Up South Bondi — Restaurant in Sydney

I find it hard writing this review because I had such high hopes about this cafe + I’ve been following the owner on social media opening and running her cafe on a daily basis. I had quite a below average experience when I really really wanted to love it which was disappointing :(

We came on a busy Sunday which I give credit for as the vibe was hectic and all the staff were working hard. We sat inside and ordered a good variety of items which was a total of $90: bacon and egg roll, big breakfast, cookie croissant, one strawberry matcha and one regular iced matcha.

First pros: Bacons and egg roll was great- didn’t get to try their charcoal bun but still enjoyed! Cookie croissant was to die for as well, no wonder it went viral- it was perfect!

Now cons: I assumed that iced matcha should already have maple syrup in it as most cafes automatically put it in for some sweetness however, my iced matcha didn’t have any sweetness at all. No biggie, I asked them if I could have maple syrup in it and they proceeded to take my drink back. They then told me they had no maple syrup, and suggested vanilla or caramel. I asked for vanilla and then they didn’t have any. They suggested I should have the caramel which I trusted them to think it would be good. It wasn’t. It tasted like the worst artificial caramel and it turned me off really badly. Considering I paid a lot already for the drink and the food as well I really didn’t want to waste it: I then asked the staff if they could change it to a strawberry matcha. I didn’t mind paying the difference. They said I would have to wait in line to order a new one and they couldn’t replace it. Since my partner and I had already waited in the 20 min queue to order and then another 30 mins for our food I felt like this was not great service and I felt dissapointed.

the big breakfast had some issues, eggs were cold, no seasoning on the dish and the bread was rock solid. Please note we didn’t mention this to the staff as we already had a feeling as how it would go (referring to the situation mentioned above). The big breakfast is a cafes biggest staple and is usually a way to tell if a cafe is good or not.

The strawberry matcha didn’t have a strong matcha flavour and was less “green” on the top than most of the other strawberry matchas being served. I guess I felt like there was no consistency and because of the rush we were given less quality than everyone else had hyped “Up South” to be.

I know this is a really long and detailed review but I wanted to give my honest experience so that there can be improvement. This was supposed to be a treat for us but I left with nearly $100 less and a bitter taste in my mouth. After this experience I wouldn’t recommend, but I hope they improve on these issues...

I’m not really the type of person that would leave a bad review but I just feel like I need to. Drove around 45 minutes because I was so excited to see this places as it’s been pretty popular on TikTok (maybe I had very high expectations), got there and got a table pretty quickly after a long wait without no one coming to us to take the order we kinda assumed we had to order at the til which is okay it was our mistake, got to the til and I think the cashier couldn’t understand English or maybe he was just flat out with weather and people lining to order, anyway I ordered, we waited for around 20 minutes and we didn’t even get our coffees then cashier came with 2 take away cups (we were dining in) and he was gonna give us 2 large caps and I ordered 2 large almond caps to dine in, he excused and we waited for another 10 minutes and the barista had to come to us and ask what were our coffees and again we got them in a take away cup! Anyway we didn’t say anything because everyone seemed pretty stressed. Food came and it good but it took around 30 minutes for the food to be served :/ and they were just like walking around with our food because they didn’t know the table numbers or I honestly don’t know what was going on until I asked if that was our food and the waiter didn’t even know but we assumed it was our food. We also ordered a Nutella cookie and a brownie and it never came we had to go to the til and ask for it. Overall not a good experience for the price and there’s no aircon as well, so just a heads up it can get hot in there. Anyway, I really hope the owner can read this message and maybe consider hiring more people! This place needs more...

We had a brookie, 2 drinks (latte and strawberry matcha) and 2 mains (nasi goreng and sandwich (not pictured)). I really enjoyed the brookie, it was decent and I would buy it again. The drinks were decent as well, this is my first strawberry matcha drink and I was pleasantly surprised to be honest. It had a strong strawberry taste followed by a matcha aftertaste and I didn’t feel like either was overpowering. It is however a sweet drink so you can have proper expectations of it. Latte was standard. The nasi goreng was really good. I didn’t see much reviews and honestly should have taken a photo of it but the portion of the chicken was generous and it was grilled just right!! The rice was very fragrant and flavorful and there were some keropok and some salad greens as sides provided as well. Fried egg was runny and perfect ;) My companion had the sandwich which she felt was just okay.

All in all a good cafe but several issues to iron out: cafe felt understaffed but all the servers were incredibly patient and helpful!! The local pigeons have clearly gotten accustomed to the food at the cafe, with that particular table beside the road, the pigeons didn’t even wait till the patrons were gone.. they literally were attacked and ambushed by the pigeons during their meal. Obviously they ran away and didn’t even bother staying. Personally felt like the pigeons and birds were stalking us as we were eating as well and they would peck at the food on the floor at my feet… Other than that the poor ventilation indoors circulating the cooking fumes made us choose seating outside but with more shaded benches it might be better for patrons who choose to sit...