Mudcat - NORTH WOLLONGONG

Mudcat is a lovely little restaurant right near North Beach and the Novatel, it gets extremely busy on the weekend, nice coffee and nice food. Very popular place. Say hello to Nicole if you go there.

I went here for breakfast with my husband and 3-year old, as we wanted somewhere to eat with a view of the water. The staff were very attentive and accommodating - we were able to order straight away and the drinks and food came out very quickly (which is very helpful when you have a toddler!). The crepes were delicious and I would definitely order them again. We will return here next time we visit Wollongong.

The cafe occupies a great position at the corner of Cliff Rd and Bourke Street, and has a very inviting shop front. The internal fit-out feels clean and inviting with a sense of modern Australian café. The staff were attentive and helpful and explained the menu and options well. Unfortunately, the menu was underwhelming and in my opinion missing some basics. I had the chicken burger, which at best featured a reheated piece of frozen processed chicken, the kind you would find in the freezer isle at Woolies, it was a little soggy as you would expect reheating frozen food, the focaccia bun didn’t hold itself together so with the first bite, the burger began to dismantle in my hands. To top it off, I asked for fries to accompany my burger, a reasonable request I believe, given most burger enthusiasts enjoy fries with their burgers, but they don’t offer fries…. at all! They don’t have the equipment to cook fries… how is this even possible? The burger was more like a home made chicken sandwich. No imagination, no real “burger” taste or feel, it was under seasoned and most of all, bland in all aspects. They should not offer burgers until they understand what a burger really should taste like, and until they can offer fries to accompany a burger. My wife had a toasted Turkish melt, again quite average, something that looked quite pedestrian. Something that could have come out of a home kitchen and unfortunately, tasted like it did too.Another family member had the Mudcasts Big Breakfast. We all hoped this would be the dish that impressed us all, however it too was bland, quite average and unfortunately the scrambled eggs were some of the worst we had ever tasted. Not sure how you can get eggs, bacon, hash browns and mushrooms wrong. But they did. Finally, the last family member had a Shaved Turkey wrap and it too was quite simple and pedestrian. I appreciate that these reviews can sometimes seem a little harsh, but when you go out to a beach side café for brunch / lunch there are certain minimum standards you expect to see and after four average meals, it was difficult to find something positive to say about the menu and food. Again, location is great, staff were great, but food was pretty average. With a menu revamp, I am sure the café could turn it all around fairly easily. Unfortunately, we won’t be returning.

Average coffee and food. Not terrible, not great. Friendly staff. Nice atmosphere, looks over the beach, nice view. Good in summer and suitable for kids.

Nice location and good coffee however menu is pretty basic with limited selections. Wouldnt take much to lift this place but start with a bit more imagination around your menu.