Best cafes in Rockdale

Best cafes in Rockdale, ranked

1. #1Sandwich Lab for filled sandwiches on sourdough and focaccia to take away

   $$Outdoor seating🌳 Chapel Street Reserve, 5 min walk

   Sandwich Lab is a small sandwich and coffee shop on Princes Highway. Order a pulled beef Reuben on rye sourdough, or the caponata with stracciatella on focaccia, both on the menu. Fresh pastries are baked daily, and breakfast and lunch are both served. Chapel Street Reserve is a 5 minute walk, so a takeaway lunch can be eaten in the park.

2. #2Xtract Coffee for an early breakfast and strong coffee

   $🌳 Yamba Woora Reserve, 7 min walk

   Xtract Coffee on Walz Street opens at 5am, Monday to Saturday. Order the Lebanese tapas platter, which comes on a board with dips, olives, pickles, a boiled egg and warm pita. Eggs on toast are called generous by customers. Dessert fans mention the apple crumble. Yamba Woora Reserve is a 7 minute walk away.

3. #3Happy Alley for sandwiches and burgers at lunch

   $$Outdoor seating🌳 Chapel Street Reserve, 2 min walk

   Happy Alley on Bay Street runs from breakfast to lunch. Order the hot honey mortadella sandwich or a Happy Patty burger, and the chicken parmigiana sandwich is the other favourite. The steak with fries and chimichurri is also praised, and vegetarian options are on the menu. There is no kids menu, but Chapel Street Reserve is a 2 minute walk for after lunch.

4. #4EXPRESSO CARTEL for a quick coffee at the station

   $🌳 Chapel Street Reserve, 5 min walk

   On Railway Street, EXPRESSO CARTEL is a coffee and takeaway counter inside Rockdale train station. It opens at 6am from Monday to Thursday and stays open late on Friday, which suits commuters on the way to the platform. Next to the coffee you can grab a wrap, a croissant or a tub of cut fruit. Coffee is what visitors come back for, and juice is the only other drink on offer.

5. #5Soul Mill Woodfired Pizza for a family lunch

   $Outdoor seating🌳 Chapel Street Reserve, 4 min walk

   Soul Mill Woodfired Pizza is a family-run cafe on King Street, serving woodfired pizza, oven-baked burgers and wraps. Order the oven-baked burger with sujuk, or a steak wrap, and expect a large portion. A kids menu is available, and the room is cosy for families with little ones. The closest park, Chapel Street Reserve, is 4 minutes on foot.

6. #6Knead Bakehouse for pastries and a rich coffee

   $🌳 Chapel Street Reserve, 4 min walk

   Knead Bakehouse is a bright bakery cafe in Tramway Arcade, with pastries and bread stocked along the counter. The Latin chicken pastry costs $9, with a flaky pastry and creamy chicken filling. Customers praise the rich, robust coffee, and the fridge holds bottled and canned drinks for a takeaway stop. For a stroll afterwards, Chapel Street Reserve sits 4 minutes from the door.

7. #7Boschetto Cafe for steak and well-presented plates

   $$Outdoor seating🌳 Chapel Street Reserve, 5 min walk

   Boschetto Cafe is a cafe on Princes Highway known for plates that arrive bright and carefully arranged. Order the steak, or the breakfast tacos with scrambled eggs and sauce. The baked eggs with garlic toast are also on the menu, and a beetroot and pomegranate salad on toasted bread suits a slow morning. It has outdoor seating, a kids menu and vegetarian dishes, and Chapel Street Reserve can be reached on foot in about 5 minutes.

8. #8HEY BAY BAÉ - Cafe for pistachio croissants and cappuccino near the park

   $Outdoor seating🌳 Chapel Street Reserve, 2 min walk

   HEY BAY BAÉ - Cafe is a compact cafe inside a pharmacy on Bay Street. The pistachio croissant is the pastry to order, and the Portuguese tart and mini almond pastries are also named. The cappuccino is the coffee regulars come back for, and iced mocha is also ordered. Lunch is served too.

Compare best cafes in Rockdale

The table compares price, brunch, outdoor tables, weekend opening and the nearest park for each cafe.

How we picked best cafes in Rockdale

Cafes are ordered by an average score, weighted so that a cafe with many customer scores outranks one with only a few. Each cafe is then judged on the food it serves, its coffee, weekend hours and outdoor tables. Where a cafe's own page describes its food or coffee, that is used too, and criticism appears only where several reviews share the same point.