Livingstone — Restaurant in Pulau Bali

A rather big building housing this cafe and it's pretty unmissable when you are about to reach the location. The first storey is very big, there is a bigger indoor air conditioned area and a slightly smaller outdoor area where smoking is permitted and there is an ice cream parlour. I took the indoor seating and was amazed by the variety of pastries displayed. Took me very long to walk from one to the other end and in my mind adding them to the list of items to try. Had quite a few options in my mind, and also the staff has recommended me some items, and decided on picking two and a main from the menu. Ordered a Toblerone Bread Butter Pudding and a Vanilla Almond Pistachio Croissant from the display, and the brioche French toast from the menu. Was given the option to heat up the pastries and I said yes. Waited a while for the tea to be served, thought it would taste like lemon tea but was unsweetened which was something I would have preferred as well. Then came the heated pastries. I took a first cut and bite on the croissant and was disappointed. Usually when a croissant is heated the crust would be hot and crispy and the pastry would be firmer, but this one did not. Upon cutting it felt so soft and it just collapsed. Didn't like the overall texture of the croissant. Then had the bread pudding. Something is seriously missing! The vanilla sauce! There wasn't any sauce given and also though it was heated, could feel the cup a little lukewarm and the bread pudding tasted like it wasn't heated before. The only consolation came, which was the French toast. Hot and crispy, enjoyed the chocolate and peanut butter in between the toast. Portion was rather small for the price but it was the best thing eaten here. Price wise was okay, except for the small portion of the French toast for the price being charged. Didn't really enjoy the pudding and the croissant. A very average cafe my expectations were actually higher reading the reviews before visiting so left feeling kinda...

We had the Marinara, Rib Eye Steak, dim sims, 2 coffees, Strawberry Tea Drink and 2 bottled water.

Rib Eye Steak was priced at Rp 350k which is around $37 AUD. It was seasoned okay but for its price and quality of meat we would say that it’s HIGHLY over priced for a very thin slice of RIB EYE. Yes it was advertised as 200g but the quality and slice is not $37 aud worth AT ALL. We asked for it as medium rare, and it was sent as very RARE with meat still literally uncooked on some part. When we asked to have it flipped for atleast another 10secs as it was still RAW, the server implied to us that what we should’ve asked is Medium Well. We are quite foodie and coming from Australia we didn’t want to argue about the difference of rare, medium rare and medium well looks. So we just insisted and requested to please have it flipped for another 10seconds as it is rare, to which they eventually did after giving us the looks from the kitchen and we stared at them as well. (Picture of the rare part posted and thin-ness of the cut of steak; Steak was just cut and hasn’t been eaten at all on this pic and that’s how small their 200g slice is for the price).

The seafood marinara on the other hand was good. Pasta was freshly cooked just needed a bit more straining as it was quite watery, but flavor is 7.5/10. Priced reasonably as well.

Coffees are good price is good $4.5 AUD each.

Overall would probably come back for coffee when close by but would not travel again all the way here for food, as you can spend $37 at a beach front places or Bars in Bali for way lesser price than this. Check out La Brisa mains are from $14-25 and you’ll be sitting infront of the beach watching the sunset. And many more...

Was really excited to try this place when I saw the hefty amount of good reviews and the drool-induced photos.

Unfortunately I am deeply disappointed . Prices are steep for Bali and so I expected even more .

Food has good concept , but delivered poorly. Flavors and textures are not refined and there was no balance between each ingredient.

Not sure if our standards are high (we are global travelers, based in New York)

We got the -ice coffee drinks (tiramisu frappe, iced caramel macchiato) avocado toast bacon scrambled egg croissant smoked salmon toast -pastries (madeleine, vanilla flan, almond Nutella )

-Avo toast was def on the lighter side , to the point where the avocado tasted watery . Also needed a kick in flavor , maybe some pickled onions or a sprinkle of seasoning would tie everything together

bacon egg croissant had too much egg that washed out flavors or everything else . Also the scrambled egg was a bit too runny , made everything else a big soggy

smoked salmon Benedict was okay , nothing elevated the flavor of the salmon . After I put some salt it helped greatly .

coffee drinks tasted like Dunkin’ Donuts , heavy on the flavoring where I can’t enjoy the coffee aroma . Starbucks does the iced macchiato so much better

pastries were alright . Def not the best. Madeleines were of the spongey cake type . Not what I was expecting .

Service was very good though, as well as atmosphere and interior design . They deserved five for that

All in all , pretty disappointed . Would...