new zealand coffee review (archive)

Sunday morning, busy hour, we get in and order two coffees, a flat bread, and a bagel.

We got our coffees promptly, however, waited about 15 mins before calling the waitress and asking for a muffin because we were getting quite hungry.

We waited another 5 mins for the muffin to be brought to us. When the waitress did, it was cold so we asked it to be heated.

While we were waiting, we looked behind, there were two tables: one with a group of 5 who all had coffees and some muffins. They were seated after we had ordered, yet they had already finished their muffins and were leaving.

The other table was a couple who were also seated after we had ordered, who were already having their meals including what looked like an eggs benedict.

The muffin didn't arrive so we asked when we could get it. The waitress replied that it was still in the kitchen. At this point it was well over 10 mins since she had taken it to be heated.

We finally got the muffin but there was no apology for late service.

We were again waiting around for about 10 mins for the bread and bagel and again had to ask the staff where our food was.

We finally got our order, but again, no apology.

On top of the poor service, my partner saw red when found a short piece of hair in her coffee - what looked like male facial hair - and asked the staff to call her manager.

The american waitress called the indian guy to come over. The point of this long review is about his disgusting attitude. He was the guy who was operating the coffee machine.

I'm not sure if he was the manager because there was a christian name on the duty manager's board (S McIntyre) at the time.

He came over and said that he was sorry, but then he stuck his finger in my partner's face to show the hair (he had the hair on his index finger) and said that it could have come from anywhere and that the hair could have come from her. He also said that it was out of his control.

It was clear that he did not care, and he seemed irritated for bothering him while he was busy making coffees. When asked if he was going to stick to that attitude, he said, "I said I'm sorry, you don't have to pay anything, you can just leave, now what more do you want?"

Clearly there was no point in getting into an argument with this guy, so we let him get back to his job. I feel sorry for him for being who he is. That is probably as far as he will get in his life.

The whole experience at the cafe was well below substandard. The servers seemed unprofessional, slow and disorganised. They had the palm gadget things but that only seemed to make things more inefficient as they were continually seen chatting away near where the gadgets are kept and fiddling with the gadgets. The staff were giggling at us when the indian guy was over at our table.

I'm not sure if our comments will be taken seriously, as the cafe will continue to make a profit just because of it's great location and the tourists flooding in. I hope the owner does something about training the staff, if he wants to keep the locals as customers.

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