new zealand coffee review (archive)

What is up with all the comments made by the staff of this cafe? Isn't this supposed to be a forum where customers can voice their opinions?

[Note from the administrator: I've deleted the sillier comments and pictures. In general, though, I think it's awesome when cafe staff constructively respond to comments, especially when management gives tips on who to complain to to get a bad experience fixed up -- see Cath Hughes's comment below.]

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Hi,I had an amazing experience of human kindness and generosity today from two wonderful ladies working at a WAC Cafe on Blenheim road. My car had broken down while driving along Blenheim road on my way to met a friend for lunch. Consequently, I had to make a hasty retreat to the side of the road and then found I had enough steering left to get me to the front of WAC's Cafe.

I went inside to apologise for my car parked right outside. Instead what I expected would happen didn't. These two lovely lady staff sympathised with my situation and proceeded to ask me if I would like a coffee while I text my husband and wait for him to come and rescue me.

Fortunitely he worked over the back fence from the cafe and appeared 10 minutes later. After looking under the bonnet he decided he needed a steering belt, but had biked to work and hadn't any way of driving to a garage to buy one and be back before his 15 min break was up. Knowing this one of the staff members offered him her car to drive down to get one. Amazing! My husband gingerly accepted and returned shortly after (empty handed, because they didn't have one), but grateful for the use of the car.

I was concerned about the increasing lateness for my lunch date and no reply to the texts explaining my circumstances to my friend. So then this lovely lady presented me with a phone to call her. I felt retiscent to be the recipient of further generosity, but she insisted and proceeded to dial the number herself before handing me the phone.

I just want to say how a potentially stressful situation was turned around for me today by the thoughtfulness, kindness and overwhelming generosity of the two lady staff members of Blenheim road's WAC Cafe. I will not forget this and will be back with friend's because of today. I wouldn't normally think to stop there, but I will be back, plus I will tell my tale to many people. Word of mouth is the best advertisment of all I think.

THANKYOU to those two amazing people. You are the type of people who restore others confidence in the goodness of the human spirit.

Kindest regards and God bless you both,
Lynne

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Hi, I'm one of the owners of WAC Drivethru Cafe and I am responding to the older comments made on this website in order to address some of the important concerns raised. On the whole the feedback we get from customers is positive and we are constantly told that our coffee is great. We strive to make the best coffee possible in the fastest possible time. We have had patches where new staff have come onto the team and although we do quite a lot of training with them prior to them being on the coffee machine, it takes time to mould a new barista who makes excellent coffee every time. We have a policy that if anyone is unhappy with the coffee at WAC then we will replace it for free. We give a free coffee card to anyone who has to wait too long for service, and is unhappy about that wait. If you do come to WAC and you don't feel that your coffee is as perfect as you would like, please let us know so we can rectify the situation and hopefully keep you as a valued customer.
We have changed the food at WAC quite a lot over the years and have managed to improve the overall quality and range of food available. We also appreciate feedback from customers about the food so we can provide you with a positive eating experience, and alter the way we are doing things. I believe that we go out of our way to please our customers, and have had regular customers who have been coming to WAC since we opened the doors of our first Indoor and Drivethru Cafe in Ferrymead in 2002.
We now have a WAC Drivethru Cafe (Drivethru only) in Beckenham (Colombo St, opposite KFC) and a new Indoor and Drivethru Cafe at 475 Blenheim Rd. Our Blenheim Rd Cafe is part of a new complex including a car wash and valet service on one side of us and a WOF service on the other side. Tony's tyre service and a drivethru for pellet fire fuel are also part of this complex. If you are getting a Valet clean or a WOF, you can come to us for a free coffee while your car is being serviced.
Our Cafe makes no attempt to be cool or flash or trendy, our point of difference is that we are a drivethru cafe and we strive to provide excellent coffee in a timely manner. I believe that our friendly helpful staff and our great coffee make the Cafe a place worth visiting. If you ever have a problem or feedback, please ask for Cath or Matt and we will do what we can to address your concerns. In summary: if you have a negative experience in any way, please tell us & if you have a positive experience, please tell everyone else.

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I've beening going through the drive thru for just over a year now and have always enjoyed the coffee, infact loved it so much that has become a regular weekend treat every sat/sun morning and sometimes twice a day. But over the last 2 - 3 months there has not been any consistency with the coffee, infact every time we go down there, we are not sure what quality of coffee we will get today. we understand that there have been new staff members there that are perhaps traing. but enough is enough!! we are wasting money on coffee we can't even drink and now getting to the stage of not purchasing coffee from there again.
I look forward to your response.
Regards Donna

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WAC has good coffee, and quite good food. The breakfast is better than the lunch. The coffee is C1, and they put an emphasis on the quality of the quality. The service is fast, particularly through the drivethrough. Even at the busiest times, the place has a good atmosphere. Not exactly "cool" surroundings, but a good place to meet people for lunch (and a good place to get a coffee on the way to work, if you live in Sumner / Redcliffs).

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I used to have lunch at Wac quite often back in 2005 or so. The coffee was always good. The food was sometimes OK, sometimes really nice.

I remember the environment being quite nice - both tables and couches, to suit your mood.

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