Big Mug Cafe

Good coffee, the waiter was not really on the mood serving me

The grumpy lady makes a good coffee. It's a Seinfeld "soup nazi situation" going on here.

I wrote this review to serve as a CAUTION for all the coffee connoisseurs out there to AVOID AT ALL COST. Came in to the Big Mug in the morning to be greeted by the unfriendly lady owner. I asked for a regular flat white and since I could not see any price board or menu at the counter, I trusted the lady owner (big mistake). I saw a Visa Tap n Pay machine displayed prominently, so hence I took out my credit card to pay. The lady owner quoted me $5 for a regular cup of Flat White, which surprised me for a minute as I thought that coffee prices in Perth has gone up suddenly. I was puzzled and thought that the coffee must be real special to justify the $5 for a regular cup. I sat down and was served my coffee. As I was drinking the "average" coffee, I was still curious for the $5 charged for my coffee. I then asked one of the waitress for the menu and was surprised to see that a regular cup of flat white cost $3.9. I clarified with the waitress that my cup of coffee was indeed the regular one not the large one and she replied yes to regular. I then went up to the counter to have a chat to the lady owner about why I was charged $5 for a cup of coffee and when the menu said $3.9. She then said that they charge a $1 surcharge for credit card transactions and pointed to a little surcharge sign on the cash register that was not very visible with some parts of the sign hidden behind a bunch of items. I then asked the lady owner as to why she did not tell me about the surcharge in the first place and she said well you paid for it already, hence too bad. After a few exchanges of words, I left the cafe in disgust as I saw no point arguing further with the rude lady owner over extra dollar. A little bit of maths for comparison, $1 surcharge for a $3.9 coffee equals to over 25% credit card merchant fees. I did some research and the banks only charge around 0.5% to 3% for credit merchant fees. Based on what I paid, it makes Big Mug the HIGHEST CHARGING MERCHANT for using your credit card in Perth. Also $3.9 + $1 surcharge = $4.9, so what was the extra 10 cents charge for then? The sugar that I DID NOT USE in my coffee. I have kept my credit card slip and taken some pictures as proof. This place should be renamed the BIG MUGGER. AVOID AT ALL COST and save the money in your wallet. Go to a place with better service and no HIDDEN SURPRISES.

At least once a week I have breakfast at this establishment so I can say with certainty that the food and service is consistent. Prices are consistent with Perth and although better coffee is a few metres away, I would still recommend this cafe.