long beach cafe

love thisplaceand the whole story behind it.  they serve the best coffee - flight - from wellington.  the grow much of their own veg and herbs in the garden at the back of the café.  they make all the baked goods in their own bakery and they brew their own beer in the brewery they set up.  love how these youngish people employ 30 people now between their four businesses.  city quality food at the beach i reckon.  a treat to dine at.

it wasn’t very busy but they still managed to make us wait at least a whole hour to be served. not to bring us what we ordered, but toplaceour orders. food was actually very good once it finally arrived. and the location was lovely. however the staff weren’t the friendliest.

took a long time to receive drinks, longer to have anyone take our order and even longer to receive our food which arrived cold. other silly annoying thing was none of our toast came buttered so it was dry and bland. just feels like yet another beachy hipsterplacetrying too hard.

this is theplaceto be in waikanae, for breakfast, lunch or dinner or even just coffee! owned by locals, run by locals, thisplacefeels like the heart and soul of waikanae beach. all the food is great, coffee is great, beer is great!. see this in the app

we popped in here for afternoon drinks and possibly food. we found theplaceto be unnecessarily pretentious, and the service really stuffy. the wine selection was excellent and the menu did look great but we didn't hang around after one round as it was really pompous feeling. theplaceis very clean, very well laid out and the staff look tidy and are professional but the air of thisplacemade me feel like they were too good for us. it's just the vibe of it. i'd never go again purely for this reason.

got given a warm iced chocolate, asked for a replacement, got given a warm iced chocolate with two iced cubes in it. at least they tried. my girlfriend got given a latte that needed sugar to mask burnt taste. niceplaceand helpful staff but wont be back.

dinner stop after a long drive homeward bound to wellington.

theplacewas humming so we ended up sitting out in the garden which was lovely.  the kids explored the kitchen garden while we waited for food.

pizza's were all devoured and were declared delicious.

our favoriteplaceto grab a drink and a bite in waikanae. best craft beer menu on the coast, awesome pizza (and chili oil omg), and great staff.

i love this place! every time i am in the waikanae area this is theplacei come. great coffee and great pizza! thisplaceis relaxed though still top quality with awesome staff! see you again long beach!

love thisplace.. has a cool vibe and they work super hard to please.
it is great to pop in and just have a coffee and a yummy scone or casual pizza but they also serve fabulous food from an extensive and tasty menu with a focus on local fresh produce.
staff are super friendly, well drilled and efficient.
lots of nice touches make long beach our favoured local pit stop!
keep up the good work and look forward to seeing the new renovations!

went to long beach for lunch today with a friend. service was appalling, ordered a cheese scone, a pie and a saugage roll. after 10 minutes my cheese scone arrived, i had to ask 5 minutes later when the pie and sausage roll were coming, got told that i should have said i wanted them at the same time, sorry, if not specified by me, the customer, the food was to come at the same time. after that, was not asked how the food was, was talked about behind the counter with stares, and was not spoken to after that. will never go back and will not be recommending thisplaceto other friends

it's a fave and while a few months ago were afraid it might be going downhill - we had a lovely meal there recently. maybe they had a dodgy chef for a while. anyway - last weekend it was back to what it always has been, aplacewith enjoyable food, great wine and beer list and friendly, efficient staff.

**don't go here today -boxing day - you'll be disappointed**

i have a policy of not writing negative reviews without having given my feedback to the manager in person first and at least given them a chance to respond. i'm afraid this has been one of those times where i gave my feedback quite fairly and it wasn't received well by the owner and was negatively reacted to. this is a shame as it could have gone differently.

these guys are the only establishment open in waikanae today and they don't have enough people on, or good enough infastructure, to handle the demand they're clearly under. we saw people leaving for the same reasons we weren't happy. we waited 40 minutes for the coffee and fluffy we ordered, and our croissant was given to another table who arrived after us, but got their order before us. the biscuit we ordered was wrong and the one that eventually arrived was not very nice. the compensation we were offered was not being charged for the food that we didn't receive and was wrong/ not nice. this isn't good enough, i'm sorry.

here are some suggestions that would make things easier for everyone, staff and customers alike:

- if there's a long wait for things like coffee please tell us before we make the decision to sit down. that means we are making an informed choice. you might lose a bit of custom but at least you won't be dealing with unhappy customers and therefore reviews like this one.

- if you're going to be the onlyplaceopen in town, please don't use this as an excuse for a bad dining experience, like you did today. fair enough you were busy and clearly struggling but this could be avoided by making sure you have enough staff on, as you must have predicted how busy you would be today. if you make a decision to be open, make sure you execute it really well by having who and what you need to cope properly. being the onlyplaceopen is not a form of compensation to your customers.

- you could also put on a limited menu on a day like today rather than your full selection. this would make it more efficient for the chefs to pump out meals quickly. perhaps more counter food also available would have made things easier.

- have people there soley focused on getting the coffee made and wait staff for just delivering coffee. most people want coffee and this was your biggest delay today. your wait staff were rushing around like blue-arsed flies and this could be avoided if you had specific coffee runners in addition to wait staff taking orders and delivering meals.

- if a customer is unhappy just acknowledge it and offer a decent compensation. that would have made a world of difference to us today.

we are really disappointed in today and your reaction to us. i feel like i was fair and not angry or rude. we've lived in waikanae since 2012 and have been regular customers of all your establishments. i'm aware it is fairly slim pickings in waikanae but there are other choices and i'll definitely be making some other choices after today. i feel sad about this but not sure what else to do.

i hope the rest of the day improves and that your staff get paid at least time and half for the difficult job they had today.

charlotte.

the best.. great customer service, lovely food and excellent coffee... definitly be back
nice location. was packed whn we turned up but was a good turn over... will suggest thisplaceto others..... prob the best waiters ive dealt with...

my wife and i consider longbeach the best, and only restaurant on the kapiti coast worth going to. the food is fantastic, and always of the same high level of quality even when theplaceis bursting at the seams. the wait staff are attentive and enthusiastic to help if they can. the drinks list is extensive and the staff have a great knowledge and are happy to make recommendations. if your on the kapiti coast, long beach is definitely theplaceto go!