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2 days ago
Topped off a perfect afternoon in Castor Bay. Beautiful cakes which we enjoyed outside- an amazing sun trap! Very clean and great for the kids too. I’ll def be telling my mum to come here if she ever visits the area as she would love the gluten free options. Would def recommend this place.
2 days ago
Best coffee I’ve tasted in quite a while. Nice to soak up the sun while my boys played in the kids room. I felt very welcome, and loved the homemade muffins. I’ll be back.
3 days ago
First visit to Castor Sugar and will be back, fab relaxed atmosphere. Homemade soups and cakes were awesome. Looking forward to heading down at the weekend to sample breakfast.
6 days ago
Have always wanted to eat lunch here but it is always so busy. This time managed to grab a table without any problems thinking we had just missed the main rush (it was 1pm). We were told the wait was 25 minutes. It ended up 50 minutes. After asking the surly waitress where our meals we were told “you knew there was a wait” – no apologies. It could have been forgiven if the meals were good but alas no. My husbands eggs benedict was 30 seconds away from being hard boiled eggs. If we hadn’t been so hungry and hadn’t had to wait 50 minutes, he would have sent his meal back. Such a huge disappointment. Their cabinet food always looks delicious. Just don’t bother ordering from the menu.
6 days ago
I really like this cafe, I do not drink coffee so cannot comment on the coffee, my husband does love the coffee here.
I always order eggs benedict which is really good, but I always feel that it needs a bit extra hollandaise. The eggs benedict comes with two hash browns and from memory two pieces english muffin (or bread, don’t remember now), and I think that it had maybe just 2 tbspns extra hollandaise it would be 100%
I would recommend this cafe, although we went once on a sunday about 12 and they were very busy, so the food did take a while, but we didn’t mind because the waitress did inform us when we ordered our food so we expected it. Good communication, there is nothing worse than when the wait staff knows that your food is going to take quite a while and does not inform you.
So I would recommend Altura just maybe as for a little bit more hollandaise when ordering eggs benedict 
7 days ago
If it was possible to give this dump 0 stars I would. Waited 20 minutes for the Beef Burger & fries from the kids menu for my starving 8 year old. For $11.50 it’s basically 1 beef pattie inside a bun – holy crap this place is rubbish. Should have read the 1 other review on here before I parted with my money – they rated it 1 star also. That’s an $11.50 life lesson.
7 days ago
It was lunchtime and I wanted to buy a toasted sandwich. The girl serving said that they had run out of bread. I couldn’t believe it. She didnt offer any appology. She should of said that they would buy some bread from the supermarket downstairs. I am sure I wasn’t the only one wanting a toasted sandwich!!
11 days ago
I have been going to the French Cafe for the past 15 years and just love the food there.Louie is always happy go lucky.The food is great as i love pastries and as for the cakes…well what can you say.My favourite tho is the walnut loaf.the coffee is great and quite often buy the coffee grounds to take home. Only problem is…its always packed.
11 days ago
Nice food and coffee but would have been nice to be told that the pancakes were not available before we ordered. Also being offered coffee instead of having to get up to order it would be good. Pity the Entertainment book voucher wasn’t valid for Mothers Day so we’ll have to go back another day.
12 days ago
The boys and I took mother out for lunch yesterday, what an experience. Mothers day was so busy the staff at Beach were awesome. They pampered my wife with a small muffin and a chocolate shot and kept the boys entertained. The cafe was so busy, food took almost an hour but it was worth waiting for. Coconut French Toast for mum and I had their Big Breakfast with homemade baked beans and a fresh made hash brown. Superb! great value and the staff were so apologetic for the wait. I wish I had taken photos of the food but my boy jumped all over my plate and pinched bits before I could. We will be making this a regular brunch spot when we are over on the shore.
12 days ago
Love Cafe Sofra. I apologise for not reviewing sooner as we do love to stop in here whenever we are in Browns Bay. It must just be that I get so busy on these days that I forget – so sorry!! I cannot fault this place. Coffee, food, service – all fantastic. It can often be so busy here at brunch time on the weekends that sometimes we have to make do with a takeaway coffee but that is by no means to their detriment! I love to have brunch here and the eggs Benedict is always a winner with my husband. I love the creamy mushrooms! You also have to try the Baklava – awesome!! You will leave wanting to go back for more.
12 days ago
Great coffee, and fabulous service. I had been to the cafe before when it was Spring Moon, sad and bad experience! What a change, they are open till 7pm so there is somewhere for a good coffee after work. I’m impressed with the quality of menu items and the lovely flavours. My friend had the Asian Lamb salad and I had their eggs and avo with handmade hashbrown on the side, FANTASTIC! I will say that food takes a little time to come but good food takes awhile in any good establishment and it is worth the wait. I’m looking forward to my next visit.
14 days ago
Friendly service, delicious pastries and yummy coffee! A perfect place to stop on the way to the beach. I’ll definitely be back
16 days ago
New owners have made this place great. Yum food, good service, good coffee. Nice place to chill in the weekends.
17 days ago
I had breakfast at Hamic with my sisters on the weekend. We had the salmon cake, scrambled eggs and bacon/eggs/hashbrown/hollandaise and it was all fresh and delicious. The coffee was so good we had to have two! The food in the cabinet looked good, though we couldn’t fit it in, maybe next time.
21 days ago
Love the food. noticed this morning that the barista, albeit a very nice young man, was wearing a sleeveless shirt. I am not interested in armpits when I am trying to eat or enjoy a good coffee. Where are those health inspectors when you need them? Doesn’t the manager know that hair tends to end up in food?
22 days ago
Great little cafe in Albany. Lovely food, hot coffee. Reasonable prices. Super friendly staff who genuinely seem happy to have you there and will do anything to make your visit enjoyable. Thanks girls. I highly recommend.
23 days ago
We have been coming to Café Sofra for about 10 years I think. The food, coffee and service have always been exceptional and everyone I have recommended this café to have also found it to be fantastic. I do take great exception to the anti-children comment below from Rose. Our first child was one when we started coming here (now ten) and our second a few weeks old (now four). We and our children could not have been made more welcome over this time than if Alan, Gulten and Erwin were family. A big five stars for Café Sofra.
25 days ago
I enjoyed a nice breakfast here, the coffee is excellent, I had the creamed mushrooms on toast which were delicious. There are lovely views of the city outside the back windows, a really nice chilled out cafe, not the cheapest, but a nice treat.
25 days ago
This place is great!! I recently took a group of friends out to brunch at Stone Oven. The owners sure were smart to start a cafe here, the sun shines right inside. We visited on a Saturday so it was quite busy but the cafe has so much seating available (inside, along the footpath and outdoor deck area) that we found a table for four easily. The coffees were hot and delicious, and a friend commented that theirs was the best soy coffee they’d ever had. We had the pancakes (huge!), bacon eggs benedict, the mussels of the day (with gluten free toast) and the beef and bacon burger. All were top notch! I was also impressed with the staff. All were smiling but efficient, must be what makes this cafe so popular! Will definitely be coming back to Stone Oven.
North Island
