Akuna Cafe — Restaurant in Newcastle-Maitland

What a stressful experience!! Long waiting lines because of poor customer service and unorganised ordering/serving system. Getting simple orders wrong. Wasted an hour just for takeaway juice.

It was not even that busy, but it took so long to get a table or the attention of a staff, to the point we went to the takeaway line - but still waited 45 minutes to get a juice!! Every time an order was taken, the staff went away for a few minutes before taking another order so it took ridiculously long just to get through the queue. It seemed as though all the staff were taking orders and handing out takeaways without communicating with each other. They couldn't even be bothered to properly shout out people's names, and ended up just waiting until people came to the counter to check on their order before they gave it to them. They kept getting orders mixed up, everyone was frustrated and another customer who was much behind me in the queue ended up getting her food and...

On two seperate occasions now we have gone to Akuna Cafe ordering take away drinks. First time we went we stood inside and waited for at least 10+mins for someone to take our order. Second time, today we went in good faith, hoping it was just a once thing. We ordered straight away no issues, there was 2 people in front of us and they received both food and smoothies within 10mins of ordering. We had only ordered a coffee frappe and a mango smoothie, we waited and waited at least 20+mins in the heat (note the cafe wasn’t busy). Finally I went up just ask where our order was up to. There was at least 4-5 staff behind the counter cleaning/chatting. The girl went to check, next thing both drinks were on the counter.. 1 defrosted “frappe” which by this stage was just an iced latte and a smoothie just the same. Extremely poor service, and over priced for the overall experience and quality...

I went to Akuna Cafe because I’d been told they do soft boiled eggs with toast soldiers, which is an ideal breakfast for me. I had two eggs, both done so there was enough yolk to dip the toast in, without the white being runny. Very nice. The toast was a delicious sourdough with grains. I also had a flat white which was pretty much perfect. The decor and furniture are comfy and eclectic. It isn’t a big cafe, although it does have a back deck. I went on a busy Sunday morning. I use a walking frame to get around, so a small cafe without much space between tables can be difficult. But the staff were exceptionally helpful and lifted my walking frame over some furniture so I could get to a suitable free table. And the menu is quite extensive for both breakfast and lunch - lots of healthy options, but yummy treats too. I wholeheartedly...