Riverside Central Cafe

After years of searching (obviously not very hard) we’ve finally found a decent all day breakfast café within walking distance. I’ve driven, walked, run, stumbled home drunk past this café so many times over the years and never thought to check it out. Most of the time when I notice, it’s busy, so they must be doing something right. Beware the staff are very friendly, as in touchy feely friendly. Well it keeps the male customers returning so I guess it’s good for business. I’m notoriously mad for French toast so if I see it, I order it. This one wasn’t too bad, although next time I’ll request that they hold the yoghurt because it was practically drowning in it. My partner loved the big breakfast and the breakfast wrap was yumo. Much bigger than expected which led to me not being able to finish it but at least I know for the future. All in all, it’s affordable, incredibly local and not terrible. We will actually return.

Located just beside the wharf this place has a relaxed feel. I opted for the Kick Start brekkie… Poached eggs, bacon, tomato with Turkish bread. There were a couple of other early bird customers, & then a group of 8 arrived. Parking was breezy caus it was so early. I wondered about so many staff, but in the first half hour I can count at least 25 patrons!

I was walking around shamelessly yesterday during the day trying to find a new café in Parramatta. For some reason, not a lot of cafés are opened on the weekends around Phillip Street on the way to Charles st, BUT U KNOW WHAT?! Riverside was there to the rescue!
I was by myself. I walked in and sat down and it took them forever to serve me. For some reason, because your café is busy, the consensus is to serve the bigger groups as there is more of them! Apparently anyway! I am one tiny little person and I was already to order in seconds! With their menu widely displayed in front of the restaurant, u have to expect that smaller groups would want to know what they want in minutes prior to even sitting down.
The selection on their menu was perfect for a café! It all looked so damn delicious! I love how they have all day breakfast (who says u can’t have hash browns with your steak at 5pm?!). They offer all sorts; from your burgers to your simple BLT, steaks, prawns, chicken and healthy fish dishes, to your pastas, simple soups and salad! They have gluten free/​vegetarian options as well (my mouth is slowly salivating just thinking of this menu).
I got the grilled chicken with mash potato and steamed vegetables; which is exactly what I was expecting as that’s all it said on the menu. But when it came out, it was this MOUNTAIN of 3 – 4 pieces of grilled chicken placed on a bed of around one cup of mash potatoes. The mash was DRENCHED in this buttery sauce which I was happy to request (and quite possibly threaten the chef) for it’s recipe! It was mouth watering! And the vegetables… Well… I was expecting your usual carrots, Broc, corn… But out came some fancy ass squash, broccoli, green beans with a bit of sprouts and some amazing medium sized sautéed mushrooms. I think it was sautéed it that amazing butter sauce which was an A fricking PLUS! I’m generally a big eater, but with this as well as my white chocolate mocha, it was definitely hard to stomach! Just note that you will not be starving when you walk out the café!
I’m a big fan of comfy cafés; comfy to sit down and whip out my laptop, some work from the office or even a book to read for hours, however don’t think the café is set up for this! Nor so I think it is set up for a bunch of screaming HSC teenagers, looking up The Biebs on youtube. It however, didn’t stop me from sitting in there for 2 – 3 hours reading a book.
What annoyed me the most is that the tables on the edge outside was infested with ants! Didn’t feel comfortable given the little shits were crawling all over my arms and on the table, however, it was ok for me to tolerate (considering I had sat there in the same spot for a good 3 hours!)
On Saturdays, I think they close around 2ish. I think I was indirectly being kicked out when I saw them packing up around me so I knew I had to skiddadle!
Xoxo hayworldkrystal

This was a great place to pick up a salad sandwich or chicken schnitzel toastie on a work lunch break. Was being the key word.
Being convenient and popular, it was the place to get lunch with plenty of seating inside and out. But they just don’t have any consistency with pricing. I ordered the same sandwich every day, and each day the price would change. After querying the price differences the sandwich hand was rude and called me a liar.
This kind of rudeness is disgraceful and is not warranted, especially when they do not have set pricing, and change it daily. Will not be going back.