Cafe Insomnia (Closed)

4.5 Below Average

Food  6      Ambience  5      Service  1      Value  6     

Cafe Insomnia has had several changes of hands since I've lived in Pennant Hills, and I think the only reason it's still there at all is because it has zero competition, they're generally the only place open half the time, but it's not somewhere I'd flock to.

The food is your typical cafe food, and I've never had a bad experience with it. However it's the service that has always been consistently lacking - even when the place is quiet, whether it's for a meal or just for coffee, it takes forever for any wait staff to take your order once they've given you a menu. The drinks usually take quite awhile, and you have to really flag someone down to order anything further.

Oct 20, 2011 

7 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  7      Service  7      Value  7     

Went there for Father's Day dinner. It's an oddly named restaurant, as you'd think it was going to be a funky sort of place, but really it's just a cafe on Pennant Hills Road. We waited a while to be offered drinks (which annoys me), but after that the service was very good.

Food was Ok, chicken was a bit dry, but the steak was perfect and cheese cake was delish. They happily and without fuss, changed some of the ingredients in the dishes (due to allergies), which is refreshing. Was $200 for 5 of us + a bottle of wine, which is pretty good value.

Sep 15, 2011 

6 Average

Food  7      Ambience  5      Service  6      Value  6     

Although it's a bit of a weird mix -bar, jazz, late night restaurant- all in one, I've had a few good sandwiches here. It's a roomy place and nice to have a little bit of space and be able to choose which table you want.

Jul 21, 2011 

9 Highly Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  10      Value  10     

It was not a bad call pulling over and making our way to have a late sunday lunch at this place while we were on our way back to newcastle. All we have to say is, it was a fine experience and now one of my favourite dining venues.

The food, at first took a while to come out but it was worth the wait(warm and tasty). The thing special about this place is service and value for money. The waiter who served us was very attentive and professional. The best part of being there was listening causeries about his personal life and work experiences in his quite interesting accent.

We ordered a cheesy garlic bread, risotto with chicken (truly delicious), a club sandwich, two glasses of house white and our total tab was below 50 dollars which I think was very reasonable. Overall, it was a pleasant experience with decent meal and outstanding service in this place. Will be definitely back.

Jun 11, 2011 

8.8 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  8     

I love the coffee here, the best in pennant hills.

Mar 22, 2011 

3 Below Average

Food  2      Ambience  2      Service  4      Value  4     

Had lunch at Cafe Insomnia on a Tuesday with a business client. We both ordered the lasagna with salad. I was shocked when I saw the "kitchen staff" microwaving the meal, but even more shocked when I actually saw the meal.

The lasagna was cold throughout the middle, it had one thin layer of meat with 6 sheets of pasta stuck together? I don't even want to know what the curdled goo on top was. Other than the poor meal and flat coke, the lunch was tolerable.

Mar 22, 2011 

1 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  1      Service  1      Value  1     

What is this place?

One minute they are advertising themselves as a "Bar and Grill" and "Cafe". The next minute they have "Live Jazz". The next minute it is an "Italian resturant"!!

I have an affinity with this place because I have seen it change hands a number of times and I am a regular but in my last few visits the service has been bitterly disappointing. The waiter (the man "in charge" as he said) was rude, abrupt and had a constant grumpy look on his face. In all honesty I was annoyed that I wasted a saturday at this place

I want to come back because I used to love it but looks like it has changed for the worse.

Oct 10, 2010 

7.5 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  8      Service  7      Value  8     

I'm a regular at Cafe Insomnia and I've seen it go up and down, and through a number of owners. If you ask me, it's better as a cafe with light meals rather than a full blown restaurant. Their coffee is renowned in the area for it's perfect taste, not bitter and wonderfully presented, always hot.

The cafes major problem is it's senior staff, whenever it's busy and he's there it all falls apart, I have no idea as to why, but he seems to put an additional pressure on his coworkers who chase after him fixing his mistakes. I suggest that if you enter, and he is there you leave, he always wears casual clothes (which is weird) so you'll know him. The man you want in charge is Season, who I believe is Nepalese, when he is working with the young rocker red headed kid, everything seems to work smoothly.

The atmosphere is calm and people seem to warm to there welcoming and fun attitudes. There are a few staff there that don't seem to have permanant shifts on the roster, they are always interchanging. So you can't always guarantee who's on.

Overall, if the right people are there, it's an awsome place for young people to hang out and have coffee or a drink, and a meal if they like, the food Is tasty and affordable. And service is relaxed but attentive and swift to order. Friday nights Jazz is amazing, always busy, I highly recommend you go just for coffee and dessert or a few cocktails with friends.

Cafe Insomnia is a cool place, it has character and a strange warmth, to it's regulars it's a loved local, it's just a very up and down mysterious joint. Check it out.

Sep 05, 2010 

4.5 Below Average

Food  2      Ambience  6      Service  6      Value  4     

Decided to have a quick dinner out, we'd driven past this place and the very big advertising on the window made it sounds interesting. Italian food + Jazz, excellent!

Well, there was no Jazz, thats ok it was the wrong night. The place was pretty empty but the waiter was very nice and brought us our sticky menus. We ordered from the fairly limited menu and the garlic bread came out, to share, with no bread plates so we put down paper napkins on the table, not great. Also, since there was a total absence of garlic, we added salt for flavour. Coffee arrived and it was really great, genuinely good coffee.

Food came out and the Chicken schnitzel with avocado salad was Chicken schnitzel with no avocado in the salad whatsoever. That was ok no real fuss. The meals were large but bland. The staff spent most of the time talking to each other in the kitchen, we had to go to them to order, stand up and look for them to get our plates cleared and catch their eye to let them know other patrons wanted to order. That's was ok too, annoying but it's clear this is essentially a cafe that stays open late, it's not somewhere you'd go for dinner, they just happen to be open round dinner time.

What annoyed me was the two pieces of cake we ordered. One Black Forrest and one caramel cheese cake. The Black Forrest had lovely chocolate curls on top which is why my sons ordered it. These were totally removed (?!), a strawberry applied, icing sugar and inexplicably banana and 'red' artificial syrup put all over the plate.

Really awful cheap tasting stuff. For the caramel cheese cake my partner asked that they don't put the syrup on, but it seemed they already had, the cake came out with cream, ice cream and half of a very conservative slice missing. Strawberry applied on top too. It was just bizarre. Overall, it's a cafe, it's not Italian but the coffee is good.

May 28, 2010 

8.8 Highly Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  9     

Great food and great staff. Its great to be able to sit in comfy chairs while having a glass of wine or coffee.

Mar 30, 2010