Lou's Cafe Restaurant — Restaurant in Kempsey

Lou’s Café isn’t bad because of the food. It’s bad because of what it reminds you of.

I grew up in Kempsey. Back then, Lou’s was where my mum would take me for milkshakes after school. Where people used to laugh. Where the walls had life.

Now? It feels like a waiting room for people who gave up. You walk in and everything’s stuck in time—the same dusty menus, the same chairs with ripped covers, the same lightbulb flickering above the counter that no one’s bothered to fix in years.

I ordered the Big Breakfast. Eggs were cold, bacon rubbery, the toast limp. Coffee tasted like it had been sitting on a hot plate for hours. No one smiled. The waitress looked like she hadn’t slept in days. She didn’t care. I don’t blame her.

There were maybe three other people there. One guy staring into nothing, another lady slowly stirring tea she never drank. It’s the kind of place where people sit and don’t say a word—not because it’s peaceful, but because there’s nothing left to say.

Lou’s used to be warm. Now it’s tired. Like the building itself is holding its breath, waiting for someone to put it out of its misery.

If you’re after food, there are better places. If you’re after memories, go at your own risk.

Rating: 2/5 One star for the nostalgia. One for the fact that it’s still standing....

1 for nice deco and lovely service though meat looks and tastes frozen or stored and then reheated or deep fried god knows how many times. Bit gross tbh. None of us finished.

Edit: since you asked.

Meal 1 - Warm Chicken salad: This was probably the safest option, i mean how can you mess up a salad? Yet, where there is a will there is a way. Overly much vinegar, avocado not ripe at all, and how was that chicken made? The texture was super odd + watery taste to it.

Meal 2 - Mixed meat grill Sausages overcooked, basically empty inside. Garlic sauce had only a hint of garlic and way too bland. Fries were crispy outside and liquid inside. Absolutely everything super oily and tasteless, as in, no seasoning whatsoever.

Meal 3 - Chicken wings First of all, these literally looked like taken out of a previous week's cooked stock and refried. Secondly, there was so much hair on them. Thirdly, taste, again, was super bland. Lastly, if a customer is ordering chicken WINGS, why on earth would you only serve one wing and all the rest of them drumsticks?

I'm honestly really perplexed when checking other reviews, did we happen to visit when your chef was having a day off or something?

There's no way you could justify $60+ dollar charge for the above, that's...

Steak was shit, $30 for steak and chips, Not worth the money need better cooks, Worst steak I’ve had I could cook one better myself from IGA, I did mention to staff about the steak handing the whole plate with a nearly whole 2 steaks back over the counter and they blamed it on their wholesaler, That’s not what I expect to hear if I order something that’s not my problem I’m there for food I don’t care where you get the steak from but it better be good if I’m spending $30 each had 2 steaks and the other one was burnt, Dry and they had a funny taste to them. No sorry from staff or offers to redo anything just blamed it on their supplier 😂 Very petty business and staff. Should have gotten a refund with how bad that steak was. This steak in the photo below was asked to be cooked medium, It was more towards well done and not cooked how I was expecting it and was burnt on the outer of the steak also shown in the photo. Definitely don’t recommend getting a feed from Lou’s cafe if you are looking for a good steak this one tasted horrible I gave these 2 steaks back nearly whole barley touched. “If your supplier gave you bad meat, why did you still cook and serve it instead of sending it back? That’s on...