Got to agree with you there. I tried a few different Michels before completely giving up on them, never had a coffee I enjoyed from them.
It really depends where you go. Being franchised, and having very loose staffing requirements written into the franchise agreements, going to a Michel's Patisserie is no guarantee of quality either good or bad.
The one in Doncaster is appallingly slow and the coffee wasn't that great either :S
I went there to enjoy a coffee and slice of cake with a friend. We finished the cake and were just talking and it took 20-30 minutes (and them only serving maybe 4 or 5 people between the 3 staff).
My friend went back a few weeks later to order a coffee for take away and it was the same slow service despite the high ratio of people serving to customers :S
I don't know about Darlinghurst. Hopefully it'll be better than the service I experienced from Michel's Doncaster :S
I think they are franchises. I agree that some of them are hopeless. The worst was I ordered a sausage roll or something to takeaway from one of their stores, one of the idiots that served me gave me something that looked similar on the outside but wasn't a sausage roll. After going all the way back after the first bite and explaining they gave me the wrong roll and can they please give me what I asked for, the manager replied to me "So? What do you want me to do about it?".
I can't write on here what I said to him, but I got my money back >:|
But everywhere else they are generally friendly and reasonably quick so who knows!
I had a coffee from them in Bald Hills (Brisbane) about 2 years ago and it was excellent.
hope Adelaide has this special soon also - we drink coffee here also - but before the city closes at 6pm of course :)
michels coffee is not good at all. macqaurie centre tastes like heated milk with a hint of coffee..
michels mostly cater toward seniors anyway, thats the image I get when I see them anyway.
Unfortunately, Michels doesn't make good coffee.