The Station Pottery Cafe Rangiora — Restaurant in Canterbury

Went to paint pottery with some girlfriends, unfortunately the selection was quite small (and expensive) and nothing really appealed to me. A basic large mug would be good to add to the collection. We were put in a room that was freezing, and when we asked if the heating could be put on, the heat pump was already on, so they shut the doors to "keep the heat in", but honestly, we froze the whole time. The hot chocolate was nice but the muffin was dry. Either left in the oven for too long or several days old.

The staff however were very friendly, and we had a peak outside to the playground area which looks great for children.

I may have to go back in the summer time with my kids and give this cafe a second chance at redemption.

*Edit to reply to the Cafes comment: The two ladies I was with spent $25 together because they couldn't justify spending $50 each. That was the cheapest thing by far. My comment about a plain mug is still valid. I am an adult who isn't interested in mermaids (or koalas for that matter, we're not from Australia), and was just pointing out that a simple plain mug would probably be a crowd favourite - take from that what you will.

Yes we did enjoy ourselves, that wasn't the...

The lack of cars in the carpark on a weekend at lunchtime, was ominous. We have always loved the food at The Station and often come here for a meal. Today, I ordered the omelette and salad. My salad consisted of about half a handful of PaknSave salad greens thrown on the plate with about half a handful of coleslaw chucked on top. A small squiggle of salad dressing was squirted on the coleslaw. I don't know about you, but I would never just throw salad greens out of the bag and onto a plate at home. I would add tomatoes, cucumber, peppers etc to enhance flavour. taste and experience. I didn't expect this low level of 'salad' from The Station. My omelette was okay, and unlike in the past the bacon was small pieces scattered through.

My husband had seafood chowder, which he has always loved at The Station. The seafood chowder from today tasted as if it was watered down and was mainly potatoes. He was deeply unimpressed and almost didn't eat it.

I hope The Station picks up the standards of its meals again. They were a lovely place to eat with tasty and nutritious food.

Some positives: the counter food was well presented and the staff...

This whole concept is awesome and we had so much fun. Definitely something to do with a group of people! The drinks were lovely and the instructions were easy to follow. The pottery we all did turned out beautifully and we will be returning with another group of friends. Only thing we found difficult was the brush sizes provided,some of us wanted to do intricate designs and these couldn't be achieved due to the brushes all being quite large or fluffy. We are going to take our own fine brushes next time. Overall the cost of the items I believe is spot on! As we went in the school holidays, it took a little longer for our pieces to be ready after being glazed I believe this normally would take a week but took just over two weeks for us to be able to collect them. They were well worth the wait though and we are all extremely...