Is this the friendliest cafe on the Gold Coast?

The greeting sets the tone at this jovial, friendly cafe on the Gold Coast - and it’s got speedy service as well.

There’s nothing like a cheery “hello” to set the mood for a great cafe experience.

While it should be hospitality 101, it’s often sadly missing at many casual eateries, but at the recently opened Espresso Moto at Mermaid Waters on the Gold Coast, warm and genuine salutations are a priority.

In fact, the convivial staff is eager to interact with diners, taking care of their pets with bowls of water and welcoming pats, and providing advice in navigating the diverse menu accessed via a QR code on the table.

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The genial spirit is no doubt influenced by experience, with the new Mermaid Waters venture a sister operation to the cafe’s hugely successful Palm Beach location.

Both venues share the same contemporary all-day breakfast offering, with a couple of burgers and a salad added at lunchtime.

The outdoor dining area at Espresso Moto in Mermaid Waters.

For those in a hurry, there’s the easy bacon and egg roll or an acai bowl, with more interesting items like banoffee pancakes, a breakfast bao and their version of avo on toast – a mash of avocado, edamame and peas alongside pumpkin hummus, spinach, beetroot and wasabi peas on sourdough – for patrons keen to make it a dine-in experience.

And it’s worth lingering a while.

Despite the industrial-themed cafe’s location in a small suburban shopping centre surrounded by a carpark and busy intersection, there’s a jovial and spirited vibe to the place led by a pumping soundtrack that switches from the likes of Dionne Warwick’s Walk On By to Mariah Carey’s Fantasy.

The Scrambler sausage and egg roll at Espresso Moto in Mermaid Waters.

Sit outside at the high table and enjoy coastal breezes and plenty of people watching.

Drink orders are taken immediately and filled quickly, with the cafe serving up silky-smooth Allpress coffee, alongside the likes of vanilla ice cream-topped iced chocolate, freshly made juices, Jilly tea, old-school milkshakes delivered in stainless steel tumblers, smoothies and soft drink.

And just as speedy to hit the table is the food.

The breakfast burrito is a behemoth and an absolute bargain at just $17.50 – so big in fact you could eat half for breakfast and keep half for lunch.

Filled with rice, refried beans, corn, firmly set scrambled eggs, an avocado, edamame and pea mash, finely sliced cabbage and chipotle aioli with a pot of sour cream on the side to dip into, it’s a tasty take on Tex-Mex.

The breakfast burrito at Espresso Moto in Mermaid Waters.

While “The Scrambler” ($15.50) is like the up-market answer to the McDonald’s Sausage McMuffin – delivering a paprika-packed chorizo pattie on a soft ciabatta roll with scrambled eggs, aioli, gherkins and chilli relish that leaves the fast food franchise’s version
for dead.

Espresso Moto is a cafe that understands what it takes to make it in hospitality, nailing the brief and rolling out an experience customers will want to return for.