Salt N Pepper Cafe/Restaurant/Bar — Restaurant in Canterbury

I have always had great service from a particular man on the counter at this cafe - but yesterday had an absolute moron on the til. I asked her what kind of bread the toast was on a dish listed on the menu & she replied “toast”. Then when I pointed out that another dish on the menu had a listing for “sourdough bread” she (& her mate next to her) looked at me like I was a lunatic. They got the guy in the kitchen to wave a piece of bread at me with his tongs (which didn’t really help). This is a pretty normal question to ask in a cafe - because there are lots of different kinds of bread in the world…I didn’t want basic white bread - I wanted sourdough or whole grain. I ordered the dish that had sourdough listed - but it wasn’t. It was a basic white bread that was barely toasted and which went all soggy when the eggs were put on it. The moron also bought over a number for my table despite my being the only person in the inside of the cafe at that point (gee, do you think you wouldn’t find me?!). Luckily everything else on the plate was good. I also noticed the barista was warm & welcoming to customers who came in after me (she had been talking to someone she knew when I arrived). She also made a really great takeaway coffee for me earlier that morning. Based on that, this cafe will get another chance when I am...

My husband and I were so looking forward to our experience inside the beautiful exterior however, it was the complete opposite. The first interaction with the German/Dutch lady was just what you would want, a big smile, she was warm and welcoming. We ordered coffee and breakfast, she brought our coffee's ( trim flat white and mine a long black with extra 'hot' water) Unfortunately they weren't very warm but we drank them as we were so ready for coffee and breakfast! When our food was eventually brought out I asked the server (who was actually making coffees etc) for another but could she please make it hotter.... The rudeness was unbelievable! She stormed off saying " coffee is actually made with hot water don't you know. You don't know what you're talking about among other things I couldn't quite here from the opposite side of the building by the fire. I did ask the pleasant young lady for the manager but apparently there wasn't one on. Well for her information, I am a qualified chef, have had pubs, restaurants, cafe's and takeaways both here and in the UK as well as teaching and training Barista's here in Christchurch. Such a let down, I wouldn't continue to employ anybody who disrespected my hard work, my dreams, dedication and commitment to succeed...

This is an edit from what was a 5 star review. I booked SNP for a party of 10 via the website a good two months before. We had such a good experience the previous visit and we were very much looking forward to it.

On getting to the restaurant it was completely closed, so we had to try scramble on a weekend to get dinner for 10 people. Luckily as it was a quiet weekend we were lucky to get somewhere but it was less than ideal.

We left multiple messages on the day to try get a confirmation of our time, of which the staff the next day would have reviewed, no follow up phone call.

We went in on the Sunday before we left to be told the staff likely shut shop as it was quiet. Can understand if for some technical reason our booking was not on the system, however someone would have heard our messages and it would have been polite to at least follow up.

I am not a fan of leaving negative reviews so I also followed up with the contact form on the site, no response. I do feel this review is justified however, to leave a booking of 10 people and no follow up after all of the above. If you are booking for a large group I would advise to air with caution with...