Cafenatics

Good food, consistent and great service! Wished they had more breakfast variety.

Great coffee and fantastic service. Good lunch options although good luck getting much of a choice after 1.30 — lunch usually sells out so get in early!
Breakfast wrap and coffee for $ 10 in the morning is a great deal and super delicious. Yum.

This café is a little tricky to find if you’re not familiar with the area. Church Lane runs between Collins Street and Little Collins Street, so you need to go behind 500 Collins Street building into the alleyway to get to the right place. Don’t look for this café inside the building as you will come up empty. Anyway … once you’re here, you’ll find a really nice little place. It has tables, a nice servery with a range of good quality sandwiches, soup, salads and good coffee. It’s a popular lunch spot and in a good central location for Collins Street, William Street and Bourke Street people. I’d come here again — thank you.

Continuing my coffee tour of Melbourne, I stopped by this branch Cafenatics after reading good things about it.
I was pleasantly satisfied by the latte I ordered. My first taste provided a little concern: it’s a darker roast (or at least the flavour had more body) than I typically enjoy. However, the intensity and bitterness quickly subsided and were quickly replaced by some really rich flavours that complemented each other quite well. I leave the description to someone with a better coffee vocab; suffice to say that I appreciated the flavours that came through.
I’d happily return here again and would recommend the coffee to others.
The venue itself is quite pleasant. There’s a large communal table and a couple of two-​seat tables near the counter, and there are a number of two and four seat tables on a raised level. The décor features dark wood, an interesting concrete ceiling, and green wallpaper along the rear of the raised area.

OK, so you’re looking for a funky spot to catch up with friends for lunch, one of which is a coffee snob, another on a budget and the last is a wannabee foodie. Where do you go… definitely Cafenatics in Church Lane.
The Church Lane version of this successful franchise is the best I’ve tried after sampling 6 outlets so far. The interior is a combination of funky garage architecture, relaxed designer furniture with cool tunes. The place isn’t massive, which adds to the appeal, having standard table seating for around 30 and a communal table for another 12.
Most of the turnover is lunch take away from the prepared baguettes, ciabattas and flat bread sandwiches at prices $ 8.50-$ 10.50. Chorizo and grilled veg is awesome.
The eat in menu is well worth the additional time to linger with some tasty and healthy soups, salads and risotto’s on offer every day. Prices are moderate also eg $ 12 for a decent bowl of soup with toasted ciabatta on the side.
Coffee, I cant believe I’ve left this to last, it’s consistently one of the best brews I’ve tried, perhaps that’s why these guys will all those awards. Veneziano supply the beans, which is at least 50% of the reason for the great brew. The other reason is the quality of the Baristas. Also to note, for the coffee snobs, is the single origin of the day (typically from El Salvador, Uruguay, Colombia or India).
Go try these guys … well worth the effort in my opinion.