The Little Nel — Restaurant in Nelson Bay

Disappointing customer service experience - some staff were SELECTIVELY rude to customers! Food looked great but too bad we didnt get to try it. Came here twice during our stay. The first dining experience was lovely for the most part (really nice waiter who served our table. Rest of the staff were dismissive, blunt and nonchalant when we just wanted to check that they hadnt missed 1 coffee order). The next day we came back and was greeted with a totally different experience. This is meant to be a pet friendly cafe, and on both days we brought a young cat with us which stayed in a soft beach tote bag (head popped out). On the first day, waiters commented on how cute our cat was and made no comments about what the 'rules ' were (hence coming back). On the second day, one of the waiters took our order and finished off with "Just so you know, pets are meant to belong on the ground" (with no context of their policy - just a "just so you know" so it seemed like it was a personal opinion/comment).

10 mins after we ordered our food (BTW there was rude tone from the same waiter when clarifying our order), another waiter came over and said that pets have to stay on the ground. Whilst it would've been 'easy' to put our young cat on the ground and resolve the issue, there were large sized dogs around who sat up to the height of above the cafe tables so we did not necessarily understands the point of this 'policy' when the cat was in a bag (head popped out) and mostly sleeping. The staff did not make an effort to explain the reason to us and just kept repeating the same thing. We were asked if we wanted our food taken away, to which we replied no. They did not seem apologetic or friendly. Maybe even seemed 'happy' that we were leaving lol.

Again, not all the staff were rude but some staff were selectively rude. Seemed related to background and race, based on reading the names of other people who gave bad reviews on google. Such a shame for a nice looking cafe that served decent coffee. Wouldnt come back here and wont recommend it to any friends or family visiting the area. Lots of other friendly cafes around with just as...

Another entitled cafe with dismissive and arrogant service, compelling me to write this review just to see how management would respond with excuses and justification shifting the blame. I ordered the scrambled chilli sambal eggs and simply asked the waitress if the scrambled eggs were a little less than normal (the scrambled eggs covered less than half of my gluten free slice of toast, for those that might not know, a slice of gluten free bread is typical 2/3 of a normal slice of bread). The waitress immediately and rudely started to justify that the volume of eggs on my serve was absolutely normal. Having had scrambled eggs in cafes all around the world and all of my life, I would say the chef cooked 3-4 serves and got my portion inadequately wrong, and rather than taking my plate back to the kitchen and asking the question, she told me my only option was to order an extra serve of 1 or two scrambled eggs and that she would bring it on a side plate. My reply was if I could at least get my sambal eggs replated as opposed to being served a seperate plate of two scrambled eggs, to which she rudely snapped my plate, took it back to the kitchen, the cook would have throne the extra eggs all over the plate as the waitress served it back to me within 2min (I am sure in anger). In summary, my wife and I paid $69.62 cents for a serve of gluten free chilli scrambled eggs on gluten free toast, a serve of the smashed avocado and a juice (no coffees), I ordered and paid ($9,80) for those separately while we waited for well over 30min for a table. I don’t mind paying ridiculous amounts of money if the service is absolutely spot on and the food memorable, but neither of those applied at this place. I am sure there are many more places in Nelson Bay deserving of...

As recent new residents in Nelson Bay we have tried Little Nel on five occasions, with very mixed experiences. Visit 1, the wait time for a coffee was far too long. Visit 2, the coffee came on time but the banana bread didn’t come at all until we asked at the counter. Visit 3 was lunch and that was ok, good food and service was swift, but asking for a carafe for the water was problematic for the staff and when they found one rather than bring it to the table, the server just pointed to the water station and said you pick it up yourself. Visit 4, food and service were good, but it was a Tuesday and a quiet lunch. However, visit 5 exposed the lack of customer service. We have a small dog so can only sit in a few locations outside. But the floor was messy with plant debris. We asked if they had a broom to clear a bit for him to sit under the table and they said no, so we moved to a different table and because he then sat on the bench with us they said he couldn’t sit there and had to go on the floor (the floor that they couldn’t be bothered to sweep quickly). So we left. Unfortunately the attitudes of the young staff is lacking, with very little care for the customer that would have spent close to $100 that day. Although we want to support local businesses, this is an example of one that must lift its game to build loyalty. Sadly, that’s the last time we will try Little Nel. For anyone wanting breakfast or lunch I would suggest The Home Interior or Magnolia where the food and service are...