn't. 2) Waiting. You're looked down upon whilst they'll chaotically organise a wait list - good luck not getting frustrated as late comers get in before you 3) The noise. Crashing played over the top of blaring music in a concrete floored venue will make conversation impossible. The courtyard isn't much better with a sound system installed put there 4) If you're in the courtyard and need the heaters - wait your turn 5) Waiting is an art form - wait for a seat, wait for a menu, wait to order, wait to get served 6) No vegan options, whilst they will change menu items to suit you need to point out what you want, wouldn't it be easier for them to just have a vegan option? Every vegetarian breakfast has eggs or cheese, mixed salads cheese!!? I don't want to put you off a hearty meal, I just think the negative points here need pointing out as everybody races about the joint. If it was in Fitzroy??? Don't think it would rate as highly!!! read more

A place for those city centre types to be jealous of! Fantastic coffee but I did find the meme challenging. Maybe if they offered a sample menu with every item on it at a small size the I would be happy ad choosing just one dish for breakfast-lunch was almost impossible. Our table got 6 different breakfasts and they were all amazing. Sometimes a place with the goods is let down by the service. We interacted with about 6 staff and we wanted to take then home with us. Who wouldn't? Having funny, caring attentive people around you who also bring you good food and coffee is what I'd love in our house! My good loving friend said its high up on his favourite places ever. Soo good and it's the kind of place you will want to return to many many times. read more

Boy is this place a hidden gem! It's quite intimate but big at the same time. I was quite impressed. The coffee was good and very balanced. My colleague got a tea and it came out with a 1, 3 & 5 minute hourglass sand timers. Serious stuff! I had the pulled beef Po boy. While not an exact southern US replica, it was still really tasty. All in all, a great find. Go there. Really. read more

Nice atmosphere, friendly staff and amazing coffee. The meal was delicious with my only criticism being that the toasted rye was quit hard. I'll definitely be going back. read more

Merchants Guild - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Bentleigh East, VIC

A good coffee.....and the porridge was yum!! Definitely a place I'd come back to! Eas an interstator it was easy to find. read more

Merchants Guild - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Bentleigh East, VIC

Padre beans, Prana chai, good food... Toto, we're not in Bentleigh anymore! Merchants Guild looks like it was transplanted straight out of the inner north and into an otherwise average suburban shopping strip. The coffee is delicious, the menu diverse and the staff friendly. They also dish up a different type of hollandaise sauce with their eggs bennie daily, so be sure to ask what it is when you visit. Grab a table outside on a sunny day if you can, as the inside can feel a little too cosy sometimes. read more

Excellent, friendly and super helpful staff, very fresh and yummy food and the overall layout is roomy and on point. Love too that they are growing their own herbs in an Urban Cultivator. read more

When you think of great coffee and creative brunches, suburban East Bentleigh isn't the first area that comes to mind. However, Merchants Guild will make you change your mind. The menu is an impressive mix, with traditional options as well as more innovative choices. Majority of the meals are served on wooden platters, which ties in well with the international influences on the meals - including Mexican, Spanish and even Vietnamese tastes. With a communal table, this is not your standard dull cafe out in the suburbs.The interior definitely stands out as something much more pleasing than what the rest of the local shopping street offers. I will definitely be returning to Merchants Guild, especially now that I've heard talk of their phenomenal Chai. I just wish I knew earlier! read more

Extremely busy so be prepared to get your name on a list to wait. That said, coffee was well prepared and the food itself well presented. The thick cut bacon is a nice touch and the open kitchen gives it a homely feeling. There's a reason the crowd is here and not near anything else on this row of shops. read more

Decent coffee, big place, nice interior, had the fruit toast with butter and it was delicious Not much else in the area of this calibre in terms of cafes read more

Coffee is delicious, and poached eggs were cooked perfectly. My only criticism is that the avocado doesn't come smashed so I can eat it with my eggs. read more

Loooooove this place. Friendly waiters, great cosy atmosphere and the food is out of control! I get the sardines on rye with smashed avocado peas and fetta. If you are a bit unsure about sardines, don't be. They have the nicest ones hight quality from movida. Mississippi chicken is also outstanding. So is the meatloaf and the Vietnamese roll. Mouth watering as I type this review. May need to head back there now. The chefs are cute and the two owners are pretty spunky looking too. Yum all round. read more

Simple poached eggs on toast with avocado was nothing short of delicious. (Be warned, no hash browns on the menu)

Never going here again. The service was so rude not sure it if it was the owner or not but very bad attitufe. The food was ok but no customer service at all. read more

Yes, a bit pretentious to my liking, tea comes out with eggtimers 3 of them, warm mineral water, pork neck sandwich is just bits of ham on toasted bread with mustard and staff rolling their eyes when you alerted them to the fact. Some were nice. I also expected a little more from a 20 dollar burger in a brioche bun, which also took a while. Thats just my point of view. read more