Frankie's Coffee and Eats

Frankie's Coffee and Eats is the busy local cafe in the Carrum Downs Plaza on Ballarto Road, open seven days, and one of those places where reviewers volunteer the dog-friendliness unprompted: staff are known for being genuinely accommodating, and the walk-down-with-the-dog crowd is part of the regular trade.

The dog setup

Dogs take the pavement seating immediately outside the entrance rather than indoors. Staff have a good name with dogs and water is easy to come by, but there is no guarantee of a table-side bowl, so a collapsible one in the bag removes the guesswork. If your dog is unsettled by foot traffic, take a table a little further from the door; the plaza flow concentrates right in front of the shopfront on weekends.

Worth knowing

Coffee is the draw, often poured from Dukes Coffee Roasters beans, over a solid brunch and lunch menu: eggs benedict, chilli scramble, corn and zucchini fritters and pancakes head the list. Hours run roughly 6:30am to 3pm weekdays, from 7am Saturday and 8am Sunday, so check before committing an early start to a Sunday. It gets busy, which is a fair sign in a plaza cafe.

Getting there and parking

The address is Shop 5, 335 Ballarto Road, Carrum Downs (3201), with straightforward access off Ballarto Road and free parking across the surrounding plaza car park, which is one less thing to manage with a dog in the car.

Close by with the dogs

Earn the benedict first: Sandfield Reserve Fenced Dog Park and Banyan Reserve Dog Off Leash Area are both close by, and the off-lead sand at Seaford's Keast Park dog beach is a short drive east. For another dog-friendly table nearby, The Laughing Lark Cafe in Frankston works too.

Browse more dog friendly cafes in VIC at pawscapes.com.au/cafes/state/vic and plan the area at Carrum Downs.