Bamboo Buddha - Cafe & Nursery — Restaurant in New South Wales

Unimpressed. I used to love this place and bring people here but the service has become, quite frankly, unacceptably slow and the food quality has declined.

Four of us dined here for lunch in April for my mum’s birthday. They were not particularly busy, yet they couldn’t even bring out all four (only four!) meals at the same time. I had to go for a walk and hunt around for salt and pepper because that’s what the wait staff told me to do. That’s taking self-service to another level! Then came the coffee and the waitress forgot our orders - twice (again, there were only four people).

I recently (last weekend) took my parents here for their Mother’s Day lunch. For a fixed menu, it wasn’t exactly cheap by Central Coast standards and the portions were small. The vegetable stack was burnt and the tofu in the curry was overcooked. Also, despite mentioning dietary requirements multiple times during the ordering process, these were not addressed which led to meals having to go back. Oh and the same experience regarding salt and pepper as on the previous occasion. Perhaps they need to just have customer serve themselves completely? The chocolate mousse was sickly sweet and probably just plain sickly, to be honest. We all knew there was something not right as soon as we had eaten it. I had to pull over to vomit on the way home and my parents barely made it home. I left a message for the manager straight away because I was concerned that others may have gotten food poisoning as well, but she never bothered returning my call.

I thought I’d give them a chance and wait until they got back to me before posting this, but given they don’t seem to care about the welfare of their customers, I think I need to make people aware.

Such a shame because I used to love this place....

The food and ambience is great due to which I keep returning to this place. However I would like to suggest the owner to consider customers who are unable to finish their food before their closing time, which is strictly 3PM. Went there at 2.35PM after a stressful day for a cosy meal. The waitress was honest and kind to tell me they are about to close by 3PM but is happy to take my order if I ordered immediately. I h Ordered special of the day and a brownie. My idea was- even if the kitchen strictly closes at 3, I will enjoy my meal. However I felt bit rushed when she packed my brownie on a take away and said she will keep it in the fridge so that I can take it away. I was served food quickly but felt rushed to finish it quickly. I get that restaurant may be strict with their closing time, but i think it’s fair to expect give or take a 15 mins with the timings. I asked if I can wait inside as I was waiting to picked up by hubby, but again was told they would be asking everyone to leave as it’s their closing time- this was at 3.05PM. I am writing this review sitting outside on the rocks and wonder if they should just mention no food orders will be taken after 2PM that way the customers won’t...

I came here for brunch and was blown away by the taste, smells and presentation of all the meals at this humble little cafe'.The customer service was fantastic & all our meals came out promptly.

Being surrounded by lush greenery, water features, bamboo huts decorated with ornate moroccan rugs and flag banners, you really do feel like you've been transported to some idyllic buddhist retreat sigh.

I would definitely recommend this spot for an eataway & getaway especially if you are a Vegan or Vegetarian. Being neither, I was a little hesitant about the choices; however, always being open to trying new things, I found I was pleasantly surprised! It is pricey, though so be prepared to pay a little more for the meals here. In hindsight, I found that the overall experience was worth my hard earned coin hahaha

Oh, and Bamboo Buddha also holds Yoga classes too, which (for a beginner yogi like myself) makes this place, hidden among the woods and leafy mountains of Holgate/Ourimbah region of the Central Coast, an purposeful and ideal hub for food, physical & spiritual health and wellbeing...