Freckles Cafe — Restaurant in Inverell

Saw the place whilst strolling through town with my wife on her 50th birthday. Looked like a nice alfresco area and not too busy. So we stopped for an early lunch. (11:30). Ordered 2 toasted sandwiches on Turkish bread, a frappe and an iced coffee after waiting for the lady behind the counter to finish talking to the customer in front of me about a texted conversation. Almost got the impression that I should apologise for interrupting her. She asked me where we were sitting and I pointed to the Alfresco area and said, “under the umbrella just out there”. Drinks came out within 5 minutes. 45 mins later the wife went back inside to see if our order had been missed as several people that had arrived after us had already been served. After standing at the counter for another 5 minutes she was told it’d be another 10-15mins. Finally got served and were queried if we’d swapped tables? No. Were there two couples sitting here? No. Finally confirmed that what she was holding was what we’d ordered, but she still seemed unsure. No one else was out there with us. So, after a shrug, it was promptly plonked on the table in front of us. No quick apology, sincere or otherwise about the long wait, just, “do you want the cutlery? Wife’s toasted Turkish had only been waved close to a heat source so the cheese wasn’t even melted and the roll wasn’t crisped. I suggested she take it back but she wasn’t keen on staying there until dinner time to get it. All in all the only disappointing part of an otherwise...

This cafe needs to be called "Excuses Cafe" We ordered and was told the wait was 30 mins. No probs it was super busy. We got out tea within 15 mins. An hour and 15 mins after ordering our meals arrived with an apology for the delay. The meal. We had the Vegetarian breakfast. As you do when you have a vego. One of our meals had bits of bacon in it. I approached the manager/owner about this. Explained that we had travelled 2 1/2 hours to come here to eat. That there was bacon in one of our meals. "Sorry that because we have 2 apprentice Chiefs on they must have done this." Hang on you have just thrown your own staff under the bus. I told the manager that's an excuse and that she should be offered solutions not excuses. She then just said sorry. We stormed out. Meal tasted disgusting. Yes we ate it because we were so hungry after 2 1/2 hours of driving there and then the 1 hour 15 minute wait. The haloumi was so over cooked it was burnt and tough as old leather. Meals were loaded up with salt. Oh yeah thats right as per the manager/owner that would have been the 2 apprentice Chiefs. Some of the manager/owners replies to reviews here she has said her staff are very good yet not her 2 apprentice Chiefs according to her. Never will we go...

Awful. Made us wait 45mins. When we asked where our food was they said they had run out of chicken. Did not feel the need to tell us, apparently too busy to let customers know their food isn't coming. Just let us and our 3 month old baby wait. Promised it was under 10mims away. 15mins later still not arrived. When we asked for our money back refused to refund for the Coffee we ordered. Were sour and rude. Food arrived after our refund and chicken schnitzel was the size of a frozen nugget. Ruined our day. It was Christmas eve no less. Total lack of customer service. Absolutely disgusting. Would give zero stars if I could.

Edited: owner below has claimed people were warned of wait time. This is inaccurate. We were not told. The people next to us were also not told and were also wondering where their food was. Very unhappy. The cafe was not even completely full. Running out of chicken and not coming to inform the customer is unacceptable and the below response is completely unacceptable and does not address the issue. Owner should it be lying about the customer service on the day. Should just have apologised and moved on. Shouldn't open if not capable of serving...