Jamie M.

2 Not Recommended

Food  1      Drinks  2      Ambience  5      Service  1      Value  1     

Went to The Deck beach cafe for brunch today. Pretty unpleasant experience all round.

The menu is pretty basic, no bad thing in a beach cafe but it seems that the chef is too. All we ordered was Aussie burger, lamb burger and chicken and sweet potato salad. Really quite bad, all of them.

You'd think these items were so bog-standard that they would not be hard to put up. The cheese on the Aussie burger was so notably awful that I have included a picture (a slab of processed cheese that would stop your heart - they have better cheese in maccers. It has dry bits around the edges and everything). The chicken and sweet potato salad had one nice piece of chicken and a couple of fatty bits - in total. Both burger's garnishes were very tired.

The coffee was also quite bad which is largely inexcusable in Sydney. And it's crying out for an all day breakfast element to the menu.

The whole place is filthy, a day of effort and cleaning would make a massive difference (crazy idea, I know). But The Deck is attached to the Collaroy Beach Hotel which is also badly run down and in serious need of a good clean and paint. (The Collaroy Beach Hotel looks as though someone had a vague idea to make it a bit trendy/edgy and ran out of money about a third of the way through).

The staff mostly seemed pretty uninterested, not a surprise given the less than inspiring surroundings.

The thing is, it's not a hard cafe/restaurant concept to get right. They have the location (surprisingly, one of the only cafes right on the sand on the Northern Beaches) all they need to make a significant difference is to clean and paint the place, motivate the staff and replace the cook with someone that likes food.

The problem, I suspect, is that it's one of the only places on the sand so they're never short of punters. Unfortunately, we probably will go back as it's right on the sand so kids can play while adults sit and moan about the filth and disappointing food.

I didn't complain, though, as I doubt anything would have been perceived as sub-standard or wrong. You have to have standards in the first place for that to be something to complain about. Disapointing.

Jan 08, 2012

2 Not Recommended

Food  1      Drinks  2      Ambience  5      Service  1      Value  1     

Went to The Deck beach cafe for brunch today. Pretty unpleasant experience all round.

The menu is pretty basic, no bad thing in a beach cafe but it seems that the chef is too. All we ordered was Aussie burger, lamb burger and chicken and sweet potato salad. Really quite bad, all of them.

You'd think these items were so bog-standard that they would not be hard to put up. The cheese on the Aussie burger was so notably awful that I have included a picture (a slab of processed cheese that would stop your heart - they have better cheese in maccers. It has dry bits around the edges and everything). The chicken and sweet potato salad had one nice piece of chicken and a couple of fatty bits - in total. Both burger's garnishes were very tired.

The coffee was also quite bad which is largely inexcusable in Sydney. And it's crying out for an all day breakfast element to the menu.

The whole place is filthy, a day of effort and cleaning would make a massive difference (crazy idea, I know). But The Deck is attached to the Collaroy Beach Hotel which is also badly run down and in serious need of a good clean and paint. (The Collaroy Beach Hotel looks as though someone had a vague idea to make it a bit trendy/edgy and ran out of money about a third of the way through).

The staff mostly seemed pretty uninterested, not a surprise given the less than inspiring surroundings.

The thing is, it's not a hard cafe/restaurant concept to get right. They have the location (surprisingly, one of the only cafes right on the sand on the Northern Beaches) all they need to make a significant difference is to clean and paint the place, motivate the staff and replace the cook with someone that likes food.

The problem, I suspect, is that it's one of the only places on the sand so they're never short of punters. Unfortunately, we probably will go back as it's right on the sand so kids can play while adults sit and moan about the filth and disappointing food.

I didn't complain, though, as I doubt anything would have been perceived as sub-standard or wrong. You have to have standards in the first place for that to be something to complain about. Disapointing.

Jan 08, 2012