Bombini / Shady Palms

This place is like a tropical oasis, for fine dining, in the middle of the central coast. Absolutely loved the atmosphere (and watching the chickens run around outside).

They have an excellent take on a Sunday roast. It was amazingly delicious in every way. They also have a really great chocolate mouse that was perfectly balanced with coconut and hazelnut.

Great venue, food was nice but not amazing, the service was okay, oh yeah, this review is for the pizza bar. Place is super cool though, worth the visit. It’s fun and enjoyable, I recommend trying them out.

What a terrible dining experience. From start to finish our dining experience at Bombini in Avoca Beach was subpar. I booked using the online booking system, ticking under the 'Special Requirements' menu that it was indeed my birthday, thinking, quite naively that the restaurant was genuinely interested that their patrons may indeed be celebrating a special occasion. As it turned out it couldn't have been further from the truth. A staff member then called me back to confirm my reservation and I confirmed the booking. We arrived at the restaurant at 7.30pm precisely, only to be told our table was not ready and would we mind waiting upstairs in the bar until one became available. Of course we said this was fine and went up stairs to have a drink. We ordered some drinks and paid at the bar but the staff insisted they would bring the drinks right over, they did not. After about a 15 minute wait they finally bought our drinks and then immediately told us we needed to head down the stairs again to our table which was now ready. We ordered 1/2 a dozen "Sydney Rock Oysters" at $25 and were basically forced by our waitress to try two different types one from Hastings and one from some lake somewhere, strange, anyway we went a long with it. Personally, I found no difference between the two, they were all small and gritty. Next our mains, I ordered the King Prawns with Snowpeas (main size) at $36, I couldn't wait to get stuck into some excellent prawns. My partner ordered the Grilled Black Angus steak at $42. How very, very, very disappointed we both were when our dishes arrived. My $36 dish consisted of three (that's right, you heard correctly, just three) over-cooked, tasteless, floury prawns sitting on a bed of equally tasteless snowpeas and nothing else.that's $12 per prawn people! Outrageous! My partners steak had been cut up into slices! I'm guessing this was to spread out the very meagre serving of steak, which he reported was very average and not at all worth the ridiculous price of $42! Now I'm no stranger to fine dining and I live in Melbourne, the food capital of Australia, and I have never paid $36 for 3 prawns nor has my partner EVER paid $42 for a measly pre-cut piece of steak. Even at Vlados Steakhouse where one would argue the best steak in Australia is served, $42 is ridiculous for the size and quality of steak served to us at Bombini. So underwhelmed were we by both the service (no mention of my birthday so far) and the food, that we didn't hang around for dessert preferring just to cut our losses and run, we went to pay the bill. Now I know Bombini's prices are OUTRAGEOUS but I was not prepared for the $175 bill! What on earth could they have added to our bill? We'd only had one drink with our meal having paid for our first drinks in the upstairs bar, surely they couldn't be charging us for the tiny pieces of foccacia they had served to us in a ridiculously over-sized, dirty cane basket to begin our disappointing culinary experience? Even though I felt ridiculous and embarrassed and my partner had already handed over our credit card and paid, I felt I just had to question the bill, which of course they had made no attempt to go through with us before we left. Well lucky we did! Turns out they had charged us for $30 worth of drinks we simply did not have! Well that was the last straw! Not only was it the most horrendously boring and overpriced dinner we had ever had but they were also trying to make more money from us! However when I pointed out this error they were no where near apologetic, instead seemed to think that they were doing US a FAVOUR by removing the items we did not have from our bill! Indeed they NEVER apologised once for over-charging us and in fact made us feel as if WE were responsible for their complete lack of competence and service, EXTRAORDINARY! Do not go to this restaurant, EVER, if you enjoy great food and excellent service as you will be as disappointed as we were. Happy Birthday to me!

Magnificent Food Ambiance and Service - we consider Bombini to be the Best Restaurant on the Coast.
Thank you Team

Tried it first time for their Wednesday night Pizza special. The place is fantastic - the best of it is probably the vibe. Such a nice setup in the Pizza restaurant and although we didn't try the restaurant next door yet, it also looked super cosy and nice (will give that a go soon).
I have to say I had better Pizza dough elsewhere - while it tasted nice, the dough for some reason was chewy - would have loved a nice crispy crust and it would have been the perfect pizza. However, what the dough lacks in crispness, the taste and flavour of the toppings made up for it. Very very delicious. Will definitely be back.
FYI - we had the Mushroom pizza, Spicy Salami, and the Fish pizza.

Booked for 7: 30 and was asked to move to 8: 00 to allow another group. We didn't get out seat until 8: 40 and despite ordering earlier we did not receive food until 9: 15, almost 2 hours after our original reservation. Nothing more than a sorry as we paid full price for the ok but far overpriced food.

Somewhat over rated in my experience after our third visit.
The T-bone steak was over salted. Why someone in the kitchen thinks they know better how much salt the customer likes beats me - and of course there was salt on the table.
I opted to have the "potatoes" with no chives nor cream, but when the single potato arrived, it was sprinkled in chives. Why only one when the menu had plural? And do you know how hard it is to pick off individual prices of chives!

Two of our party thought their meal was too small.

Then when the coffee and tea was served, we asked for "Equal" or other sweetener only to be told they only had sugar!

When the bill arrived, I was somewhat surprised to see a $30 tip added, but what I hadn't noticed was the bottom line that stated "remaining balance $55".
However when I went to pay, they realised that someone else's payment had been applied to our table.
So, make sure you check your bill as you may end up pay for someone else's meals!
Visited Sunday 29 Dec 2019

Quaint setting with the option of inside or outside. They had a varied drinks menu with a fast service bar staff.
Dinner inside on the covered deck was private and delicious!
The menu was fresh and current. Meat perfectly cooked. Food that was meant to be hot was hot (sounds obvious but it doesn't always happens at restaurants)
The staff were friendly and attentive. The pricing was reasonable given the high standard of food.

Pizza bar is a total vibe but you can opt for the restaurant if you want something a bit more formal. Have eaten at both and enjoyed both experiences. The food game on the Coast is definitely improving and this is one of the best spots around!

Our waitress made a great effort but you could see the staff were overstretched and could of definitely had more people on, especially when seating people.
Food kinda pricey, but wouldn't be on here if the overall service was faster the portion sizes were more considerate for the price.
Cauliflower side pretty delish though.

Saturday night was packed & took 2hrs 15 mins to get our mains. Menu a bit limited - trying too hard to be up market but not wonderful. Beef main was super tender but bland with polenta & greens. Calamari entree was a little rubbery. Not good enough for price.
Glad due to delay that we (table of 9) were not charged for entrees x 2 or sides - extra sides provided without charge. Even so - meals not worthy of prices imho.
Waiter James was fabulous but embarrassed at the delays, doing his best to keep us happy, poor guy!

Dined at the restaurant. Awesome place, really nice but not pretentious, interesting but not tacky. Food was perfectly cooked and delicious, staff were excellent. A pleasant surprise on a trip to the central coast.

We aren’t local so stumbled across this absolute gem yesterday! Incredible high quality food! Amazing staff and service
Planning a trip back ASAP!

Food is nice, service is great, but was slow. If your schedule at central coast is not compact, it's absolutely ok.

Love Bombini, food is always fabulous, Haley & Cameron are great hosts, and the front of house team of Jes and James is awesome. This is our favourite restaurant on the coast.

Another great place on the Central Coast. If you're holidaying or passing through, make sure you call ahead as it is a local favourite.
Great food, both the restaurant and outdoor pizza never fail to satisfy.

Very bad. Service was slow. Drinks arrived sporadically, entree’s were gross over salted. Inedible. Mains were worse. Flavour combinations were strange. My meat dish had a fish bone in it, the waitress responded to this with such a laissez faire attitude I was actually horrified! The other dishes were similar to average pub fare, the crab pasta was overwhelmed by the chilli. The dessert was ok and the cocktails decent. Will never return and I am surprised and amazed it’s still in business.

Went here with my boyfriend for a romantic dinner. If I could give them 0 stars I would. Service was absolutely terrible, waited 40 minutes for a bill that never came, had to ask to pay at a sit down, supposedly fancy restaurant with table service. Cold and raw food. Waited an hour for mains, never even got our sides we ordered. I would NEVER go back here again. I am extremely disappointed and thank you so much for ruining what was meant to be a nice date with my boyfriend. Kind Regards, Isabella PS PRICS ARE RIDICULOUS FOR TERRIBLE FOOD!

They had not checked on us while we waited for almost like 90 mins for our mains! The the duck was over cooked and the risotto was plain, really a let down

The meal I ordered wasn't what I was expecting, so I didn't eat it all, the chef made sure it wasn't on the bill to apologise. Amazing service and food.