cafe fresca

ended up here a few times a year on a weekend to meet a friend who loves the garden center and 'humble' gift shop next door. the food has been ok, though the menu has not changed sinse it opened, and the coffee is also just ok when it inveriably arrives 20 minutes later (and often after the food). but after their latest efforts, i won't be returning. the food, coffee and service was poor, and this probably had something to do with the yelling and screaming coming from the kitchen. it's looking old and tired and seems to be getting more expensive every time i frequent it. so sad....

lovely courgette fritters and salad, then hot chocolate thanks - that for me. my husband loved his creamy mushrooms. our friends enjoyed their meals too, just their tea was too strong but the lovely waitress made them another pot. thankyou. see you again soon.
judy chandler

i have just had the pleasurable experience of organising a luncheon for 22 at fresca. fantastic! stu & his staff made this as stress free as possible. some of us had pre ordered & were rewardered for this.
the food & service were great. the meals were out on time & staff friendly.
congratulations & have a restful xmas, you deserve it.
jenni edge

i have found the owner, stu, and his staff very friendly. always wanting to go the extra mile to see that customers are happy.

the prices are very competitive, and meals are always nice. cater for children which is great.

brilliant night on saturday the 11th of june. kobukan karate held their grading dinner for 21 people, and the food was excellent, service nothing was too hard, and the atmosphere was great. we will be back again, looking forward to it.

today, being st patrick's day,at cafe fresca we had the most divine guinness beef pies we have ever eaten. we hope they become a permanent feature on the menu and are not just a st patrick's day temptation. the vegetarian in our party was very pleased with the courgette fritters (with salad) though perhaps 3 fritters rather than two would be good. overall, a happy experience - good coffee.

on 30th june 14 ladies booked for lunch, and some of us pre-ordered our meal. we were to be there at 12.15. my friend & i arrived on time & joined a queue in order to pay for our pre-ordered meals. the queue was long and very slow. only stu was taking orders & working the till. some folk had long conversations with stu at the till. 2 ladies in front of us left & at least 4 ladies behind us left also.
my friend & i eventually got to stu & paid for our meals? why did we pre-order as we basically ordered & paid at the till.
we joined our friends & both of us waited for our meals. my coffee arrived, very good, over half an hour later my meal came. the waiter said he brought to the table earlier at 12.15 - i was in the queue!!! and then took it back to the kitchen. why did i pre-order??
my meal had obviously been in the fridge awaiting my arrival (from the queue) as the plate & bagel were now chilled. i had to ask for cutlery?
however - my chilled meal was tasty. the waiter offered me a complimentary coffee. but my friends were leaving (i had not finished eating) so of no use to me!!
there was no explanation or consideration from stu. he seemed to have alot of time to chat to some people?? to have more than 2 people queue up is bad management. to get 'pre-orders' & then expect people to order seems irrational & disrespectful??.
in spite of the waiters best intentions, good food, good coffee & nice friends i will not be returning to this restaurant unless ordering & paying is separated from maitre d functions.
great that you are busy stu but unless you get it under control it will not last!!

we visit cafe fresca on a regular basis and have always found stu and his team most welcoming and happy. the coffee is great too. sue & john

i just what to say that my experience at cafe fresca was a+++ and the staff so freindly. i had lunch with a friend whom also hadn't heard of the place and she also thought it was great with heaps of room and great outlook. good old fashion service and the best value for money around. coffee was hot and the guy even gave me a coffee card :-)

hi stu
i would just like to say a big thank you for you and your team making our farewell lunch for a lady who was leaving, wonderful.
you have a great bunch of ladies who served us with warmth and of course a smile.
can you please pass this on to your girls …thanks
see you next week, (fortunately for us, you’re our local coffee getaway)
and by the way, any chance you can put the parsnip cake back on the menu – it is absolutely divine.

i was saddened by our experience at fresca cafe, i would like to start first by saying the food was great can not complain, tasty and affordably priced, and great value for money, however it was my mothers 65th birthday and had booked a few weeks prior. we had a group of 16 and upon arriving were seated seperately, i requested that the tables be joined and received the reply sorry we cannot do that as no enough room. we then pushed the table together forming a square and sat around the outside, we were addressed and advised ooh thats a good idea this actually took up less space than how they were originally.

secondly the menu advised that they sold waikato draught and lion red beers - we ordered to be advised that they ran out on friday night remembering this was now sunday - i feel there is no excuse as we now have 24 hour super markets let alone the fact that this was 48 hours later.

we proceed to order lunch to only be told that all the mushrooms were out of stock and they ran out of steak sandwhiches which was the only steak choice on the menu. in addition to us being there, there was three other major groups so you would think this sort of thing would have been organised prior.

also you had to que to order anything so if you wished to have a follow up drink you ended up queing for 15 min while everyone else was sitting back at the tabe enjoying themselves - this was a very special occasion and would have it been difficult to have a waitress to at least take drink orders as i am sure other people were annoyed with this. whilst queing at least three small groups came thru to just have a coffee and seeing the line up just said bugger this and left.

i also run my own business and deal with many people - i find it very easy to accomodate where i can and make each experience personal and special to them regardless of why they are there.
unfortunagely, all the guest at my table commented and said they would not group book there again.

i would like to finish by saying that the staff were very polite and cheerful and again the food was great which is surprising considering the pressure they have to work under.

i hope you look at the comments made and do not take them personally, but review some of your stuctures so that your business can go forward and thrive.
it is not hard to just go the extra mile and make your customers your raving fans as at the end of the day it is usually word of mouth that can make a business.

kind regards
and thank you for taking the time to read this

regards

megan keane

excellent service
excellent menu
excellent hot coffee
excellent atmosphere
great place to entertain clients lots of space easy to park.