songbird cafe

came here for the 1st time today, with my husband, friend and her hubby. wow for mothers day experience... we arrived just before midday, not expecting to have seats available but we managed to find 1 inside. what a beautiful 1st time experience, we ordered to be told an 1hr 15mins wait which was fine with us. our food arrived around 45mins and was devine. 1 order was beef & mushroom pie, 1 mince on toast, 1 apple & cinnamon bircher (mine) 1 songbird breakfast. no complaints from any of us at all. the mum osa was lovely, tea/coffee perfect, loved the teapot & matching milk jug. service, staff, decor, environment amazing. wish this place was open for dinner on friday/saturday nights as its brilliant.

good place and friendly staff. i don't believe the staff are that experienced however, although they do try.

the food was good. i ordered a nutella freakshake. amazing buttermilk chicken burger and a nice milkshake. was way to sweet for my liking but hey it was still good.

might become a regular spot.

mother's day 2019. poor/zero service. had to get up and ask the duty manager (who looks and acts like he's never worked in hospitality) for menus ... only to be told they don't do table service. hang on, the table next to us had a waiter? food was average/poor and overpriced. mince on toast should read 'slop on bread'. ordered a slice of banoffee pie as a take-away. the waitress removed it from the fridge, left it on the counter ... and then walked away to clear tables. had to ask another dazed & confused waiter (they are literally falling over each other) to finish our order. never ever going back! what a mickey mouse operation!

great little suburbian cafe! good variety on the menu and in their cabinet. staff were friendly too. we had the eggs benedict with haloumi and the avo smash. both tasted delicious. would recommend if you’re in the area. go early as it can get busy!

first time here and wont be the last. very convenient for young families with young children. customer service was excellent. the manager and staff on the day were all very welcoming and appeared friendly. thank you for making our experience comfortable.

location was nice great set up
food was nice feeling serves
good vibes great for those relaxing sunday

this is the second time i've visited, and had the same kind of experience. the barista drinks are fine. the food is not great. it's quite pricy, which i could forgive if it were tasty or had bigger portions. the slice of quiche i had today was tiny and didn't have any seasoning. it's a shame since the cafe looks nice and there aren't many options like it nearby.

visited this cafe today, first outing since lockdown.
upon entry, made sure to read covid-19 posters and instructions to follow on visit. filled in form for contact tracing, then waited to be seated as instructed by sign. stood there with my newborn and toddler for a good while, watching staff walk back and forth right in front of me with no acknowledgement at all, finally decided to stop a waitress and asked if i was to wait or just find a seat, she didn't really acknowledge what i asked and just grabbed menus and ushered us to a table.
served a glass with half the top of rim missing(cracked off), very dangerous.
all adults received food except my toddler, which we had to chase up. maybe next time, use a notepad when taking an order so you don't miss anything out.
word of advice, a smile and a simple hi goes a long way when anyone walks through your door. customer service 101

food was ok, have been here a few times and had nice meals however came with a friend last weekend and was a bit disappointed with our meals. i ordered smashed avocado with poached eggs with crumbled feta. welk the feta was not crumbled was just little bland cubes over the avocado. the avocado was bland and the oil they put over it was not nice, poached eggs were hard and cold. salmon was nice. coffee and tea were nice and even my friends mushrooms were just chunky mushrooms on some toast, not in a sauce. i will give them another go, hopefully they can improve.

service was sadly a let down. not greeted or seated. had to work out for ourselves that it was the type of establishment where you find your own menus, table, water and glasses than get up and order when your ready. this is fine however it’s not clear and you weren’t busy so a waitress could have greeted us and told us that this is a do it yourself cafe. next issue was i ordered the big breakfast with no tomato and mushroom but asked if i could replace it with hollandaise to which she said yes. however we worked it out after we had left that she charged us extra for the hollandaise. drinks and food was meh. my toast was bread, my sausages were fortunately pre cooked because they were just cooked. could have done with more bacon since i took half the meal away by removing the tomato and mushroom but nope, wasn’t winning today. bacon needs to be crispy and another rosti would have been nice but don’t mind me i think i’m still fuming over paying extra and getting less.

ponsonby type of offering in takanini. place worth checking out!

lovely venue and staff were helpful although a bit slow. i would not recommend to anyone who is concerned about price or value for money. a concern mainly spurred by their songbird salad offering. a poorly dressed and tasteless collection of  leaves and a scattering of soft grains, i added a protein for $5 but it still made for an expensive and unmemorable light plate of tasteless food, at $23 x three and a couple of freak shakes for the little girls (great looking shakes) and chips, there went $140.
i do expect i will only return for coffee and cake if at all.  the playground next door is a great draw for the grandchildren.
i think this cafe may struggle with return customers.

tried veg burger, surprisingly good. although hand cut fries were not great.. prefer wedges. mt friend said his pan cake was good as well.

stopped in today to try this cafe for the first time as it is local to us. the pear & ginger muffin was amazing with a light crunchy top and not overly sweet. the coffee was disappointing - i asked how many shots were in an xl and was told only 2, so i requested 4 shots. i was charged for 6 which the barista queried but no offer of a refund for the extra double-shot was offered (i don't really mind if the coffee is good, but i do think they should have offered). my 4-shot cappuccino was very mild with no richness of coffee that you expect for the strength requested. not sure what brand of beans they are using, but if you like a strong flavourful coffee this isn't the place. the layout is very nice, good vibe inside and a light bright welcoming space. i will be back to try to cooked menu - just a shame about the coffee!!

popped into this newly opened cafe for lunch today and was really happy with the service, food and atmosphere. really cool cafe with an excellent kids playground adjacent. limited parking around the back so just park on the road.