Cutesty, lovely vibe. Amazing waffles (I ate them too fast to take a photo). Has a bunch of power-points, looks like a great place to work on a thesis while fully supplied with good coffee.

'Cucina' is Italian for kitchen. And certainly the decor when you walk inside this cafe/ restaurant has an Italian theme. But the food is much more varied. The brekkie menu ranges from your savoury dishes (such as eggs Benedict, sardines on toast, poached eggs with buffalo mozzarella) thru to fruit and yoghurt, acai, or waffles with berries. In fact, I'd rate their breakfasts as some of the best I've tried...( and I've tried quite a few cafe breakfasts over the years). There are at least 10 different meals to choose from for brekky alone.. and each one has its own interesting taste. Plenty of tables of different types inside- eg for business deals, pre-Court conferences, or just the family meal. And weather permitting, there are several tables outside to enjoy the streetscape and 'passing parade'. Hanna is usually there to greet you with a smile...and she is just the most perfect example of a friendly waitress- always considerate, thoughtful, and she has a great sense of humour!!! Cucina on Hay is on Hay Street in the East end, 3 doors down from the corner of Hay and Irwin Street. It's an ideal location, across from Westin and just near the Courts precinct.....(Hence it is not uncommon to see lawyers meeting with their clients at Cucina , or just enjoying a 'pre - trial' meal).

Got an eggs bene and smashed avo which we found to be pretty average compared to similar offerings elsewhere. Perhaps I'm being a Melbourne snob but just being honest. Service and atmosphere was good.

We had a great experience at Cucina On Hay. Lovely big serves, very fresh. Pineapple juice was huge and delicious. Italian Omelette again was a lovely big serve, and lots of goodies in it. And smoked salmon with caper Berries was lovely with the balsamic drizzle. Just a shame we ate it before a photo! We will return again. We ate 8.30 Sunday morning when it was fairly quiet, and by 9am the place was almost full of customers.

OMG FORGOT ABOUT THIS DISH CALLED IS BUT ITS AMAZINGGGG!!! COFFEE OF COURSE YOU MAY ALL KNOW COFFEE HERE IS 💯🤌🏻

Terrible service. Ordered two takeaway coffees, and the waitress ignored making our order for 10 mins, despite the fact there were no other customers in the cafe. The waitress then proceeded to make a milkshake for herself despite our order being outstanding. When questioned, the waitress proceeded to say payment didn't go through even though we showed her evidence of our bank transaction. The manager then had to step in and subsequently made our coffees, which only took a minute, but he got our order wrong and made us the wrong coffee. By that time, we had been waiting for 15 minutes, so we told him not to worry about remaking the coffees. To top it off, the beans were burnt. Would not recommend coming here for coffee. The service and attitude from the waitress was the biggest disappointment from the whole experience.

I just had coffee. It came quickly. It tasted good. What more could one want 🥳

The food was great but wasn't what I ordered 3 times. Menu offers lamb shanks but not available. Most of the staff are great with the exception of 2 guys that were a bit rude

The location is good, free CPP parking cross road at night. The staff is friendly. We had the prawns for starter, it looks a bit sad with one very dried bread. The prawns doesn’t taste fresh. The sausages were ok though. Got a medium steak while we asked for a medium rare one, $35 is a bit too pricy for the quality of meat. The fish was alight. It’s a bit disappointed that two out of three dessert are not available permanently as they were crossed out on the menu. The only one that is available is sticky pudding which is a bit too sweet.

The girl on the counter was absolutely nice. I asked for two sides only avocado and bread - I was charged for eggs on avocado. She was super kind and gave a refund with no problem. Somebody came in asking for water and she was very nice and even offered ice. The portion of avocado I got was very generous . Can’t wIt to come back and try the vegan parmigiana . The cafe was excellent.

Just plain bad. It used to have one great dish which was the baked eggs but its been taken off the menu. Service was poor and it reeks of toxic workplace with how some of the manager(s?) Talk to their staff. Food was mediocre and we had to wipe our own tables and literally every free table was sticky. One couple next to us waited twenty minutes after ordering before someone asked them what they were waiting for. They looked the staff deadpan in the eyes and said "food". It was a good laugh but honestly would rather just head next door where its smaller but infinitely better. Oh and the ice coffee I had tasted like coffee powder mixed into cold water 😬.

Ordered a tiramisu take away and walked 4 minutes away to my place and opened the bag to this puddle of a mess. So disappointed, no mascarpone cheese appears just a soggy biscuit and a spray of whipped cream? This should be illegal for an Italian restaurant

We've got coffee here every morning before leaving our hotel. We were so pleasantly surprised by how reasonable it was for a central city location. Other coffee shops in the area do not compete well at all. Service is great, fast and coffee is good. We've struggled to find coffee comparable to Adelaide and expected to pay a premium so very pleasantly surprised.

Walked in on NYE to two people working. Both weren't able to even give us some water and told us to pretty much get it ourselves. Waited an hour and a half for three dishes and they were absolutely disgusting. They were inedible, the fish was raw, everything was dry and tasteless. $72 were thrown out the window and it all tasted terrible. Wouldn't recommend it at all unless you like eating really bad food and waiting hours for it.

I don’t think I’ve ever had such terrible food. Ordered a “lunch special” salad which was a beetroot and feta salad. I got rocket leaves, tinned baby beetroot and feta. Literally that was all. No dressing. Also ordered a side of bread and got two slices of stale bread. Wish I’d had Maccas. Sorry, was a massive disappointment!

Went on a Tuesday for lunch. It was busy but still had 1 or 2 free tables. Had the lunch special haiwaiian pizza, which was average. The cucina burger was very nice and would be a dish I'd eat again if I went again. The ice long black was also very nice, not sour, and the amount of bitter.

The food is nice. Staff are nice. The issue i have is when i order a toasted anything it is not toasted. It is heated up but no browning of the bread or roll. A toastie is is more than just heating it up. It should be browned. If this was done would give 5 stars

I ordered Fettuccine Pasta and expected to have something long, strand-like pasta that is often served with a creamy, dairy-based sauce, BUT I got a dish of Orecchiette Pasta; the taste wasn’t too bad! Customer service also can be better!

Disappointing. A "cucina" with a few basic Italian dishes, none of the being original or memorable. Not a single original, signature dish. Very limited wine selection, embarassing really even for a small place like that. Two menu items not available "sorry we don't have". That's not good enough under any circumstances. Painfully slow kitchen service on what seemed to like a rather quiet night. No real ambience or decor, nothing that says "Italian", generic interior design and annoying music. Ice chocolate seemed to be missing promised ice cream. Super cheap tomato sauce served with our meals. Below average chips, soggy and not crunchy. Decent Cucina Burger. Decent and fresh fish. Good serving sizes. Overall below average and disappointing. Would not visit again. Not recommended

Crazy overpriced brunch! It was yum, service was good, and coffee nice…. But 22 dollars for one piece of toast with half an avocado?

Tiny serving and extremely expensive for very minimal food. Would not recommend going there at all, got completely ripped off. Added bacon to my meal for $5 and they gave me 1 rasher of short cut bacon

Good food, but the super-long wait was a deal-breaker. We (2 persons) arrived for dinner at about 645pm on a Wednesday evening, and placed our orders within 10minutes. At that time, the restaurant was fairly empty, but diners started arriving shortly after. Some of these other diners placed their orders, were served, finished eating, and LEFT before we were served our meal! We received our food slightly over an hour after placing our order. When we asked our server what was going on with our food, she actually looked puzzled and asked us what we ordered! It's a pity that it was such a terrible experience, because the food was pretty good.

Quite a pleasant restaurant for a light meal. Receptionist/waitress was very cheerful and helpful.

Felt like it wasn't worth it, paid $17 for just one waffle... Tasted nice but don't think I'll be going back.

The decor and place are super nice and modern. The coffee is average and could be improved but it was good enough for me to consider.going back to try their breakfast and dinner menu.

The food was spectacular both brekkie and dinner the wait time wasent at all bad for food this good. At a price like this is a blessing will deffo comin back

Its such a cosy little place the atmosphere is lovely! Excellent food, the breakfast bruschetta is just delicious, gorgeous coffee and amazing staff, Thank you ❤🥰

Decent Vegan options Even a vegan desert..👍

Ate lunch here 3 times while attending some training. Food is OK. Pizza were good as informed by the other trainees. I also had the duck, but it was super sweet. Chicken main was OK, was not what I expected. Restaurant smelt to much of a fry up.

My partner and I came for breakfast. The place was clean and tidy, friendly staff. However, my partners croissant wasn’t cooked properly, leaving it doughy and the “poached” eggs, with the eggs benny were hard boiled. Which is funny because the place only offers “poached” eggs. Sorry guys if you’re going to charge $22 for eggs, it’s important to get it right. Only saving grace was the coffee, good coffee. Probably won’t be back.

Horrible coffee, staff got my order wrong. Asked for oat milk cap but got normal milk cap instead. Kept me waiting before I was served. Coffee is definitely a no-no here.

The food is amazingly full of flavour. Well presented, great staff. Highly recommend

Stopped in for Breakfast Saturday morning, had the omelette with a coffee. While the food was great, I had to go back and ask for my coffee as it had been forgotten. Good customer service should always be a priority.

I ordered a ham & cheese croissant, they gave me a croissant without ham and cheese 😂

A beautiful and serene place to enjoy coffee with friends. Looks like great bites to eat as well

Extremely accommodating. Offered me a salad when i asked for no potatoes with my roast. Awesome service

25 minutes to deliver a steak sandwich at 2:15pm. Chips were cold and soggy and fit for seagulls

Duck pasta was nice, but instead of the burnt sage butter advertised, it was smothered in bad packet gravy... Never in my life have I had pasta smothered in gravy... My husband had the lamb shank, which was covered in the same gravy as my pasta. The 'risotto' on his dish was from a packet and inedible. The kids had pizza, which was the best dish of the lot... It's been over an hour and I still can't get the taste of bad gravy out of my mouth... I went to boarding school and am not a fussy eater, but this was the worst meal I have had in YEARS! Staff just shrugged off our comments.