Time Out Cafe Fed Square

I had breakfast here and the coffee was excellent. Staff were attentive and helpful, willing to spend time and make sure the menu request was clear in all details. The food was delicious — perfectly poached eggs, great avocado (note: even as a side it is smashed, but it’s still great) and the smashed avo with fetta on toast my colleague ordered looked delish.
It’s fed sq, so it’s bigger & brighter than the typical melb café, but I did not miss the lane way feel :) it also seems relatively quiet for a weekday breakfast — partly because of the larger room — so it’s perfect if you want to have a conversation without shouting over the coffee grinder.
I will go again! Maybe I’ll try the Pimms breakfast drink suggestion :)

Good location, large selection of food and cool staff to take care of your service. Reasonable for pricing.

I decide to have a quick dinner here before a concert at Rod Laver Arena — it’s busy, but the service is good, so there’s no problem about getting in and out if you’re on a tight timeframe. The menu has a range of options — I choose some Bruschetta and a Roasted Pumpkin Salad. The bruschetta is as expected, small on bread but generous on tomato topping so that’s good. The Roasted Pumpkin Salad comes very well presented, inside huge cooked pumpkin slices — it looks great. Unfortunately though, if the chef thinks diners actually eat the entire salad, it’s a fallacy — the pumpkin is roasted alright, but not enough to actually cook it through, so it’s too hard to eat. Shame. The rest of the salad — leaves, fetta’ pine nuts, onion, tomato and dressing is good. Thank you.

Look around you… all tourists! Food is seriously below average and overpriced compared to surrounding cafes. We were seated 20 mins by hostess and I finally had to get up and ask if there is table service or if I needed to order and pay at the counter. When breakfast arrived I asked for jam (pretty common request for a breakfast serving establishment) and they have none! Asked for skim milk for long black and it took another 20 mins. I can now make iced coffee. Two words… tourist trap.

We have been here for breakfast on several occasions now. Breakfast is served til 3pm which is great for those who love a lazy start to the day!
The menu caters for all and is suitable for vegetarians. The Smashed Avocado with poached eggs is delicious and the menu items are well priced. The coffee is delicious also!
On a beautiful day, sitting outside is ideal, great atmosphere and vibe around Fed Square.
Highly recommend!

We ordered two pizzas and a bowl of fat chips to share between 2 kids and 2 adults.
The service was good and our meals came to the table very quickly after ordering.
On this warm day they continually walked around and topped up everyone’s water.
This has been my second visit and will come back again.

I know this is trivial, but what sort of name is «Time Out Café» for an eatery at one of Melbourne’s top spots? It sounds like the sort of place you would find in an airport serving overpriced toasted sandwiches and coffee that could dissolve a 20c piece.
Criticism aside, we checked out Time Out as a last resort. Degraves Street was chockablock, as to be expected on a sunny Saturday morning. We hit Flinders Street and thought Fed Square would be the best resort. Time Out looks the part, nestled amongst the bustle, though not bustling itself. What have we got to lose, we thought. At least the location was top-​notch.
I oped for the vegetarian breakfast, less eggs, with hash browns. My partner went eggs on toast – scrambled. Service was quick and friendly. I’m glad it was as the place was barren. I don’t understand how or why, but that generally spells *do not go here*.
My meal was good. Not great, but good. The hash browns were store-​bought. My partners eggs were perfect, he said. The coffee was great – Melbourne lives up to its reputation with regards to coffee. Hooray.
Later in the day we walked past Time Out again. It was bustling. Quite relieved to see that they are doing okay as all things considered, it’s a pretty good place.
++++ VEGAN FRIENDLINESS — No vegan options on the menu, but a few things can be adapted. They knew what «vegan» meant, which is a good start.

Time Out is in one of the best locations in Melbourne in the heart of Federation Square. The main attraction is the amazing view as you gaze across to iconic Flinders Street Station or indeed to Fed Square itself.
I was enjoying the Melbourne sun one crisp morning and wondered what it would be like to have breakfast in Fed Square before work.
The food at Time Out can be hit and miss according to pundits. The Lamb Shank pie is declared a winner as are other dishes. Many people swear by Time Out as a great destination to relax and enjoy a meal.
The fit out is modern with white crisp tables and chairs and green carpet with funky design on the wall. With sixties Beatles music playing (when I visited) it had a retro funky feel.
My breakfast was satisfactory with poached eggs on toast a simple option, although the bread was a bit too dry.
The coffee here is excellent with my strong latte a hit with creamy texture and excellent flavour.
Service was excellent with greeting as I entered and good engagement. My breakfast came out from the kitchen in a few minutes.

Touristy location = overpriced and ordinary.
I was visiting Melbourne for the weekend and my friends were taking me to Circus Oz; so they suggested we go to Time Out for dinner based on location and convenience. I wish I’d consulted Unilocal before we got there, because our experience was too similar to almost every other reviewer.
We ordered 2 share plates between the 3 of us (chicken skewers and salt and pepper calamari). We received salt and pepper chicken instead of the calamari. At first we were told that was what we had ordered (we hadn’t) and then we received a plate of salt and pepper calamari which was cold and chewy. In the meantime we had ordered the mains (2x salmon and 1x lamb tagine). Before it arrived, we consulted Unilocal and realised that this was not a one-​off experience. As for the mains, the salmon was warm and tasty but nothing special, the tagine very sweet. We left very dissatisfied.
Will make sure to avoid this place when next I find myself on or around Federation Square.

Time Out Café is centrally located in Federation Square. With such a prominent location, it attracts a lot of people. With a large outdoor seating area, it’s a great place to sit, have a cup of coffee, and do some people watching. The
The menu offers a range of food at affordable prices ($ 19). There are various sandwiches to mains that include schnitzel, penang curry, chicken penne, and caesar salad. The wine list isn’t anything special, but it’s on the cheaper side ($ 8). The dishes are substantial, but quite average. I wouldn’t come here just for food.
Time Out Café is really just an average place and because of its location and the foot traffic it continues to have patrons. But if you’re looking for a timeout, maybe skip Time Out Café and check out some of the better establishments nearby like Riverland.

While Time Out does have a killer location overlooking much of Fed Square, it doesn’t have much else going for it.
I had lunch here with a friend, and because it was a cold day we sat inside, which is decked out like I imagine a ‘casual café’ on a cruise ship would be — everything looks new but dated somehow.
Service was really slow, which was annoying since it was fairly quiet. I had the chicken penne which was less than impressive — I had to add quite a bit of salt to extract the flavour. My friend had a pizza of some description that he said was passable, but nothing to get excited by. I wouldn’t have minded all this so much if it wasn’t for the price — my pasta was $ 22, and I’ve had better for just $ 10 at La Porcetta. I think Time Out is a bit of a tourist trap, which is a shame since the rest of Fed Square’s venues are pretty good.

There’s something to be said for sitting in the outdoor section of Time Out in Federation Square, and just watching the city roll past. Preferably with a big cup of coffee. On a spring afternoon, where you’ve got a bright sun in the sky and the Melbourne winds brushing past.
You do pay a little for the privilege, though. Time Out aren’t cheap, especially if you grab a slice of cake. And, in terms of food and drink quality, they’re probably even over-​priced.
But hey, free wi-​fi from Fed Square. That’s worth a little premium, eh?

With a prime location in Fed Square and superb views over everything that’s happening, Timeout is also one of those places with a really cool vibe, relaxed but trendy atmosphere and casual yet professional staff.
Unfortunately the menu offers pretentious, over priced, café food at best, pretty average to bad tasting food at worst. I got a chicken burger here once and I swear to god, I nearly had to spit the first bite out. The sauce was just inedible. The only saving grace were my daughter’s chips and lets face it, you can’t go too wrong cooking chips.
I think as with most Fed Square cafes I’ve tried out, they just think the upper class look and location can afford them the right to charge exorbitant prices. Not so. It’s why most are empty during the day, while South Melbourne and St Kilda hot spots just don’t stop ²⁴⁄₇. It’s location, service, food and décor that’ll keep people coming back and allow you to charge the $ you want.
Great for a meet up spot, good coffee and wine. I just wouldn’t pay the $ for their shit food.

You really can come here any time of the day. And to a lesser extent, night.
Breakfast here is a winner. The coffee is amazing and you get to watch people rush by and in and out of Flinders Street Station as you tuck in to muffins, pancakes or even the odd Bloody Timeout (magical breakfast vodka).
Lunch keeps the light meals amazing with all manner of Mexican delicacies — Quesadillas are the winner, but the Flautas make an easy second.
And as the working folk make their way home why not stick into some after work brews over some pizzas to share or for those after finer dining a Pumpkin Risotto or even a curry.
Every meal covered, licensed and magical. The wait staff are prompt and as talkative as you need them to be.

A trendy, chic and inviting establishment at popular Federation Square. Focus was on Mexican food with a girlfriend on a Saturday night. The tabasco sauce was a killer, although my Indonesian girlfriend relished the entire experience. This was around the time I fell in love with a great man, and when your really in love with someone; your appetite literally goes out the window.
Sadly not at this restaurant. We ordered a set of nachos, and as the plate was beautifully presented with a different array of flavours on these eight nachos canapé like platters, we were both left hungry with too much spice to my liking. I could not stop coughing; and as a result my water consumption hit an all time high. This dish set us back $ 30; way too expensive for what we were actually receiving despite the service and environment being pretty up there.
As a result we ended up ordering more, and got to the simple menu items such as ordering a beef burger and chips off memory; and we were still a little hungry and gave up. We did not want to take a punt of dessert so we politely left and had dessert someplace else.