Mixed Business

Much respect for what these guys do. It can be crowded and yes it’s pretty much hipster central, but it’s still my favourite place for breakfast in Melbourne. Get to know Lauren and you will be rewarded with one of her beaming smiles.

Awesome food, lovely service BUT the coffee tastes like added cleaning detergent.
Would come again for food but get my coffee fix elsewhere

Fantastic Menu great food good atmosphere with a very friendly service pet friendly too.

This café is so pretty. I fell in love with it’s ambience, simple but delicate food and the exceptionally attentive staff members.
Very busy by 10am on a Sunday, but Mixed Business seem to have perfected the exact number of staff for a weekend. We sat outside in the courtyard with the perfect amount of shade and garden.
I ordered my standard poached eggs, but really wanted a side on another option which when I mentioned the staff very generously offered with my order (which when I got the bill we noticed for no extra cost! Amazing!). This brunch was melt in your mouth scrumptious. Even though I was full I kept going to finish it all.
The coffee was lovely. After brunch the staff offered more coffee (I love this customer service!) and were still very attentive — no eating and running here. Perfect for lazy Sunday chats. There never seems to be too much of a queue either — I don’t know how!
I’ve been popping in for a takeaway coffee for a few weeks now, and recently re-​attended for brunch. Though a fructose-​free loopy, I just couldn’t go past their Maple Apple waffles; and the suffering was worth it 100%. Sitting inside, the space is generous between tables and feels really light and open. Again, the staff are perfect at their roles.
I love this place. LOVE. I would live here if I could.
Oooh, also make sure you check the flower shop next door — can’t help myself!

This place was pumping at 10am on a Sunday morning. Good coffee, prompt service and avocado and feta on toast — maketh a happy Unilocaler indeed.

I really love Mixed Business, especially the Ploughman’s Breakfast (which always makes me feel sad for the ploughman). Their coffees aren’t great, with the match between the bean blend and milk sometimes ending up a bit sour. Their espresso is better, and I am told that the chai soy latte is particularly special. Staff are friendly, and very attentive, and the general atmosphere is perfect for an early morning breakfast before heading off to work.

Went for a late Tuesday breakfast. Nicely positioned next to a cute flower shop, plenty of space, very bright and airy. Nearly empty, staff were attentive, friendly and quick. Coffee here is a meal in itself, quite full flavoured. Food came very quickly.
I ordered poached eggs with pancetta and parmesan. Everything was fresh and full flavoured, eggs were just right, and good portion sizing too. Would have liked slightly staler /​crunchier sourdough, but that’s just being too fussy, right?

Easily the best café in Clifton Hill. The kitchen serves until 4pm, which really suits my late appetite. The staff are friendly, efficient and very polite.
They have several interesting things on the menu, my favourite is the Greek Beans which have a lot of flavour and come with poached eggs. The gingerbread waffles are also delightful, served with an amazing vanilla bean ice-​cream.
The coffee is always consistent — I’m yet to be disappointed.

Quaint little spot offering poached eggs in just about every way. If poached eggs are your thing — they looked pretty amazing. Alas, it’s not mine… but their porridge was also spot on and my dining buddy looked pretty satisfied with theirs too.

Maybe we’re just not cool enough to really «get» Mixed Business. Or maybe we struck a bad day. Whatever it was, I walked out wondering if I’d just been to the same place other Unilocalers seem to rte so highly.
We had to wait for a table, which is no big deal. We wondered why tables were so spaced out in the room when there’s a queue, but figured that was part of the ambience, and better than being squashed. My tea, L’s smoothie and C’s coffee came at three different times; odd, but OK.
We ordered … and waited. And waited. We estimate it took 45mins+ from being seated to getting food. Even at a busy Sunday brunch service, that’s not great. And the food? It was good. The eggs were poached well, my Greek-​style beans were nice enough, and both L and C enjoyed their choices.
I finished my pot of tea before the meals arrived … and no-​one offered me another drink. C had to wave her arms around to get a second coffee. And that’s why there are only two stars clicked for this review. Three star food, two star service, and there’s no half-​star option.

The best word to describe this café is quaint. The whole café has a certain kind of charm to it, from the books stacked on the shelf to the piles of blankets ready in case you’re feeling a little cold. The service is quick and attentive to your needs. The menu looked impressive but this morning I stuck to just the coffee. If the food is anywhere near as good as the coffee, I might just have to add an extra star!
This morning was my first time at Mixed Buisness and I’m already looking forward to my return. I’ve just started a placement around the corner from this café so I’m glad to have already spotted such a great little spot to visit. Next time I’m in the area, I’ve already decided to have a late brunch here in the garden courtyard.

Best eggs of 2011 go to Mixed business, I’ve been going for 2 years and never had a bad meal.
Coffee can be hit and miss depending on who’s making it — wish they used Bonsoy…

The last time I was here my girlfriend and I met up with her family down from Sydney, that space during the uni semester break, threatening rain and a little cold. She, being the magical person that she is, got away with the idea of ordering soup for breakfast. Granted it was a late breakfast, but there is something about the availability of Lamb Shank and Lentil soup being available at that hour. But each to their own, the lovely one did enjoy it, as all of us did overall.
The place is very hard to fault.
The coffee and food is great. Poached Eggs on toast with Salmon is said to be a winner, as are their chicken schnitzel rolls with seeded mustard.
The waiters are lovely. Only strange bit is tables don’t get a bottle of water to share, instead the waiters are constantly hovering and filling water glasses like an American Diner.
The décor with its old street signs and vintage bits is wonderful. Even waiting for a table outside in the possibly not warm is ok. People seem to come and go rather quickly, and if you do end up finding yourself eating outside, on colder days the waiters provide you with warm blankets.

This is one of those cafes that you feel slightly embarrassed telling your mates you went to because it’s got a rep of being a proper foodie type café. In fact, I ran into a buddy at a Tote (one place that is not embarrassing to admit you’ve been to) afternoon gig and he was so apprehensive about revealing his food-​loving tendencies that I had to pry the information from him with a fork.
Mixed Business do serious café food and really, really fucking good coffee. I’ve had this amazing white beans and sausage breakfast here that will go down as one of the most inventive and yummiest café breakfasts I’ve ever had. The trouble is, I keep running into my foodie mates here and I’m worried about my reputation. I try to play it all tough and blasé like y’know, I don’t give a shit about food and stuff. But really, this place is dragging me out of the closet… So to speak.

Over the weekend Mixed Business is hectic. Getting a table for breakfast is near impossible so I prefer to visit this adorable establishment in the afternoon or during the week.
Mixed Business offers a tasty breakfast and lunch menu as well as service with a smile. The wait staff are attentive and usually handle the breakfast rush well. I prefer to sit in the lane way of a courtyard out the back which offers relief from other customers and the noise of Queens Parade.
The coffee is always good and there is an abundance of fresh flowers dotted around the building from neighbouring Fowlers Flowers. Its a great spot for coffee or a post shag breakfast.

An erstwhile furniture shop on Clifton Hill’s High Street, Mixed Business is one of those popular Melbourne cafes that is ever so slightly derelict from the outside, artfully decorated inside and, as Gabriel P. has rightfully observed, doesn’t appear to have so much as a name.
Serving its loyal clientele a mixture of good — if not amazing — coffee and light breakfasts and lunches — its sandwiches are ok — Mixed Business has a sweet little courtyard outside complete with quaint lemon trees and herb gardens, while its interior is all bleached out concrete flooring, white walls and nostalgically pendulous light fittings.
Good if not the best, Mixed Business is a great spot for a bit of lunch in the sunshine or a quick coffee while dreaming of having an equally lovely lemon tree at home. A perfectly pleasant Melbourne café.

From the moment we were in there to the moment we left we were well looked after.
The staff was constantly aware of us without being overbearing and always there if we wanted to order more coffees or food.
We chose to sit outside in the quaint courtyard, which was covered in flowers and really charming. We got our breakfast and it was delicious. I had the poached eggs on gluten free bread (which tasted great, plenty of yummy grains) with the slow-​roasted tomato, pancetta and parmesan. It was spot on for the price and I was struggling to finish it. Completely worthwhile.
A great place to go have breakfast with friends and get your money’s worth. The coffee is fantastic too. The food arrived in a timely manner and our waters were always full. We never felt forgotten for a moment. These guys are pro’s.

This café is so good they don’t even bother having a sign with their name on out the front of the building.
In fact the only reason I know it is called mixed business is because that is what people have told me it’s called. What I do know about this place is that the food is good, the coffee is good and the service is good. They have a nice side garden and are definitely worth checking it out if you are in the area and can find it. It is situated next to a florist and a Thirsty Camel FYI.

I’ve been to mixed business a few times now and can safely say that it has been a very enjoyable time on each occasion. The setting is really cool with a light and airy décor. The courtyard area is great when it is sunny complete with a beautiful lemon tree. The staff are always really friendly, attentive and genuinely seem really happy with their jobs.
Their coffee is as good as you’d expect in Melbourne from a leading brunch spot. They have some pretty cool fruit based drinks with a berry and apple smoothie, lemon and mint soda, and a number of fresh juices.
Their main kind of eggs is poached (which can be annoying) but they do cook them to perfection and have a number of interesting choices that differ greatly from the run of the mill Benedict and Florentine. The potato rosti, avocado and tomato relish with poached eggs is a personal favourite.

I forgot how much I love Mixed Business. It is a trek for me to go to because it’s on the border of Clifton Hill and Northcote, but it is definitely worth it.
Always busy for the weekend brunch, you’ll most likely have to wait for a table. But once the wait is over, you’ll receive great service and food. The staff is diligent, filling up your water glass constantly and putting in your coffees straight away. Even when it’s busy and they should be flustered, the servers are on top of it.
My favourite thing about Mixed Business is their menu — it’s fantastic! Great brunch and lunch options from poached eggs with all sorts of breakfast ingredients ($ 12-​$ 15) and warm rolls filled with tasty meats and greens ($ 9). I’ve tried the poached eggs with rosemary rosti and poached eggs with salmon and goat’s cheese, but my all time favourite is the ham hock with white beans and leek ($ 15). It’s served warm and the perfect dish for a brisk Sunday afternoon. Their coffees are great and they offer various juices from freshly squeezed orange juice to guava and strawberry.
If you find yourself this far north, you should definitely try Mixed Business.