Sweet Bambino speciality coffee

Sweet Bambino is a small specialty coffee spot at 1/46 The Esplanade, in the dining strip of the northern Gold Coast waterfront suburb, geared to coffee, pastries and brunch. For dog owners it is an easy pause mid-walk: the outdoor footpath tables welcome well behaved dogs, and the Broadwater parklands are steps away.

The dog setup

Dogs are welcome at the outdoor footpath tables, not inside. There is room to tuck a dog in beside you out of the foot traffic, which gets steady along the esplanade on weekends. Bring your own water bowl, because provision is not guaranteed at these smaller strip cafes.

Worth knowing

The draw is the coffee and fresh pastries, with brunch plates like avo on toast and hotcakes and a cabinet full of sweet treats. Reviews run mixed on service pace and wait times when busy, so the honest advice is to come when it is quiet: weekday mornings and early weekends suit both the kitchen and the dog. Doors open from 5am on weekdays, which puts it among the earlier starts on this stretch of coast.

Getting there and parking

Street parking runs along the esplanade and the side streets behind the strip, and it fills up on weekend mornings, so come early or walk in from the parklands side.

Close by with the dogs

The foreshore parklands across the way have on-lead paths and an off-lead section near the water for a paddle, and Saltwater Fenced Dog Park at Hope Island is the fully fenced option a few minutes north with a swimming pond. For the next coffee, Caffene Break Runaway Bay and Native Harvest Cafe are both nearby.

The Queensland dog friendly cafes guide and the Runaway Bay destination page cover the wider northern Gold Coast.

Max: order at the counter, then claim the outer footpath table before the prams arrive. The off-lead section up the foreshore is your payoff after the pastry.