Lena's Cafe and Bar — Restaurant in Newcastle-Maitland

I never write bad reviews although I have had bad experiences, but this time I thought I will as I am still very annoyed. I would like to make a complain about one of the waitresses in this place.

Yesterday 6th of December around 7pm, I took my family to this place as i wanted to say farewell to my grandparents before they were going back overseas and I really wanted to make that evening special, so I thought to take them to Warners Bay and brought them to this place that I never been before.

At the time there were two waitresses, one was a red head (Girl A) and the other had brunette/dark hair (Girl B). I asked Girl B if we could be served and as the place was very busy with low staff, she was very rude when she said that she needed to attend another table.

Some of us ordered salads and they took the wrong order, Girl A was very apologetic, and then brought the salads again, however they had the wrong ingredient and when we asked Girl B that the salad had a cold hard egg instead of poached egg (as described on the menu) Girl B, rudely took the plates from my 83 year old grandfather and my mother and with a rude/ cold attitude said she didn't know how long it was going to take as it was very busy!

Firstly, as a customer we are paying for our meals and service and if we read something on the menu, we expect to have what's described on the menu, in saying this the misundertanding of the dishes isn't what I am annoyed about, it is about the attitude of the wsitress (Girl B) in handling the situation when it wasn't our fault.

In the past I have worked as a waitress and have experienced very stressful situations and worked with short staff. If Girl B doesnt like her job, then she should quit or be trained with more customer serve. It was my last night with my grandparents before they were going back overseas and she brought me the worse customer serve. I will NEVER come back here again ...we had a very uncomfortable and awkward moment! However I must say Girl A was very professional at all times, I was very impressed by her. Well done!

I wanted to add that when we received the jar of water was DISGUSTING! We asked to have another jar of water as the glass was very greasy!

Food was ok...not really worth it for money.

Hope the owner trains their staff or learn more from Girls A' s...

Overall: 2.6/5 ----‐------------------- Coffee: 3/5 Food: 2/5 Service: 3/5 Venue: 3/5 Vibe/Ambiance: 3/5 Accessibility: 2/5 Pets: Allowed outside

Coffee is fine, nothing to write home about but they will make the glass/mug extra hot which in turn makes the coffee quite hot.

Food is lack lustre at best, very lazily made and the menu seems to have been offering the same things for the last 20 years. Never thought I'd see canned asparagus as the star of a dish, but here we are. My French toast was mid and didn't come with the advertised "Feta Cheese".

Service was fine, they were pretty busy but overall it felt like the staff had minimal interest in how the our experience was, they just took the orders and brought the orders.

Venue has no music and almost no decorations on the tiled walls. Zero effort there, though the cafe was actually packed to the brim with women over 60. Only bingo boasts a greater congregation of elderly females.

Considering the customer demographic, there is a small stair to enter both doors and the door with the smallest step is often closed because they have a table in front of it. So if you have a wheelchair, you'll be asking others to move for you unless you sit outside. Toilets are also low accessibility.

Outdoor seating allows pets.

I won't be returning...

Wandering around Warners Bay esplanade looking for somewhere to have lunch. There are at least half a dozen or so places all within 200m of each other. All with good reviews, all fairly busy, each with their own particular demographic of customer. So which one to choose? Settled on Lena’s because the place was full of old age pensioners. No one there was under 50 except for one or two of the staff. One thing I have learned in my short life is that pensioners are the best judges of places to eat. The menu was large but not excessive, ranging from basic “old people” roasts, standard cafe burgers and melts, to more exotic prawn and seafood dishes. Coffee was excellent, meals were generous, very tasty and well presented with a chip rating of 8.5/10, service was prompt, friendly but not overbearing, bathroom was way out the back but very clean, prices were well matched to people on a pension (ie less than the crazy stupid prices many are charging these days), and you get a view of the lake if you eat out the front. Have found a new favourite....