Cade Kitchen & Bar — Restaurant in Mudgee

What an experience - I generally only leave positive reviews but this was shocking. Ordered breakfast and coffees with a group of 6. I asked if I could remove something from one of the meals due to being lactose intolerant (cheese on the bacon and egg burger) and was told flat out and abruptly ‘no changes’. In the next 20 minutes we heard two tables receive orders with changes made to the exact same meal.

Ordered juices, coffees and lemonade at the same time. One juice came out after 3 minutes. The other after 20 minutes. Coffees never arrived. Lemonade never arrived. After the meals were given to us we enquired about the drinks. The original waitress came back and said our order went missing (despite juices arriving) and had three incorrect orders on a tray. She asked if anyone ordered the ‘coffee with 3 sugars’ to which we said we didn’t, and then tried to make out that someone definitely ordered it and that’s what she heard. She spent a few minutes going through the receipt on the tray before finally believing us that the drinks weren’t ours. 5 minutes later she came back and confirmed receipt went missing and she would have to take our drink orders again. We asked how long it would take, she said ‘we’re really busy so about 15 minutes’. We were up to 40 minutes at this stage and had finished our meals, we said to just cancel the order to which she huffed and stormed away.

We made a complaint to the manager who was very apologetic, however the waitress was the rudest hospitality worker I have ever come across. Not one apology, acted like the issues were our fault when we were nothing but polite, and wouldn’t allow us to make a slight change to an order despite other tables being able to do so. I don’t know how she ever got a job in customer service. We were also overcharged for an extra juice we never ordered and had to go back (if the service had been even ordinary we wouldn’t have bothered, just the principle!)

Avoid at all costs if you want an enjoyable experience. Rated two stars as other staff members were...

We had been before, and decided to try again based on the great reviews. We wondered if the layout might have changed - but it hadn't. The food was wonderful, but we didn't have a great night due to a few annoying factors. It was a very cold Wednesday night, and the restaurant has both outdoor and indoor seating. I had booked, so hoped we would be shown to an indoor table - which we were. The service was a bit rushed and hassled. We were attended to by three separate staff members across the night. We had no issue with the staff, except that they seemed to be run off their feet. We had to wait to be shown to our booked table, which ended up being the closest one to the door to the outside. It was a table for four, and we were a couple. It was where you might expect to be seated as a walk-in. In addition to the freezing gusts of air that hit us every time the staff went through the door, we were right in the "takeaway waiting area" for those picking up their pizzas. We got 2 starter drinks and some mineral water. Wine glasses were then removed and no other offer of drinks was made. I would have loved to try a glass of the Petersons Cabernet Sauvignon with my Rib Eye special, but the staff were just too busy - I couldn't catch their eye. We just decided to go as soon as we could. We had to line up at the bar to pay, and the items were read out to us - no option to look over the bill and check... Overall, the experience let down the wonderful food. We were uncomfortable. It was a combination of getting probably the worst located indoor table in the place and not enough staff on the night. I leave this review in all good faith. I wish Cade the best. Think about your customer experience. Comfort is important. We would have ordered wine, dessert and coffee if we had felt more comfortable, and you had the right number of staff for the product you were offering - which was a higher end restaurant experience. As it was, we got wonderful food, in a gusty, rushed, pizza...

I was looking for restaurant recommendations for our wedding anniversary weekend in Mudgee, I got a comment on my Instagram post from Cade Kitchen & Bar inviting me to try them out and I gave it a go. And I'm SO HAPPY I did! The restaurant is located in a beautiful heritage building in the heart of Mudgee, a great advantage over a couple of other high-end restaurants located by the wineries where you cannot get to on foot. We loved our anniversary dinner and the setting up at the attic was so cosy and romantic. We had the lamb and the steak, both of them gorgeous. The grilled halloumi appetizer had an amazing special flavour and fragrance. The shiraz from Lowe was amazing. We liked our experience so much that we came back for brunch next day and it could not fail. Renee (the lovely head chef & owner) came upstairs to serve us our coffees, she was welcoming and smiling and it seemed that she always finds a moment to have a friendly chat with her customers even when she's extremely busy in the kitchen. That's true hospitality and care for your guests, and these little touches make your customers return gladly. Renee Cade and her team are doing a wonderful job, you should definitely make time to experience the food and the atmosphere here, it's a true Mudgee...