Sidewalk Cafe — Restaurant in Airlie Beach

It's important to note that not everything was terrible. A lad called Wes was very good and spent the evening trying to make amends for the lacklustre service of others.

We arrived and were shown a table, given water and left to our own devices for 10 minutes to look over the menu and choose our drinks. We ordered and observed the evening slowly fall apart.

Our drinks spent the better part of 10 minutes sat on top of the bar, the bartender was clearly over run and asked a female server to bring our drinks out, she declined, saying she was too busy to do so, she then came outside and took an entire food order. As someone who has a number of years of experience in hospitality I can understand how busy it can get, but simply picking up a tray and delivering drinks on the way to a table is extremely basic. Throughout the evening she also refused to assist the bartender with glasses, simply piling up the dirty ones for him to deal with. She had no sense of team work and seemed to only look out for herself.

The food was good, when it came, though the sides were missing and didn't show up until 20 minutes in to the meal. A family close by waited 30 minutes for food and were then advised by the aforementioned waitress that they would have to wait another 20, no apology, just a "that's how it is". The father and daughter went to the store, 2 minutes later their food arrived, when questioned the waitress advised that she had said " up to 20 minutes", which was not the case.

There was no manager, apparently they had been in an accident, however it seems clear that no basic hospitality training has occurred here, even with the chaos that was unfolding before them the girl seated a table of 7. In my experience, a good manager has staff trained so that their presence isn't necessary, or at least a visible second in command.

The final straw to the evening was the kitchen, constantly ringing the service bell as if it were a game of whack-a-mole, this didn't help the moral of the floor staff, I'm not entirely sure as to what the rush was, our food didn't come out together, the family near by refused to eat their steak.

Overall 2 stars is generous, but Wes and the bartender were trying...

Disappointing Experience Despite Good Food

Yesterday, my friend and I planned to have breakfast at this café because out of all the places we’ve tried, this one was among our favorites. The food has always been really good.

However, during our visit, we were served water with two glasses — one of which had visible lip marks. We politely told the lady who served us and she immediately apologized, saying she would get a new one. We understood — mistakes happen sometimes.

But after waiting for about 15 minutes and still not receiving a replacement, we kindly called another staff member named “SIMON” and asked, “Sorry, but can we get a new glass?” Instead of helping, he shouted, “NOT ME, I’M CARRYING TOO MANY PLATES!” — loud enough that other customers turned to look. It was extremely rude and disappointing.

I understand that they were busy, but that’s not an excuse to respond to customers that way. The other lady server apologized on his behalf, even though she wasn’t the one at fault. Later, when Simon was clearing other tables, he continued acting irritated — roughly placing plates and glasses like he was angry.

It’s really upsetting because we genuinely liked this café, but that kind of attitude from staff completely ruins the experience. I hope management addresses this behavior because customers...

What a great little cafe! The servings were big, nice little spot, the food was great, the staff were so friendly and kind! We’ve been on holiday for 2 weeks, in Airlie beach and surfers paradise and my partner said the thick shake he had here was the best one he has had so far! I witnessed a difficult customer carrying on about their avocado not being stacked on top of the toast and instead it was beside it and sent her meal back for it to be fixed and the boy with the braces and red hair was so polite and professional and still kept a smile on his face and went and fixed it up for her right away, even when she was quite rude about it. He served us our meals and he was great! The lady on the register was so lovely and cheerful, and there was another older man who served me when I went to get an orange juice and he was just as lovely and cheerful. I can’t rave high enough about the amazing customer service. I would 100% return not only for the food, but the people that work here and made our experience so delightful. We don’t get that as much in Victoria, and everyone here in Airlie beach seems so happy to be alive, it really makes the destination even better when everyone in customer service/hospitality/retail are like this. We walked away feeling really pleased with our experience at the...