Tones at Soko

Tones at Soko is a well-rated cafe at 4 Acacia Street in the Byron Bay Arts and Industry Estate, the precinct locals call industrial Byron, set among the Habitat-area lifestyle complex. The pull for dog owners is the leafy outdoor courtyard: a shaded, garden-feel seating area where dogs are warmly welcomed, well away from the town-centre scrum.

The dog setup

Dogs are welcome in the courtyard and at the front entry, on lead at all times. The indoor space is tiny and counter-focused, so it is people territory as standard and the courtyard is where you settle. That makes this a better cafe for a relaxed sit with your dog than a quick footpath stop: tables sit back from the estate lanes, there is shade through the middle of the day, and the crowd is a mix of locals and estate wanderers rather than a tight tourist queue. It gets busy at peak, so a quieter weekday sitting is the calm version.

Pepsi: weekends run to a midday close and Sundays are off, so build the courtyard plan around a weekday or Saturday morning.

The vibe and the menu

The kitchen turns out fresh, beautifully plated lunches: the Tones banh mi and rice bowls are the signatures, and bagels and pastries come from The Bread Social, the bakery operating out of the same estate. The salmon poppy seed bagel and the kimchi bagel are the ones regulars chase, with gluten-free and lactose-free adaptations available across the menu. Coffee is Allpress, with batch brew on the brew bar. Hours run 7am to 2pm Monday to Friday and 7am to midday on Saturdays, with Sundays closed, so it is a breakfast-and-lunch operation.

Getting there and parking

The cafe sits inside the Arts and Industry Estate near the Ewingsdale Road and Bayshore Drive end, a few minutes drive from the town centre. Free street parking on Acacia Street and the surrounding lanes is far easier than anything you will find in central Byron, and the estate's quiet internal lanes are easy leashed walking with the dog before or after a table.

Make a day of it

For off-lead time, the Belongil Beach South dog exercise area is a short drive away, and the Tallow Beach dog exercise area at Suffolk Park stretches the run further. Fellow estate cafes Otherside Cafe on Banksia Drive and Wide Open Road Cafe are both dog-friendly stops within the same precinct, handy if the courtyard is full.

More options are on the New South Wales dog friendly cafes guide and the Byron Bay destination page.