Rodney's Garden Cafe

9.3 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  10      Service  9      Value  9     

My family and I ate at Rodney's on a busy weekend in May and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. What an amazing setting! We sat out in the beautiful courtyard and enjoyed a wonderful meal, the food was fantastic. We found the staff to be very friendly and courteous and the service reasonable quick for a busy day. There was a really nice atmosphere about the place. We would highly recommend eating here and will now be making it our regular stomping ground.

Jun 16, 2011 

4.8 Average

Food  7      Ambience  7      Service  1      Value  4     

I can only echo the sentiments of Mazza77. This is a great venue let down by very poor customer service. We arranged to bring some friends here due the nice location and the kids play area. We got the strong impression from the staff from the moment we arrived that we were an inconvenience. I don’t think we’ve felt a vibe quite like the one we felt upon arriving at this cafe. When we were ordering at the counter the staff were clearly irritated by our presence at the counter (as we were in the way of the wait staff walking into the kitchen) and the woman taking the orders was most put out when we politely asked if we could order a lunch item during the breakfast menu.

The male staff member wandering the outdoors area was probably the worst though, I would characterise his demeanour as aggressive, he was not polite and did not smile once. When we left we actually felt we were doing them a favour by getting out of their hair. Maybe all this was due to the public holiday. However, if you don’t want to be open, don’t open. The cafe was charging handsome surcharge as it was. My wife has been before and it was no surprise to her.

Mar 14, 2011 

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  9      Service  8      Value  8     

We organised a brithday for a 2 year old with about 20 people and found this to be a fantastic venue. There is an area where the children can play on a playground which sits near the table where we were entertaining and this was excellent. We were located away from other diners, so we didn't have to worry about bugging other people.

The food was good and the staff were excellent. Meals have to be ordered at the bar and they're brought out to the table. With a large group, this worked well.
There's also plenty to look at between courses if you're into gardening/outdoor living etc which keeps the adult folks entertained. All in all, a very enjoyable experience for us.

Jun 19, 2010 

1.3 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  2      Service  1      Value  1     

My birthday lunch was ruined by a very mediocre restaurant. They have a sign that says 'our friendly staff will attend to you' but the staff attending did not smile once and we seemed to be an incovenience. When we left a disposable childs place mat on the table to be thrown away one of the staff said 'as long as it's not a dirty nappy'. We were pretty insulted that he would think we were dirty enough to do such a thing.

The garden setting is lovely but that's all they have to offer! Not worth the money or time.

Response from Management:
Good morning Mazza77

Thank you for your review. I am very sorry that you and your family have had a bad experience at our cafe. We have spoken with our staff and are dealing with the problem that you have experienced. At Rodney's we are a family business and spend a lot of time, training our staff in customer service, obviously this has not happened with your visit to us and we are very distressed by this.

I can only apologise to you and your family for this bad experience, and to let you know that we are dealing with your complaint and take this very seriously. If you would like to discuss this further, please do not hesitate to contact Nathan Kleinig, our cafe manager who is happy to hear from you. 02 6257 5822

Kind Regards
Fiona Toll

Mar 08, 2010