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Child friendly neighbourhood Cafe
Bola Cafe is a owner run, neighbourhood cafe. We offer great coffee and even better comfort food made from seasonal fresh ingredients! Woodburning pizza oven and a harvest table loaded with cakes, bakes, home made rusks, biscotti and sweets!
fresh breads available on weekends.
Breakfast, lunch, early dinner and take-aways
Kiddies menu, safe secure outside play area with junglegym
Birthday cakes and cupcakes available on request for parties
Free parking available.
Bola Cafe is a new coffice – just down the road from my house. It occupies the space where the Europa Cafe once was. I’m not sure why this location seems to really struggle with attracting patrons. It is, after all, right next door to Woolies Foods… it’s easy to reach… and it has safe, free parking.
The cafe is light, airy and spacious – with an inter-leading courtyard and an outdoor area with a wooden jungle gym for the kids. They’ve redone the decor and I like it’s bright, light-hearted feel.
Since I’m a freelancing mom (with 2 small children) – any coffice that allows me to work in relative peace while my children have the space and freedom to play (in an enclosed, safe area) gets a “yay!” in my book.
Bola Cafe does have a kids’ play area, but it’s pretty run-down. I think they focussed their attention on interior decor and good food and the kids’ area feels like a bit of an afterthought – a leftover piece of outdated equipment from the previous owners that they were reluctant to either upgrade or remove. Still – in spite of this – I like that it’s in an enclosed courtyard and my kids, in general, aren’t super-fussy about playground equipment and made the best of what they had available. I sat in a shady spot where I could get some work done and simultaneously watch them play.
Here’s the extra details:
Vibe: Open… airy… light… friendly space. Quite a bit of traffic ambience from 1st Avenue – but not over-bearing.
Internet: Currently – none. The owner, Slovodan (or Stitch for short) has good intentions and would like to offer his customers free, unlimited wireless internet. He currently has wireless in his office (he was kind enough to supply me with the password when I told him I was blogging about his cafe) – but wants a separate account for the patrons to access. He doesn’t want dodgy hacking-savvy patrons to be able to access his personal and company computer. He phoned Internet Solutions (bad idea!) because he wants to set up a separate account for his patrons… however, all Internet Solutions does is set restaurants up with a pay-system that charges patrons for their internet access… (don’t even get me started on how stupid I think this idea is). Stitch agrees – and definitely wants to offer free internet access to his patrons – but isn’t sure how to do this. He has, however, assured me that he’s working on it.
Plug points: Yes – but only by the big, long couch.
Coffee: They serve Illy – and I was very happy with the cappuccino quality. Yum! R16.50 for a medium cup which is fair enough.
Food: Another good reason to visit Bola Cafe – great food! I ordered the french toast with strawberry, marscapone & berry compote for R52. It was a generous helping and very good. The kids weren’t hungry, so they nibbled off my plate a bit. I also like what’s on their menu – things like banoffie pie (caramel, banana, low fat yoghurt, ginger bread cookie dust) for R25 or Fish & Chips (wrapped in beer batter with shoe-string fries and home-made tartar sauce) – R67.
Service: Friendly staff – and even better – a chatty, friendly, on-site owner. I’m a big fan of independent coffee shops and cafes that are owner-operated. For that reason alone, I’d be prepared to return.
Reading Materials: A large variety of magazines are available… and the daily newspaper.
Loos: They have one unisex loo. It’s nice and clean.
Parking: There is a large parking area off Standard Drive. We easily found a bay right in front of the restaurant steps. Parking is free. There’s one car guard (employed by the shopping centre) who watches over the cars.
Shops Nearby: It’s right next door to Woolies Foods. There’s also a costume hire place… a hairdresser… and a few other offices and small shops located in the same centre.
More Information
Opening hours:
Monday - CLOSED
Tuesday to Saturday from 7:30am to 8pm
Sunday from 7:30 am to 3pm
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