If you live in Croydon and you haven't eaten at Littorio's Café, there's a good chance someone you know has been trying to get you through the door. Tucked along Main Street at number 168, this family-run café has spent over a decade quietly becoming one of the most loved breakfast and lunch spots in Melbourne's outer east, and the kind of place where the staff know your name before you've finished your second visit.
Littorio's opened its doors over eleven years ago with a simple philosophy: great coffee, generous food, and the kind of warm, unhurried welcome that turns first-timers into regulars. It's worked. The café now holds a 4.6-star rating on Google, 4.5 stars on TripAdvisor, where it ranks #2 out of 79 restaurants in Croydon, and a 94% recommendation rate on Facebook from over 400 reviews.
They've also earned TripAdvisor's Travellers' Choice award, placing Littorio's in the top 10% of restaurants worldwide on the platform. For a café on a suburban main street, that's no small thing.
Littorio's is serious about coffee. Not in the inner-city, single-origin, pour-over-only way. Serious in the way that matters to people who just want the best cup they can get on their way to work or over a Saturday morning catch-up.
The café was a finalist for Melbourne's Best Coffee in 2019, and regulars will tell you the standard hasn't dropped since. They developed their own custom blend, months of work to get it right, and it's become one of those things locals refuse to compromise on. As one reviewer put it: "Not only the best coffee in Croydon, but the best coffee in Melbourne. When you spend months creating your own roast, it shows in the flavour."
The menu at Littorio's leans generous. The Shared Breakfast for Two is practically a table-length event: bircher muesli, eggs done your way, sourdough toast, smoked bacon, sausage, grilled tomato, potato rösti, avocado, Persian feta, mushrooms, spinach, hollandaise, and fresh juice. It's the kind of spread that makes you wish you'd skipped dinner the night before.
The chilli scrambled eggs are a crowd favourite. So are the eggs benedict variations. And if you've got dietary needs, such as gluten-free, vegan, or vegetarian, they've got you covered without making you feel like an afterthought.
One reviewer summed it up neatly: "Best meals, best value, best service: what more do you need?"
Walk in and you'll notice the foliage-covered feature wall, the lime-checked cushions, and the kind of easy, unhurried atmosphere that makes you want to stay longer than you planned. There's alfresco seating out front for sunny mornings, air conditioning for summer, and enough space for 100 seats, though you'd be wise to book on weekends. Littorio's fills up, and it fills up early.
They're fully licensed too, so if your brunch calls for a mimosa or a cold beer, that's on the table.
What sets Littorio's apart from the growing number of cafés in Croydon isn't just the food or the coffee. It's the consistency and the care. They were recognised as a Community Leader in both 2023 and 2024, which tells you something about how they show up for the neighbourhood beyond just serving meals.
Staff retention is high, which means the person making your coffee today probably made it last month, and the month before that. There's a steadiness to the place that regulars notice. As one long-time customer wrote: "A memory popped up from 8 years ago, and we are still eating here." That kind of loyalty doesn't happen by accident.
Address: 168 Main Street, Croydon VIC 3136
Phone: (03) 9723 0755
Hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM (closed Mondays)
Website: littorioscafe.com.au
Instagram: @littorioscafe
Next time you're in the area, whether it's after a dental appointment or just because it's Tuesday and you deserve a proper breakfast, pull up a chair at Littorio's. Your taste buds will thank you.
We love shining a light on the businesses that make Croydon such a great place to live and work. If you're a patient of Divine Dental Care and you'd like your business featured in our Community Spotlight series, we'd love to hear from you. Give us a call on (03) 9725 8040 or mention it at your next appointment.