Geraldine Farmshop & Cafe — Restaurant in Canterbury

We went here twice, once for the soccer golf and for some things from the farm shop, and once the next morning for breakfast. Breakfast was okay. A warning about prices - the website is WAY cheaper than instore. Bacon Eggs Benedict was $19.99 on the website - in the cafe it's $26.99. Strange since they have a 'weekly specials' on the website for the farm shop, you would think they'd update the cafe too when they hike prices. For breakfast we sat inside, and the area has a concrete floor which looks great but reflects noise. Similar places we've seen fit sound deadening panels to the ceiling, would make sense here. The chairs all squeak terribly on the floor - felt pads could help. I'd suggest going a little later (brunch or lunch) and sitting outside where it's lovely - lots of seating and space between tables, trees, a bouncy castle for the kids. Service was fair - not stellar, no 'giddays' and 'thank yous' as we came/left, but nothing abrupt. Food was okay. Wedges were pretty underseasoned with a fairly small amount of sour cream/sweet chilli. The bacon and cheese pasta had very little bacon in it. Eggs benedict came on some square piece of bread (similar to, but not, an english muffin). Really could have used freshly cracked pepper but there was only the shaker stuff. The poached eggs were all cooked differently - one was somewhat gooey (about right), one was jammy (bit too far), one was firm (not good). The soccer golf is a great idea, good fun, alright for beginners, and course well mown. Need to make it a bit clearer where each hole starts and ends - a map at the start would help - as well as little flags or the like on each hole. The balls were also pretty low on air. Overall it's a good cafe, but not great, especially...

Disgusting service and food We’re from Timaru. Visited this place for breakfast this morning for the first time, the Farm Shop Cafe. Absolute terrible experience. We ignored the warning signs when we came in: waitresses not greeting and not being friendly, the place generally not clean. Most of the noise came from the staff having a yarn behind the counter. Dead fly on our table. Spilled salt/sugar from previous customers on our table. Rude and unfriendly staff with an attitude: we don’t need your service. Food: presentation poor; I can come up with something much better in my kitchen and I’m not a chef. The coffee was great, but spilled marks on cup and saucer - we’re not sure if it is from previously used cups and saucers. Disgusting experience in general. The attitude of what looks like she’s in charge there is typical South African, we cannot be sure from the accent. We’re South Africans of colour. Disgusting service and food and I’m sorry I cannot recommend you to my wide circle of influence. To add fuel to the fire; we were not ask for our vaccine passports, something that I reported to the authorities. I complaint on their Facebook account; no response. I used their email and I got a nasty reply from the owners, Lyn & Peter McColl absolutely defending his staff and accusing me of racism. He only said that the vaccine issue has been addressed (fearing a fine from the authorities), but had only praise for his staff. Dine at this place at...

We'd seen the other reviews so thought it'd be great to stop here on the way south. I asked them what was in the vegan burger, which turned into a bit of confusion and a lot of uncertainty as they worked out what can and can't go in a vegan burger. To be fair they had a team of students on today, but still... After much back and forth we ordered the vegan burger and the vegan nachos.

When they turned up they looked quite good, albeit a bit smaller than expected for the price. The burger was ok, however the gluten free bun was really dry and the burger patty was very overcooked, to the point where the edges were dark brown and the patty was almost hollow and crumbly.

Definitely not what we'd hoped for. We spoke with the lady (owner) during our experience and it seems they're still working out the vegan menu. We'd possibly stop here again in the future if the portions were price-appropriate and the vegan menu is actually finalised re what ingredients make up the order items, including dairy-free cheeses and sour cream ideally (which they could make really easily!).

It's worth noting the vegan menu items have no price detailed on the menu board as they're the same price as 'normal' menu items.

Glad they're having a go but hope they make some improvements in the...