The Deck Cafe Lovedale — Restaurant in New South Wales

At the recommendation of a friend I came here on a rather busy Saturday with that person and his wife after his awesome breakfast the day before.

We did not book a reservation and the place was packed around 10:30/11. We had to wait around for about 8 minutes before the staff were able to find us a table which we didn't complain about at all, but it quickly became apparent why the previous party had left that fast.

Unfortunately I came here in the midst some intense rain with multiple flood warnings around the valley being issued, and wind that was so strong it came horizontally for most of the day. More than half of the tables sits outside somewhat under cover overhead, but there is no real cover when the wind starts to pick up even a mild amount, and being too full to fit us inside, myself and a few others who chose to tough it out through the rain had to construct makeshift umbrella barricade to keep somewhat dry.

Thankfully the view of our surroundings even on this grey wet miserable day with a good view of a pond full of ducks and geese enjoying the day, and entire schools of Rosellas and Honeyeaters swarming the tables to out of the wet and sneak a snack of leftover cream and jam from previous tables.

(The Bird Gang Wars taking place on those abandoned tables deserve to be their own book about what transpired.)

As people started to leave and dryer places opened up the staff were very friendly and accommodating about our group playing 'musical tables' from one to another to another. They even provided us with rather nice blankets when my friend asked which I did not know was even a service eateries offer!

The food took 25-30 minutes to be brought out, but my distraction with the wildlife made it slip by a bit easier. My friends ordered a 'Big Breakfast' while I ordered the Bean Cassoulet, and it was extremely delicious! Warming, spicy and hearty with the feta and the poached eggs on top being just what I needed on a cold day like that day, and I'm normally very selective to bean dishes unless I believe it's exactly what I want. The Big Breakfasts my friends had looked quite satisfying, though perhaps a few ingredients short of a proper 'Big Brekky' by my own standards.

When it came to the prices very few things except the muesli were below $24, with more than half the breakfast menu items being around the $32 mark. Once you start to add up coffee's and any little extras it's most definitely not a cheap meal. But would I pay what I paid to eat what I ate? Absolutely. Would I come back every week? No, and that's fine.

All in all a very surprisingly great eat, with a surprisingly great view, only hampered by the fact that I came on a very busy, and a very wet miserable day which I will not hold against them.

That being said it could most definitely benefit from some extra means of protecting people from the weather on those...

We heard this cafe/winery only reopened the day we arrived in the Hunter Valley after closing due to you know what. We wanted to go and support them after being forced to close during what should be their peak holiday trade.

What surprised us when we first arrived, unlike every other restaurant/cafe we went to in the region - it was packed - every table was taken, and this would clearly be their downfall.

Most restaurants cafes in the region lacked staff due to covid, and were conservative in their booking numbers and every other place we booked gave us the heads up that there could be longer than usual delays, which we appreciated.

Sadly for The Deck Cafe - maybe it was out of desperation to make up for the closure, which was understandable, they clearly bit off more than they could chew.

Being tapas we ordered 4 plates. The first took 1 hour to arrive was the Chicken Punjabi, it was bland. 2nd up was the octopus dish and was delicious. 3rd was the lamb and it was shocking - it was backstrap and cant be over cooked, but it was beyond overcooked - grey and dry as anything, we returned it and didnt bother asking for a new one because we had been there for nearly 2 hours.

We finished on the Prosciutto wrapped pork tenderloin and ir was absolutely spectacular and im glad we got it last as it was a nice way to end what was a very mixed lunch.

Another couple 2 tables down had the same thing with the lamb and we exchanged gripes as we waited to pay our bill.

Very obviously they tried to make up the numbers, but clearly the kitchen was under too much pressure to keep up. I hope they rethink how they approach their booking system so its less and staggered, like every other restaurant/cafe we visited did. It would even go a long way for even provide a heads up so we arent sitting around wandering what the hell is going on, we wouldve been more understanding.

The location overlooking a lake and water fountain was spectacular and reminded us of The Loeb Boathouse in Central Park...

The food here is delicious so it is a real shame that the place is not baby/stroller friendly. We have been twice, once we were seated at a table where one side was a steep incline and the other had a small walkway then a pond. We had a stroller that had to sit half in the walkway or precariously angled on the incline. We were also charged twice for coffees waiters had forgotten.

We assumed this was a one off and rebooked a few months later for fathers day. This time we were sat right at the entrance and under a speaker, so the music was incredibly loud. The stroller was in the walkway and made it difficult for people to walk by and as we were at the entrance to the undercover area there was a constant stream of people. Baby ended up crying because the music was so loud and people were constantly bumping into our stroller. We then asked to be moved and we got moved to the exact same spot we were in last time. This day there were high winds and the umbrella over the table collapsed on me and the baby twice.

The website gives you the option to choose a baby friendly spot and that you will have a stroller but I am unsure of the purpose of this as neither time were we appropriately sat baby friendly. It was clear that they had either overbooked or not bothered to look at our booking to place us somewhere...