The Groove Train

Location:Level 3, 211 La Trobe St, Melbourne (it's inside Melbourne Central)
Phone: 03 9654 2730
Time: Dinner
Cuisine Type: Cafe food
Price: averaging $17-$22


What got dished out:
We ordered the "Groovy Eggplant chips"($12.90) which were eggplants lightly crumbed with Parmesan, stacked on balsamic reduction with aioli sauce to share. We ordered this on the recommendation from the overly excited waitress who believed that this would "blow my mind away" because this was something that she loved and ate on a daily basis.

In truth, I wasn't entirely blown away by this dish. I was impressed however that i didn't cringe at each bite. I'm not a big fan of eggplant however I couldn't tell that I was eating eggplant itself (which is always a good sign).

I found that the chips were quite bland to some degree and needed a tad more salt. But like any chips, it's always better that the customer given the choice on how salty they wanted their chips to be instead of being decided by others.
What really made this work was really the aioli sauce which wasn't strong of garlic (I once had a bad experience where someone had gone garlic-friendly with the aioli sauce and scarred me for life). The aioli sauce was light and quite tasting. The chips on its own were boring, add a bit of aioli and the experience was pretty good, not "mind blowing"

The biggest mistake I made on the night was ordering a main because the chips itself were quite filling. When my club sandwich ($17.90) arrived, I cringed. There was no way in hell I was going to be able to finish such a large dish.
I was less impressed at the presentation of my club sandwich. I've been to OTHER Groove trains and have ordered the same dish over and over again, and not once have I ever had them cut the the sandwich in half (and in such a crookered manner as well).

Everywhere else that I've been to have always cut them in triangles. Perhaps I've been spoilt however I think the cook/chef was lazy. How hard is it to cut the sandwich into smaller pieces or to even cut it properly. If they were going to leave them in such a manner, at least give me the option of utensils to try to eat the damn thing or something.

For $17.90, i expect a little bit of presentation because the contents inside (lettuce, tomato, bacon, egg, chicken, mayo) and the side of chips surely doesn't cost that much. I expect some effort involved for that price mark up.

In reality, the side of chips were undercooked, it wasn't crispy, the potato was a tad hard inside. The bacon was overcooked and frankly there was just too much onion stuffed inside. I only ate 1/2 of the first piece of the sandwich but was so overwhelmed at the size of my dish, i gave up. It wasn't bad, it wasn't great either.

My thoughts:
Personally I think Groove Train is overpriced when it comes to food. I don't think it's great food, it's not even that GOOD either. However it's easy food, and it's a place where you can easily get a table with friends to catchup

Suffice to say though, there must be loads of people who love Groove Train because there's one popping up literally everywhere around town. I hear they've recently opened one in Geelong, but in Melbourne alone there's one down Clarendon St, South Melbourne; Doncaster Shopping Centre, Bridge Road, Richmond and one in Plenty Valley Shopping Centre.

I guess the layout does help where it's "groovy" very retro feel, an easy place to sit back and enjoy a coffee (their coffee isn't that fantastic either, okay but nothing exciting).

I was actually impressed with the service that we received that day, the waitress was bubbly and quite friendly, quite different to the usual stuff you get. Most people go to work these days clearly not wanting to be there.
If only their food was as good as their service, I'd be happy to board that Groove train anyday. This is really just a place to go with lots of friends and every other eatery is packed.