Helena Bay Cafe

$23.50 for each of these meals. Extremely disappointed with portion sizes. We were told they were running low on wedges. Unsure how that’s our problem. Apricot Chicken burger and wedges were both tasteless. Tomato sauce? Vegetable Salad (Dairy free) came missing halloumi and Chorizo, which are typically non-dairy. No attempt to replace these items if they were dairy. Staff were grumpy and tired and brought us the table next to ours drinks. Beautiful view, nice art. Very disappointing visit. Left hungry. Will not be coming back.

Whist the service was friendly and we enjoyed the vege stack, our experience was ruined by the huge Newfoundland dog who came to our table and drooled over my 86 yr olds mothers water glass, she is scared of dogs and was quite shaken. The cafe manager had quite a job to drag him away. Another customer stepped in, wiped the slobber off our table. As we were leaving we saw the owner of the dog who I think lives there and when we mentioned how inappropriate it was to have the dog come right onto our table he told us “leave, we don’t want you here and to F.k off”. No problem we will not return. The dog, who seems very good natured, and the cafe manager (who gave us a discount on our bill) were not offensive but the dogs owner was extremely rude. Yes a nice drive, nice cafe, nice gift shop but ruined by the dog owner.

The view was incredible and the staff lovely, but the food was so below average I was genuinely shocked. For the bread and dip platter the breads were all the same. And the dips tasted like the long life pesto from the pasta isle in the supermarket. The balsamic with the oil wasn’t even a reduction it was just vinegar. So strange. I also saw a couple opposite me order the loaded wedges, and it was the smallest portion I have ever seen. The coffee was very very average. Unfortunately ver disappointed and will not be back.

I ordered eggs Benedict. You want to have oozing egg yokes but my eggs were hard. 3 punny pieces of bacon and 5 raw leaves of spinach on each piece of toast, for me it was a letdown for what I was expecting for $18.00

.

Gallery, garden and coffee was great but Cafe was let down by limited selection of preprepared items, no menu and staff attitude.

Very disappointed. Visited for my birthday lunch at the end of Feb after having visited many times in the past. Views spectacular as always but we were greeted by a virtually empty display cabinet at 12.30pm and a menu that I thought was a breakfast menu. Very basic and the food was not great when it came. The menu was full of breakfast items with lots of eggs and to top it off the “special” was poached eggs on toast!

Having stopped there many years ago, we did so again recently. While the grounds and the gallery are still beautiful, the café was a total disappointment.
Food was very basic and bland and the cappuccino was horrible!

We felt it wasnt avery good menus for lunch had the French toast.half a slice of bacon half a banana bread didnt seem fried and the so called conserve on top was tasteless.the bagel very hard salmon and cream cheese ok

Fairly mediocre for a long drive to get there. Great views, though. The artgallery next door is eclectic but overpriced.

Amazing views. Great art/gift shop & gallery. My vegan burger was tasty but very over priced for what it was. Served with five potato wedges. Was there a potato shortage? Wish I'd taken a photo but was in disbelief/shock that someone thinks it's acceptable to serve it like that. As lovely as the Newfoundland dog is, I didn't appreciate his appearance at my table. Drooling over my plate & clothes. For the price & reputation, I expected better.

Lovely place friendly helpful staff.
Food in cabinet did not look fresh so we went for a cheese scone. That had so much pepper in it left the mouth tingling. Scone was also not fresh.
Lovelly view and the gallery was very nice.

We stopped for Brunch on 27th Dec.
They were short staffed, the poor girl on the checkout, was also the waitress. She was amazing. It was busy and she managed the best she could. Thank you.

What a lovely Cafe at the end of a very windy road well worth the drive. Staff in cafe very helpful and recommended the bacon and egg pie. Yum! Is all I cam say.
Keep up the amazing place.

Great location. Beautiful view from the outdoor down the gully to the sea. Well presented and arty since it's attached to a cool art gallery. Beautiful garden. Food is average though. It was only cabinet food available. We ordered a pie and ham&cheese croissant and it's wasn't great. Staff could be more friendly and engaging. However if you are traveling around it's worth stopping by.

We stopped in here on our way home from Russell for a cold drink, lovely friendly place with an amazing view.
Will be coming back next time for a meal.

A complete surprise on the road from Russell. Cafe serving pies, sandwiches etc by friendly staff, but for me it was the gallery that filled my tank. Variety of quality art, jewelry and sculptures, inside and in the garden. So worth the stop.

Amazing location, really well done and thought out, inside and out. A never ending amount of things to see. With the art gallery and the gardens to the cafe and over look while eating I felt like I was in another country. Food wasn't the best but service was great, atmosphere was cool, even the other guests were super friendly. Warning though! Do not take a large vehicle, camper or caravan down, park at the top.

The treat of seeing local artwork, together with good food a d a view out to the coast, makes this a worthy interlude on a y trip through the area. And the lovely Old English Sheepdog will love a rub.

Great little cafe situated in a lush forest. Super view of helena bay from the cafe. Great place to relax for some coffee and lunch and has a good collection of arts and crafts in the gallery section too. A must visit if your on you way to the bays.

Great place to kick back and relax over looking the coast. Great gallery next door. Worth stopping by and looking around