Three Monkeys Cafe — Restaurant in Newcastle-Maitland

Food is always amazing! And the the coffee. But what has made a difference for me is the following... My mum is not well and has a walker. She can't stand around to wait for tables. Nothing to do with a sense of entitlement. She is just old and sick. My parents came up from Tassie to spend time with us. I rang Goldbergs 3 monkeys to try and reserve a table for Sunday at 11am. I got a young fella on the phone at monkeys who explained that regardless of my mums health needs they won't reserve or accommodate on weekends. I rang Goldbergs and got the owner. He said they normally don't reserve on weekends... But after I explained my mums situation - he said they would accommodate. The disappointing thing is I live on Dawson Street and eat at both monkeys and goldbergs at least once or twice a month over the last ten years. Both have great food and coffee. Just really disappointed that Monkeys could not make a compromise. I got breakfast there last week with my wife. Two meals and coffee was $80 (tasty-but expensive). Now my business will be with Goldbergs. Thank you for helping and understanding that I wasn't lying to try and reserve a table. But that my mum is actually really unwell. I genuinely hope if I, you or a loved are sick and want to enjoy a meal somewhere nice that a restaurant may make an exception to a no reservation rule to help just like Goldbergs... It really means a lot and thank you Goldbergs. A bit of humanity... I actually went and visited both establishments after my phone calls. The staff at monkeys took my info to give to the owner and told me to ring him after 9.30am tomorrow. At Goldbergs I spoke directly to the owner who showed me the note pad with my details on it for brunch tomorrow. Customer service, humanity and understanding make a difference....

Three monkeys was my favourite cafe. It has been a while since we've been. Staff and coffee are always great but I almost had a heart attack when I saw the bill an iced latte was $9.50. My two daughters split a snickers shake that was $12.65. Now I understand weekend rates, and acknowledge we went there on a Sunday, it has gone up in price and food hasn't improved

There is an additional 5% fee for card payment too. Wasn't an issue for me as I had cash but worth knowing.

For 4 adults and 2 children (1 adult didn't eat and the two children shared an adult meal and drink) we paid $160 for breakfast

My partners poke bowl was missing the Katsu pork. The waitress quickly fixed it up and apologised. Mistakes happen, my partner wasn't too worried.

The snickers shake is amazing and always hit the spot.

Our friend added avocado to her burger. She thought it was $3 extra but was charged $6 because she didn't specifically request guacamole. Now I am torn with this one. We didnt mention it because by this point we were done, but $6 for avocado?!?!?!

Overall I am pretty let down, we use to visit regularly however I think this may be the last for a while. They don't split bills. Not an issue for us as I was paying the bill but if you are in a larger group it is worth knowing before going if needing to split.

For comic relief. My partner is allergic to avocado so asked for it on the side (because I love it and it doesn't cost extra to keep it) it wasn't eaten, you can bet once I saw the $6 charge my friend had for hers that I took our avocado home in a takeaway cup.

If money isn't a factor for you the bubble and squeak is one of my favourites. Snickers shake is worth the trip and coffee is always good, staff are...

The Three Monkeys Cafe is well known in Newcastle, and I had the opportunity to visit it twice recently.

The food is good. On my first visit, I had the pancakes, the portions being quite generous. The ice cream on top with syrup and berry jam was a nice combination. I found the pancakes chewier than I would prefer, but acceptable. A small pot of syrup on the side would have been good, as I found myself running out of syrup for the pancakes on the bottom.

On my second visit, I had 'the Ultimate', which is pulled pork and poached eggs on top of hash browns, drizzled with Hollandaise sauce. This was great, heavy as it sounds. The portion size was not huge, just right.

The coffee is also quite good - I drink long blacks 95% of the time, and the baristas do a good job of this.

So, why the 3 stars? Maybe I'm being unfair but out of the two times I've been, I didn't feel any warmth or rapport from the wait staff - almost felt like I was being a nuisance. I get that it's a busy cafe and there are other customers to serve, but.. yeah. If I'm paying almost $30 for breakfast and coffee, I expect to feel better walking out than walking in, not the other way around. 4.5 stars for food/coffee, but I think I'm being more than generous with 3 stars given the overall...