Sika Café — Restaurant in Cork

We visited Sika Café in Blarney today for lunch, and unfortunately, the service was shockingly poor. Myself, my wife, and our two young boys arrived shortly after 12:00 and were seated out the back. A young waiter handed us menus and took our drink order—two cappuccinos.

As we looked through the menu, we noticed there were no children's options, so my wife went to the counter to ask. She was informed that children's meals wouldn’t be available until 1:30. A bit inconvenient, but since there was pizza on the menu, we figured we could order one for the boys to share.

My wife took the kids to the bathroom and asked me to order her food while she was away. However, by the time she returned, our waiter had yet to return, and there was still no sign of our coffees. When she asked a passing staff member, we were told they were "on the way"—but at this point, we had already been waiting around 20 minutes.

During this time, we noticed several other customers also asking about their delayed drinks. Meanwhile, staff members were busy clearing tables and refilling containers instead of actually serving the customers already seated and waiting. The café wasn’t particularly busy, and there were plenty of clean tables, so the lack of service was surprising. Tip to management: If individual waiting staff are serving or taking one order every 10 minutes or so, you need to be providing them with direction—they clearly lack it.

Eventually, the young waiter returned and asked if we were ready to order (yes after about 25 minutes we were ready!!). As we proceeded, we were then told that the lunch menu wouldn’t be available until 1:30 and that only breakfast items could be ordered. That’s when frustration really set in.

A four-year-old isn’t exactly keen on Eggs Benedict or sautéed mushrooms on toast, so we pointed out to the waiter that he should have informed us earlier when handing us the menus that most of the items were unavailable. Instead of apologizing, he responded by criticizing us for not reading the menu properly.

Yes, the menu states that breakfast is served until 1:30, but it doesn’t indicate when lunch starts, and it was the only menu we were given. A bit of common sense should have kicked in—seeing a family with young children, you'd think some guidance would be offered. But no, I suppose he must have seen plenty of four-year-olds tuck into smoked salmon on sourdough.After 25 minutes, we decided to leave—our cappuccinos still hadn’t arrived.

I have included a picture of the menu—you might notice the distinct lack of times noted alongside the lunch items. There is no reason for anyone to assume these wouldn’t be available at 12:30 in the afternoon...

nice cafe next to Blarney Castle grounds. sign says its a Wine Bar & Cafe. I don't drink wine, but I asked at the door if they have beer. they said yes and listed 3 options so we decided to stay for dinner.

we were told to sit wherever we like, we seated ourselves in the back, outside area which was quite cozy, bright decor, very relaxing atmosphere.

we ordered a pizza and burger and a beer. after she took our order she came back to tell me they didnt have my beer in stock, left a menu, then after some moments came back again to place my 2nd beer order (Black KPA)

I liked the beer, a bit expensive at 6.50E for a 1/2L bottle but it was very bright and citrusy without being too bitter from the hops.

my wife had the Square pizza, dough was undercooked in a couple of slices, but overall it was good.

I had the sika smash burger, have to say it was the BEST burger I can remember. certainly the best I've had in Ireland. the flavors and textures all worked well together, lettuce was actually crisp, bacon was plentiful, and the sauce was tangy but not overwhelming. I felt the portion was just right definitely did not go away hungry!

the washrooms and tables were clean, but the floors looked like they had not been swept recently with a dropped fry (chip) on the floor and some other trash.

prices for the food were quite reasonable for the area, 14E for the pizza and 18 for the best burger ever! (fries were good too!)

the pace of service was good, it makes sense to wait between ordering and your food being served, it means they actually cook the food to your order :)

we'll be back,...

We arrived at 12pm for a reservation. Multiple staff saw us and walked past us without seating us. Fair enough they might have thought we were reading the menu boards or something. We told a waitress we had a booking for 12. She seemed surprised. Told us we could sit wherever we liked. A few minutes later someone dropped over menus to us. Then another waitress arrived over and said we will be waiting “over an hour” for food. We asked why. She said she didn’t know. We asked to speak to someone else. Another waitress arrived to our table, seemed exasperated and curtly informed us we could only order from the lunch menu (it states the breakfast is available until 1:30pm on weekend on the menu). We had to ask her to clarify several times before she let us know that the kitchen had run out of breakfast items and now was closed for an hour to get ready for lunch. Seems bizarre to take reservations for a time when the kitchen will be closed. Didn’t offer to make anything else instead. We left without any food. Very very poor service. Additionally wasn’t blown away by the atmosphere or the general set up. Unfortunately we definitely won’t...