Spice of Life Cafe & Deli — Restaurant in Tamborine Mountain

Not the best place to have a group lunch/small celebration. Wouldn't return again which is disappointing. Should mention I am not a local to area but am a close by resident. Not a bad experience but not the best, it was just ok hence the 3 stars out of 5. Almost 2. Looking at Facebook reviews, it seems like in last few months the reviews left by others reflect the same, if not worse. First, in this new norm covid world there was no hand sanitiser on entrance, maybe there was at till/order counter but at this stage we had reached already for our own which thankfully we had on hand and the bathrooms which did have soap and water, had nothing to dry hands (no paper towel and a hand dryer that was signed that it didn't work) and felt and looked dirty. Was also squishy within the Cafe eg... people could not social distance even when others were walking past table and sitting at table, everyone would have to stand and move for someone to get up to order food (had no waiters come to table to take food orders) or visit bathroom. Seemed smaller than a seat or a plane. Did however have to sign in which is now a standard practice. Then came a terrible coffee experience. I ordered largest coffee available but am certain almond milk was used as did others at our table who tasted it. We questioned staff (not the person who made coffee) unusual for me to do who then only put nose to it to smell, putting me off it more but insisted it was made to order with normal milk. Either it was almond milk or they hadn't cleaned froth milk jug or frothing nozzle. This resulted leaving lunch with full coffee sitting on table. Im sure someone who did like coffee with almond milk would have loved it. We ended up going elsewhere to find and return with wine which came with corkage (expected) but with $2.50 per person fee (12.50 in total for 5 glasses). Not per bottle fee like most places with higher standards. Then we ordered lunch which did come with good customer service. Have to order singularly with prepayment resulting with the feeling we could not leave tip. Menu was 'homestyle' with vegan options which suited some at our table which was great but certainly overpriced for what was on offer. Upon ordering, good cust service, I got salad which was ok but a small portion. Others at the table found thier meals a little 'meh' and again, small portions. Ok but not great not bad food, just average. There is a lot of homware, unique items (clocks, jams, unique planters etc) for sale which was cool however I didn't purchase anything due to the poor service re coffee and overall menu prices. A shame as I was very tempted to buy a very unique clock. Again, overall experience was just Ok. Not...

Having been to Spice of Life several times before, my husband and I decided to take a couple of our friends up their for lunch on Monday 24th as we'd always had good food and enjoyed the service and friendliness in the past. Wrong move. At least as far as I was concerned. My husband and our friends were happy enough with their choices. I wasn't too hungry so I chose the Mac and Salad. The meal was presented quite nicely on the plate, however, even though I wasn't after a full meal, I have to say that the portion on the plate looked a little lonely with a tiny salad in a very small bowl. I had considered ordering a child-sized serve, thinking that the Mac Cheese would be too plentiful, but after the event, I was glad I hadn't. I'd hate to see the child-size serve! The salad was some kind of afterthought with a few sprigs of the ever present mixed lettuce leaves with two cherry tomato halves and if it had a dressing on it, I couldn't taste it. So, the first disappointment was the salad which didn't even appeal on presentation, never mind taste. The Mac Cheese was dry, coated in breadcrumbs and was shaped like a burger pattie. I got the impression that the mac cheese was made in bulk and kept until all serves were sold. It was tasteless. At the insistence of my table guests, I took the meal back and said that I couldn't eat it. The server just took the plate away, didn't make any comment at all, in fact was totally disinterested in finding out why I was not happy with the meal. No offer of a replacement meal was made by any of the staff and my action was met with total indifference. Summary of experience : disappointment with the meal but even more so with the staff's total lack of follow-up and customer service. My friends will never visit again because of this, and I dare say that a subsequent number of their friends will avoid it also. So disappointed after having had better experiences in the past...

Unfortunately when we asked for lactose-free Zymil milk Mochas they arrived heaped with cream, it may sound a small thing, but this is a medical condition so we went back and asked for them without cream thinking would be no question, however, the lady serving said that we should've asked for them not to be served with cream on top (why would we expect cream on top of the mochas🤷‍♀️, and in other establishments, they do sometimes offer cream on top, but never expect us to request lactose free milk, and then assume they might come with cream on top which has lactose in it??) they were replaced, but it would seem the milk was likely not Zymil because within minutes stomach cramps, and diarrhea meant a long time in the toilet and being unable to eat the lunch we had ordered - hence less stars for service. I would hate to think that someone with an allergy might be served the wrong item. This experience outweigh the other good things that we liked about Spice of Life. Won't be going back, not because of a mistake made, but because of the way we were made to feel when we asked for what we had originally ordered but we went away feeling extremely unwell hoping to get home ASAP Heading photos with the lunch we...