The Milford Cafe — Restaurant in Devonport-Takapuna

Dear future customers of this establishment

I will try to make this short but truly there were so many issues with our time here that it may take a paragraph or two to detail this.

I made a reservation here for Mother’s Day. I had seen this building been built, open, and strive near the beautiful milford beach. The building is gorgeous and the interior even better. From what I could see this was a place built on love and hard dedication from a family. I was excited to take my mother and daughter here.

To begin, they were understaffed, later this would be used as an excuse to why we waited for 45 minutes for our food and tea.

There was no water, a caraf was brought to the table with our glasses and shortly after was taken away from the table too.

While we waited, along with many other tables we tried to stay calm and positive, it wasn’t just us we said to ourselves, but surely as experienced cafe owners, one would know to roster extra staff on a holiday such as Mother’s Day.

We then saw the panic set in between a conversation between the chef, owner, and the only server after we asked if my daughters fries would be ready soon. It was clear our ticket hadn’t been handed to the kitchen.

When our food did arrive, my mother out of frustration commented that it had been a long wait. The Owner proceeded to snap at my mother about how busy they were and walk away. My toast, was bread. They brought Aloli with my daughters chips (I had asked for none as she is severely allergic to egg). When I requested my toast be...well toasted. It came back as bread with grill marks on it.

As we left, there was no apology, no money taken off our bill. What was handed to us was two brownies.. forgetting that my mother and I both had gluten free meals and my daughters allergy.

So you’re probably wondering where I have the nerve to post about this? It wasn’t completely horrible right? I have been an all rounder in hospitality for 11 and a half years. Trained as a chef, managed multiple bars, restaurants and cafes, unfortunately for the owners I also run a successful food blog. Even to someone with no experience this would have been upsetting let alone someone who knew that all of this could have easily been avoided.

Heres my final thoughts. Be warned of booking this place for a holiday or occasion. The food is not special enough for that long of a wait, and I’ll promise you that any criticism from a customer will be met with excuses and stubbornness.

So happy Mother’s Day, I hope this will save you the grief that we experienced on a day that should be filled with...

Went for dinner as a group of 4. The atmosphere was friendly and welcoming and service excellent from the start. When we ordered our drinks the owner came to tell us he was almost out of the gin we’d asked for two of and would we like to switch to a different one. Whilst deciding, he told us not to worry, he would go and buy a fresh bottle of the one we’d originally asked for. We all ordered different dishes and every single one was delicious. Food came quickly and well-presented, in decent sized portions. Even though we were stuffed from the mains, we couldn’t resist dessert and ordered two to share. They were also delicious. Can’t fault anything about the evening at all, will...

Update:

This company keep deleting our family experience feedback since last time we left our story which is true and the fact. They keep renaming the google listing which we have already informed Go Gogle about this. Misleading customers!

Won't go back again. Really disappointed with their food. I found hair in my food. Upon telling the owner, he was like "oh, maybe it came from somewhere"? Really? Seems very rude to us. Not welcoming attitude and very rude. Not sure how this owner has a hospitality business but failed to understand the basic concept! I was charged $29 for it and couldn't eat it after noticing the hair. Really disappointed and...