The Groundskeeper Cafe

You know what old people like? A good sit.
You know what else they like? A nice walk.
At Grounds Keepers Café, you can do both! (In Soviet Russia, ground walks you!). The café is smack dab in the middle of a park that literally has something for everyone. An astroturfed lawn bowl /​bocce /​cartwheel catwalk. A castle turret without the castle. A cricket oval with a white picket fence. A kids playground. A walking track. Greenery and trees and grass ever’where. A water feature, for crying out loud. And the café is dishing out Middle Eastern inspired meals and coffees and cakes and just get a coffee and walk. It’s fine. Who cares about your age? That doesn’t even matter.

The setting of the café is nice and the food is good and reasonably priced. However the service was very poor. We were ignored by staff and had to wait way too long for someone to take our order. We were given two cups of water for a table of four.

Venue well suited for families with a fun playground, sand play area and a park nearby — food was pretty average.
We got takeaway because there were no tables available (even for Tuesday lunch at around 12:30 pm). It took half an hour before our takeaway food was ready which is far too slow in my book — acceptable for dine-​in but if you were genuinely looking to pick up something quickly and go, that wouldn’t do it.
The food was nothing special — the menu looks great on paper but the dining experience doesn’t live up to it. We had the brekkie wrap (eggs, bacon, tomato relish, etc.) which was dry — could barely taste the relish. We had a chicken wrap (opposite problem — so saucy it kept dripping everywhere) and the haloumi salad (with walnuts, beets and spinach greens I think) — they were passable but no stand outs. Our son’s chicken tenders were dry and not that tasty. The wraps and salad we ordered were about $ 13 — $ 14 each for takeaway which is too much when it’s very ordinary quality.
The coffee was good — flavourful and the flat white had no shortage of microfoam — and probably the main part of the dining experience that was above average.
We would probably go back again if we were in the area mainly for the family friendly environment — our son loved it — and accept that the food isn’t going to be great.

Went here for a Mother’s Day brunch. Great food, if a little unusual since it has a Middle Eastern bent, a bit on the pricier side though. I paid $ 23 for a dish, which is a little more than what I’d usually have for brunch. Though it might’ve been the day — their breakfast options seem to be slightly cheaper on «regular» days.
Service was all right. A friend had ordered the kids meal, and it had arrived ~20 minutes before everyone else’s, so had gotten cold by the time everyone else’s meals arrived. She asked it to be reheated, but was told they couldn’t because everything was made fresh and they didn’t have a microwave.
We had to request several times for water for the entire table. They would release the cups a few at a time.
The food itself was quite tasty. I had the crispy pita & dukkah crumble with spicy slow cooked lamb, fried eggs, drizzled with minted yoghurt and lemon toasted pine nuts. Yum. They also had a nice mother’s day special where moms had a complimentary drink. Unfortunately due to the busy-​ness of the day they had a limited menu — our table was a bit disappointed that they only had a few dishes to choose from.

We stumbled upon this place while scouting for new local places for lunch. After having exhausted all the eateries in the area, a google search turned up this place which we decided to give it a try.
This place is hidden away in a park near the Top Ryde shopping centre. It has a great outdoors feel, with the café quite open. It would be really nice on a beautiful sunny day, the day we came however it was pouring with rain!
We had a large group so we had pre ordered our food. The menu is very middle eastern with all classics like Kofta & mezze boards. There was also a large salad menu on offer.
I had ordered the zucchini and haloumi fritters with rocket and chilli jam. The fritters were extremely flavoursome however they were on the slightly soggy side. Fritters to me should be crispy, so this was a slight letdown.
The haloumi themselves were delicious (its hard to go wrong with haloumi though!).
Nice little café, perfect for families with kids as it is located right next to a playground. Good addition to the area.