Geraldine Berry Barn Bakery & Cafe — Restaurant in Canterbury

Visited this café on New Year’s Day. Really annoyed to find they were price-gouging their customers by adding a 10 percent surcharge on top of the full price of everything in the shop just because it was a public holiday. This is from a business that is open seven days a week anyway. The worst thing was the underhand way in which it was done. There was the tiniest of signs attached to the till stating that a surcharge would be charged because it was a public holiday. However, it did not say how much the surcharge was. This was at the point where the customers had already committed to purchasing by selecting their food from the self-serve cabinets. Customers are supposed to be told BEFORE they start that there is a surcharge and how much it is. I suspect many customers paid the surcharge unknowingly. The surcharge is a rip-off regardless. There are only 11 public holidays a year. Cafes should plan their budgets around them. The local supermarket and fuel station don’t crank up their prices 10 percent on public holidays (imagine the outcry if they did), so why does this café (and others) feel...

After waiting 10 minutes for a simple pre-made toastie to be warmed up—something that should take no more than two minutes, especially in a quiet café—we had to follow up twice. Each time, the young red-haired barista responded with unnecessary rudeness and sarcasm. The first time, she dismissed us with “It’s coming, isn’t it?” and an eye roll. The second time, she brushed us off with, “I don’t know, that’s not my job.”

It became clear our order had been completely forgotten, as we saw it sitting on the side untouched until another staff member finally checked and started heating it. By this point, the store was empty, and we were the last customers still waiting. This level of unprofessionalism is unacceptable—if someone has that attitude, they shouldn’t be in customer service. - very unimpressed and would not eat here ever again down to this...

What a terrible experience. For a town renowned for good food and service, this was a terrible choice and a mistake we won't repeat. Visited during level 2 Covid restrictions. No social distancing enforced and they had placed general disinfectant in their sanitiser bottles which left our hands stinking like a urinal sanitiser, and we had to handle our food after this meaning every bite you had to smell your hands again. The coffee also tasted burnt and the food was very average, of a quality you might expect at a mass supply railway station or truckstop, certainly not a...