Degraves Espresso Bar

Love the food and really filling though would give it 4 to 5 stars if it had credit card facilities for ease of access. Though locals love it and it’s full in early hours of night so must be good and I did find it a relaxing place to eat. Greg

Excellent friendly service.
Beautiful outdoor seating space in the middle of Degraves street.
Perfectly executed flat white and a good custard tart. Not too sweet and the cutest perfectly flaky.
A good spot to take a break from if you’ve been out and about exploring the city.

Two reasons why you should visit this place:
— It’s located in SUCH a lovely street. Have a seat on the tables in front of the restaurant!
— The carrot cake is to DIE for. The cake itself was amazing, and it’s served with terrific vanilla ice cream. Like the best vanilla ice cream I’ve eaten in years (I’m usually not a huge fan on the flavour but this one tasted like magic).
And it was pretty cheap compared to what we got.
The coffee was pretty decent as well.

what the big bang is to the universe degraves espresso is to the melbounre coffe scene the café is situated on a pedestrian only laneway setting the scene for the quintessential city café experience the interiot and furniture are best described as recycled chic the but adaptable and the use of old theate chairs is a unique nostaigic touch

We popped in this spot on a chilly morning before heading to the zoo. We liked their movie theatre style seats. FYI, they are cash only! Surprisingly, we had some of the best service at this spot! Their menu sounded really good and it was hard for me to choose, but after confering with our server, I got the poached egg bruschetta and Brian O got the eggs Benedict. Both were very good and the eggs were perfectly poached. There were several other breakfast items that sounded equally as lovely and I wouldn’t hesitate to go back here on another visit.
I am surprised by the more poor reviews as this was a place that impressed us.
They serve tapas at night and can’t speak to those, but service and breakfast were a real win here!

I can only rate and comment on the lattes and service and both were great. I was doing my wandering tourist thing — my challenge on that day was going through all the lanes and arcades. Found this place, sat down out in the street, ordered a latte and people watched. Then ordered another latte — by the way the lattes are good and reasonably priced. Plus like what has been said in other reviews Degraves Street has a nice feel to it. One of my favorite lanes.

A melbourne institution, which has become a tourist haunt. Don’t eat here. Brunch is average and extremely overpriced. Do– Have a coffee outside and soak up the atmosphere.

Well, a café that uses cinema seats — cool. In fact that is probably the thing I like the most about this place, oh and the staff, there pretty cool as well, but they don’t beat the cinema seats — in fact nothing beats the second-​hand cinema seats, not that I realised they were cinema seats until the third of forth time I came here, and when I discovered that it was like ‘cool, cinema seats’. Make sure you bring cash because they don’t have eftpos, which can be a little embarrassing, but I always ask before I buy anything because I really don’t want to get caught out and have to leave something like my mobile phone while I go and get some money from the nearest autoteller. The menu isn’t that extensive, and they don’t make the tea the way I like it but who cares — they have cinema seats.

Meeting friends in the city? Degraves Espreso is your go-​to place. Easy to find, great atmosphere in the iconic Degraves Street, even though you’ll be waiting for a table on a busy weekend. Inside is very squishy, but not unbearable. Being so close to your fellow brunchers creates a warm, fuzzy sense of community (as long as your neighbours are the friendly types!) Outside in the street is the best place to sit. You’re right in the midst of the hustle of the street. A very ‘Melbourne’ place to be! The service here is never great. The staff are friendly enough, but they’ll take a while to serve you and may forget what you’ve just ordered, but if you can forgive this, Degraves Espresso is a great place to come. The coffee is consistently good, albeit very strong! The poached eggs on rye with avocado is my staple here, and never fails to satisfy my weekend brunch cravings. On cold winter days, I love to come and sit in the window and order the daily soup — always hot, delicious and extremely tasty.
Whether you’re catching up with a friend, or on your own with a good book, come and soak up some Melbourne vibes at Degraves!

Take away coffee was delish, sat inside while a waited and the atmosphere was very fun. All of the staff were very friendly and more than willing to help.

Went here for breakfast and had the signature French toast with maple syrup and strawberries –the meal was delicious! Coffee was great here too. Friendly staff, will definitely be going back.

This is my go to place for coffee in Melbourne. The staff are friendly and bubbly, and depending on the barista you can have some amazing latte art on your coffee.
Porridge for breakfast today, topped with honey, cinnamon and pear. Even with a head cold it tastes gorgeous!
I love the setting as well, tucked down an alley (not an ominous one though!), the interior is warm and inviting.

Worst, ah. Degraves is one of those places that is generally never really mind-​blowingly amazing, but always very passable (for both location and brunch). This place unfortunately is neither of those things.
All outdoor patrons here will smoke right into your food. It’s just a pity the food is already so poor in quality, that the smoke actually doesn’t detract all that much from it.
I had the vegetarian breakfast. The beans were burnt and just … odd in terms of herbs used. The poached eggs were rubbery and overly vinegared. The mushrooms tasted like water, as did the tomato. Nothing was really edible.

This is my go-​to plaec for coffee in the city. It’s in a central location and the coffee is ALWAYS of high standard. It can quite often be busy, and if you’re sitting outside it isn’t always the most comfortable since the seating is the packed middle section of Degraves. Inside is nice and comfy though, really casual with what I think are vintage movie theatre seats.
The service can be a bit touch and go, but I’ve found if you’re proactive in getting someone’s attention things are a lot easier. It’s not the kind of place to wait to be seated or wait for an order or expect people to check up on you. I do only come here for coffee though, I haven’t tried any of the food as it seems overpriced. I’ve had a juice and cocktail that have been on the average side. There are definitely better places to eat and have cocktails in Melbourne, but I’ll keep coming back here for my coffee needs.

What a find. This place successfully punches above its weight for dining, in the heart of laneway tourism.
Surprisingly great food. Plain simple quality dishes very well executed. Something I didn’t expect given the hyper cool trendy style and young staff.
So I was delighted to find there’s so much more to this place than its trendy bohemian feel, with its second hand foldaway leather and metal frame seating that looks as if it is from some old small train carriages.
For $ 25 a caring chef delivers a beautifully grilled flavourful salmon fillet, with green beans that have their texture and flavour completely intact, and excellently done roast potatoes. All topped with the best rocket I’ve had, not too strong in taste. I wouldn’t be surprised if this same dish was $ 10 more elsewhere.
A nice range of wines by the glass. They also do freshly juiced juices and coffee.
Once I also found this was a good place for a hot chocolate and a chat with a friend.

The best coffee on Degraves isn’t a huge compliment in all honesty. I worked off of Degraves for a decent run and often made a 20 minute round trip to haunts on Little Bourke or down before the station turn-​styles to Cup of Truth instead of walking two minutes to here.
The service is fairly blunt and short and the interior of the place could do with a touch up. Behind the desks there are birds nests of phone and power cabling with a cramped kitchen thrown in at the rear. The seating inside is worn and the table layout cramped and difficult to navigate during busy periods.
There’s a Synesso three group espresso machine on the counter and they roast their own beans which shows they are serious about producing a good cup.
The espressos I had from here were usually pretty balanced, thick, but acidic. The roast is darker than a specialty roaster would go, but not quite Italian (read; destroyed/​black/​greasy) roast, so there’s still some character there.
Like most places on Degraves they seemed centered around churning and burning as many tourists as they can through the place which is disappointing because with some interior work and by highlighting their own roasts and their espresso equipment more they could step up a couple of notches with minimal effort…

On the hunt for a slice of carrot cake, my prayers were answered when I caught a glimpse of one last slice, whispering my name from a tray through the Desgraves Espresso Bar window. My friend and I had no choice but to pay a visit, and enjoy a treat break during our city wander. Immediately upon entering the small, intimate space just off the narrow street of the same name, Desgraves offers a casual café atmosphere while harkening back to older times. The chairs appeared to be antique, and the tables reminded me of pioneer times school desks. Chalkboards above the window list the enticing brunch options and a variety of wines. I ordered the remaining carrot cake slice, paid, and sat at one of the tables in the corner.
We were brought water in a glass bottle that was once upon a time filled with wine. Not long afterwards, the slice of carrot cake arrived, having been topped with a dusting of icing sugar, along with two generous scoops of vanilla bean ice cream. I was very impressed with the presentation, and the taste was divine. My friend and I discussed the necessity of returning for breakfast sometime, and once I find myself in Melbourne again, I will stop on by for some breakfast and an espresso-​based beverage.

This place is pretty chill. It is situated on Degraves St in Melbourne so you get to sit outside under umbrellas and people watch while eating your meal. It definitely has a Europe feel to it. The service was good and the food was good. Pretty decent place to eat at when you’re in Melbourne and want that Degraves St experience.

It’s alright. Not as great as it used to be though. I feel like it got a great reputation a few years ago, the locals moved on but all the tourists still head there.
I don’t normally need sugar in my coffee to drink it, theirs did. We had fruit toast with marscarpone & honey only to have the honey in those hotel style, disposable packs.
Not worth visiting if you’re in Melbourne. There are loads of other places worth trying out (Caffe e Torta being one of them!)

Ambiance: Degraves Espresso Bar is a very popular, tiny little café on Degraves Street. They’re very minimal when it comes to décor and goes with the whole rustic cabin-​y feel (I’m talking plain wooden chairs, wooden tables, grey and brown everywhere).
Customer Service: I could tell that the servers were lovely people, but with the constant influx of customers, they start feeling really rush and the atmosphere turns a bit hectic. Don’t expect super-​friendly service, but they are polite and courteous.
Food: I ordered Eggs & Toast breakfast with a side of Smoked Salmon. It was a satisfying breakfast, but there was nothing really special about it — everything was a bit bland and lacked flavour. The other breakfast selections were rather plain as well. You have your general dishes that you can find in pretty much every café — Eggs Benedict, Big Breakfast, etc. but where’s the imagination? The flavour? In recalling my experiences with Degraves Espresso Bar, nothing exciting or inventive came to mind.
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I wouldn’t really recommend Degraves Espresso Bar to anybody, but I wouldn’t tell people it’s a bad idea either. It certainly gives a satisfying meal in a great location with decent wait times, but nothing beyond that unfortunately.