Mello Cafe & Catering

Mello Cafe and Catering is a relaxed, arty cafe at 22 Walker Street in the Townsville CBD, doing breakfast and lunch for the office crowd on weekdays. Breakfast classics like smashed avocado, sweet potato fries, homemade sausage rolls and savoury muffins do the heavy lifting, and a catering arm keeps the kitchen busy beyond the counter. Dogs are welcome at the outdoor tables, which makes it a rare CBD stop where a morning coffee run does not mean leaving your dog tied up on the footpath.

The dog setup

Take one of the outdoor tables and your dog is set. Staff have a name for being friendly and will usually sort out a water bowl on request, though carrying your own is the safe call on a Townsville warm morning. There is no indoor access for dogs, so this is a quick coffee-and-pat stop rather than a long brunch.

Worth knowing

Hours run 7am to 3pm Monday to Thursday and 7am to 2:30pm Friday, with weekends closed, so it is strictly a working-week venue. The fitout leans on murals and quirky decor, the dirty chai gets repeat mentions, and service is quick enough to slot into a lunch hour. Weekday mornings outside the office rush are the calm window.

Getting there and parking

The cafe sits in the heart of the CBD a block from Flinders Street. Paid meter parking runs along Walker Street and the surrounding blocks, and foot traffic from the city centre is easy with a dog on lead.

Nearby with the dogs

A few minutes drive brings you to Queens Gardens for a shaded on-lead stroll, or The Strand for the foreshore path, and the Ross Creek path is a scenic on-lead option closer in. Tobruk Kiosk on The Strand keeps dog biscuits behind the counter, Odyssey on the Strand takes dogs at its outdoor tables, and Chubby Magpie Coffee Roasters in North Ward is worth the detour.

The PawScapes guide to Townsville City and more dog friendly cafes in QLD cover the rest.

Max: sausage rolls in the cabinet and a water bowl on request. Walker Street gets it.