Elements Cafe

A cafe at the start of cradle mountain shuttle journey.. Best to take stop for food.. limited vegetarian options.. we tried vegetables pattie and egg and cheese english muffin, was delicious and was best suited for the cold weather.. ample space/tables to sit Located right next to information centre.

There is a cafe at the Cradle Mountain Visitor Centre called elements that is open from 8.30am to 4.30pm daily. They have some indoor seating as well as a row of weather protected seats outside. Menu is basic, meat pies, sandwiches and a few other savoury foods along with cake slices and a few sweet treats. We tried their falafel wrap which was ok, orange almond cake slice was similarly decent. Overall, convenient if you are in need of a bite to eat before or after visiting the Park but better to try some of the lodges nearby if you are looking for a proper meal.

Food options limited tho a good location for visitors to have a warm coffee during their stay at cradle mountain 🏔️

We stopped at this café during a family trip (7 of us) and spent around $300 on food and drinks. While the food itself was acceptable, the overall experience was disappointing due to the staff’s attitude. The service was unwelcoming and came across as rude. One staff member, Hobe, in particular, was extremely unfriendly and lacked basic hospitality. Simple requests, such as asking for tomato ketchup, were refused, which felt unnecessary and dismissive. The hot drinks were also very poor in quality — my hot chocolate was so bad that I had to throw it away. I strongly believe that staff are the face of any café, and no matter how good the location is, poor service ruins the experience. As this seems to be the only café near the visitor centre, it felt like the attitude reflected a lack of concern for customer satisfaction. Unfortunately, I feel I wasted my money. I won’t be returning and would not recommend this place, especially for café drinks.

They stopped taking orders after 3:30pm. They might as well update their opening hours to 4:00pm or put up a sign stating that the last order is at 3:30pm. It was such a waste of time queuing all the way to the front only to be told they weren’t taking any more orders because they couldn’t handle the volume. If there’s a limit to how many orders they can manage, it would be helpful to put a clear last orders sign outside the café so customers don’t queue unnecessarily and the staff aren’t overwhelmed.

I’m reluctant to leave bad or average reviews but I need to mention their coffee and hot chocolate drinks. Our party had 3 coffees and 3 hot chocolate’s and they were terrible. Coffee had no flavour (tasted like hot milk) and the hot chocolate was basically hot milk also. We even ordered a deluxe hot chocolate and it was not well received.. On a positive note, the pies and ham and cheese croissant were nice.

We brought a beef pie and a ham and cheese croissant. The waitress reheated them for us. When we opened the croissant and discovered the croissant turned like a coal. So we returned the uneaten croissant and requested to get another one. I really disappointed for this kind of carelessness to deal with the food. The croissant showed was a replaced one.

A tourist cafe with top of the range prices. Staff were OK, but certainly not there for their charm. Coffees were good, kids hot chocolates good. Given the location it would be easy to make something that wowed visitors and added to the experience. This cafe doesn't. But if you are hiker it does its job.