We had to go looking for service and found staff chatting around the cash register. Once ordered, coffees came out one at a time, food arrived soon enough but was tepid and poorly presented, service was friendly enough but inattentive.

For several years Zum has been our early morning cafe of choice for breakfast if we stay overnight in Hobart. Two months ago we were surprised to have sub-standard service but ignored it as a one-off. Two days ago we went there again and the service was appalling, until you go to pay for your bill and it\s all smiles in the hope that you\ll leave a tip. In the past, when you arrived someone approached you immediately and asked where you wanted to sit, then menus arrived swiftly and delicious meals arrived. This time, in a hardly occupied cafe, we stepped in the door and hung around for someone to ask us where to sit. Sat down after a while and looked around for a menu. One of the two waitstaff eventually shuffled past and stopped. Are scruffy, red, flannelette shirts the design statement of the moment? We ordered and waited. The other waitress was to be seen slowly sorting out cutlery at the speed of a snail. None of the brisk, smiley and friendly manner of the waitstaff that were a hallmark of the past. Our meals arrived - the same as normal, but the atmosphere and the appeal of Zum was totally destroyed. We won\t stop here again.