Charlie and George — Restaurant in Ōrākei

UPDATE from review earlier today. Changed from a 3 Star to 1 Star. They gave me REGULAR BREAD INSTEAD OF GLUTEN FREE AND NOW I'M REALLY UNWELL. I thought the bread didn't look and taste like gluten free bread. I asked the server when he came back around if he was sure this was GF toast. He assured me that he selected the right option when placing the order on their system, explaining there were only three options and he was sure he chose the right option and that I was given GF toast. If this is the case, then the issue came from CARELESS KITCHEN STAFF, who IGNORED the gluten free request. We WILL NOT be returning. Allergies need to be taken seriously because you can literally kill someone. Now I will go the rest of the day feeling really sick. And, you still charged me extra for the GF toast despite not evening giving it to me.

17/12 - My partner and I went to Charlie and George's for the first time today for a late breakfast (around 11:10am). The cafe was moderately busy and the atmosphere was fine but not great. There are VERY limited gluten free options and they state on the menu that they cannot make changes/substitutions on their breakfast menu. I opted for the mushroom omelette with gluten free toast. The omellete had a nice crisp on it but the mushrooms, spinach and tomato inside were a bit bland. The gluten free toast was good. Overall the omelette was pretty average. The server made a great recommendation for the Tropicana Smoothie - I thought this was great. My partner got the full breakfast. The size of the full breakfast was okay but not great compared to other cafes. The eggs were cooked well. The sausage was okay but could have been better. The mushrooms had a good flavour but were really runny and watery. The hash was a bit oily. The flat white was okay but also not great. The service was good but a bit slow. There was one server (Francis?) going around and serving everyone, so it definitely wasn't his fault. Francis was very lovely and attentive, despite how busy he was. He made sure to check with the chef(s) about my dietary requirement and made a great suggestion for the smoothie. He had great service skills, so I do hope this...

If you’re trying to decide between this place or another, choose the other. The most bland, oily, and disappointing breakfast I have ever paid for - safe to say I was definitely catfished by the menu description. I opted for the Vege Smash, it’s basically just creamy mushrooms with 4 spinach leaves, a piece of broccoli, a raw tomato, and a warm baby carrot. The “polenta chips” were fine if you like corn toast. Normally I’ll sit and eat my meal, especially when it’s the first meal of the day after the gym, but today I spoke up only to be advised that “the spinach wilts down when you cook it” and “if you want more you can order it as a side”. Believe me, I know what 4 wilted spinach leaves looks like, and no I wouldn’t be paying for more. I ate what I could (as above, ya girl was starving by this point), but it was tasteless and disappointing. I did mention this again as our plates were cleared, which was replied with “I’ll let my manager know”… pretty sure the man that shrugged off her comments is the same manager who was smoking away his stresses out the back of the premises as I parked and as I drove away. Definitely wasn’t angling for a free brekkie, would’ve rather paid double for taste, but alas I paid full price for below-average. Poor conflict resolution, team. The waitress was friendly, and the coffee was nice, but we definitely won’t be returning.

Edit: Included is a photo of what was cleared away. That was almost half the meal, as I said: I was hungry and ordinarily I would never even speak up. I did, and I was met with sass. “Creamy Spinach” is not four leaves that could be mistaken for micro-greens. The owner’s response… wow. This entire experience - not just the food - was beyond...

We went here about a month ago and the experience wasn’t great. We sat down and after a few minutes placed our order with the waitress. We waited about half an hour and still hadn’t received any coffees or food and then we noticed those who had been seated after us were all receiving their orders. We flagged down a waiter and asked him to check on our order and a few minutes later the waitress came back to take our order again because she had forgotten it and therefore it had not been put through. We ordered again and the food and coffees arrived way too quickly, within about 10 minutes. The iced lattes were so burnt they were undrinkable and the food was quite average. My BLAT bagel had so much lettuce on it I could’ve sold the lettuce alone in an Australian supermarket for $10. I had to reassemble the bagel so that it was edible, having an entire lettuce on the bagel and large slices of tomato doesn’t really make it so easy to eat. Other than that the bagel was just ok. Quite expensive for what it was. My partners bacon buttie was dry and bread tasted stale. It’s clear that once it was realised we had been forgotten they rushed our food and drinks. We’d have preferred a decent meal worth the price with a bit of a wait over a rush job that still left us paying full price for a meal that I could’ve done better at home. We didn’t even touch the coffees. The only reason I’m giving 2 stars is because I’ve been here before and it was...