the topiary cafe

we have been numerous times for a weekend breakfast. the food is amazing, both in taste & presentation. the pancakes are a favourite of mine. the staff are friendly.

great food and lovely service. our meal was a little longer to wait for than expected but the cabinet food and the coffee as was devine. we have been coming here for a while when we visit and have always enjoyed the food (apart from the noise during busy periods)

just beautiful!. first visited this café last month and returned this morning for a beautiful breakfast. i was a little surprised by the previous comments about service; both times it's been exceptional. we eat out heaps (probably too much!) so we've experienced all sorts of service and really this was a lovely experience. absolutely gorgeous setting, particularly in the courtyard. inside is quaint (it's a really old stone building) and the whole place was completely full with diners, but wasn't crowded. food was really fresh (they use a lot of produce from the garden there), delicious and i couldn't fault it. i had the pancakes with berries & pistachio crumb& earl grey gel, yum. not huge serves, but more than adequate & i'd prefer quality over quantity any day. coffee was 'ok', say a 7/10 (i wouldn't go there just for coffee). something i noticed was that today they offered our kids a kids menu, whereas last time they didn't and the kids just ordered from the main menu, which wasn't a problem but if you don't know to ask for it, there are smaller serves available. table service for breakfast is great, i'm so over lining up for 10 minutes to order, it's so much nicer to be served at the table! finished off the morning with a lovely wander through the garden nursery. really recommend this place.

group of us went. half thought the food was good and half thought it was terrible so it depends on what you order. the marathon walk for older people is ridiculous, making people go through the garden shop when there is a door right by the car park. atmosphere would have been nice apart from the noise. would have liked a door open so at lease some noise could escape! would have stayed for a coffee but none of our group could stand the noise any longer so we went elsewhere.

love it!. i have had breakfasts, lunch and coffee here and always thoroughly enjoyed my experience. i am looking forward to trying their high tea. the decor is gorgeous and it's so relaxing to sit out in the courtyard having breakfast. the food is extremely fresh and of high quality but be aware it is not plentiful and thus can be a bit costly. if you're ordering breakfast and like toast, you will need to order extra as it only comes with one half size piece of bread - my friend couldn't stop saying "you call this toast? no.. no.. this is not toast." i agree. lovely scones, cakes and coffee and beautiful homemade jam. i am always happy to eat here!

the food was okay and the coffee was good. however, the distance that customers have to walk was very difficult for my companion with mobility problems. there was also a mix-up with the food which staff did not deal with very well. i felt it was very rude. i will not be returning here again.

2 visits. 2nd not impressed with service.. first visit was lunch, small group of 4 people - we dropped in without a booking. we didn't really order too much so everything seemed to go smoothly although a bit of a wait for food.

2nd visit involved 11 people. we called up twice to change booking to this number. when we arrived there were 9 seats and 2 of the staff (one repeated twice) that the booking was for 9 - we asked if we could have an extra 2 seats and it seemed like a huge inconvenience for them. we also called ahead of time to let them know we wanted to bring a cake - this was for a 21st and a 60th lunch in one. they wanted to charge $3.50 cakeage per head. at 11 people this didn't make it worthwhile, we asked if they could reconsider but they would not make any allowances. we spent over $500 on lunch including drinks and dessert between us and then they were going to refuse to split the bill between 2 credit cards.

they also forgot to bring a few drinks out that werre ordered during the course of the meal and they brought the cheque out early - as they were still taking dessert orders!

i will say the food was delicious and really well presented - kudos to the chef. unfortunately the attitudes from the service from the wait staff are really letting this place down. everything seemed like too much of an effort for them to the point it was embarassing for our guests (2 from overseas). i won't be returning.

great experience. i thoroughly enjoyed my high tea experience at the topiary cafe.

i personally found staff to be friendly and efficient. the quality of food was very good and i was happy that my hot chocolate was included in the $31.50 price.

i would definitely recommend the topiary cafe as a high tea option. (make sure you book though! it was very busy when i went!)

high hopes let down by poor service. attended this cafe for a family afternoon tea and was really looking forward to it after hearing positive reviews. unfortunately though the whole experience was soured by the very poor customer service we received. after being seated it took some time to be served, then about another hour for our table to begin receiving coffees, and our simple food orders (e.g. scones and cream) only started coming out after that - a crazy amount of time considering how long we'd been there for.

we had also booked a cake earlier in the week to be brought out after our tea as well, but the staff didn't seem to know anything about it when we asked. we later found them rushing around to get it ready, which was surprising given we had assumed they'd have it already prepared for our reserved table, and had specifically requested advance notice when booking so that they could have it ready.

the waiting staff were constantly removing our dishes from the table when people were still eating, which just made us feel like they were in a rush to get us out of there (not surprising considering we'd been asked to leave by 4pm, even though the cake wasn't even served until then!).

the food itself was ok, but such poor service really soured the overall experience. i'm not sure what went wrong for them, perhaps they just aren't suited to anything but small bookings.

i finally got to try out this cafe after hearing so many great things from locals. we ordered off the menu and all 4 of us thoroughly enjoyed our meals. the staff were very friendly and helpful and the food was delicious. the food in the cabinet looked great too and very reasonably priced. i especially like the setting and maybe next time we'll stay for a round of mini-golf. our waitress advised us that if we wanted to come back on a sunday it would pay to book as it is their busiest day. good to know for future reference.

topiary cafe- very satisfied customer. i have been to topiary numerous times, breakfast, lunch, high tea and for coffee and cake. the food is fabulous, so fresh and beautifully presented. the staff are wonderful and so friendly and attentive i don't know what the previous review was about! am really looking forward to mothers day ht. well done kane you have a beautiful business and wonderful staff.

excellent food and service. dined here a few times and absolutely loved it. the service is great and the atmosphere is relaxing and tranquil. the menu incorporates many fresh and seasonal flavours and the wine list is impressive.
love the outside patio area- a nice spot to have a glass of wine while catching up with old friends.
all in all, an amazing hidden gem that i highly recommend to everyone.
will be going back there very soon for high tea.

zero customer service but nice high tea. we just finished a lovely high tea at the topiary cafe that was completely ruined by their terrible customer service. the food was nice but took a very long time to get drinks even longer for the food to come out. we ordered coffees at the end of the meal and the waitress even told us it would be a long wait (why would you say that?). the table was cleared and no one bought out a bill so we went up to pay and were told that there were no split bills. no split bills - at a cafe? the waiter was extremely rude and made us feel like it was the biggest inconvenience to split our bill. it was either that or they not get paid. was overpriced too. not the first time i have heard rumours about their customer service so i won't be back!