Bailiez Cafe & Bar — Restaurant in Fiordland Community

Service was great. I went to this cafe for breakfast with no expectations. The 3 staff members, Jalizza, Sheree and Rian, were friendly and made my experience at this restaurant/cafe enjoyable. The order was for the Omelette, Mini Pancakes, Buttermilk Fried Chicken and the Dessert Waffles. The omelette was amazing and I also enjoyed a side of mini pancakes which were fluffy, delish and good value for money. On the other hand the buttermilk fried chicken is a waste of money. The coating is bland and presentation was as flat as the taste. I would not buy it again. The dessert waffles were ordered instead of the main waffle dish due to the varying price. It was confusing to understand why the main waffles on the breakfast menu was more expensive then the dessert when the descriptions were similar hence making the decision to have the dessert waffles. My only guess would be more waffles and the addition of honey. Presentation of the waffles was a disappointing mess as it was waffles covered in chocolate sauceand berries on a black plate when it clearly should have been on a white plate. The dish itself was over and above sweet. The waffles were hard and crunchy, chocolate sauce was excessive and the berries were too sweet. The ice cream was the best item on this dish. My friend ordered 2 kids ice cream sundaes and they were not worth the $8 price. The Strawberry and Caramel topping slid down the glass leaving just plain ice cream. Coffee was also ordered and it was burnt. The fact that the milk froth was a browny colour was disguised by trainee latte art and it did not deter the person making the coffee from sending it out to me. Maybe look at getting a new coffee supplier, clean your grinder and a bit more training for the person who made my coffee in the art of coffee and the differences between a flat white and a cappuccino. This place only received 5 stars because of the omelette, pancakes and the 3 amazing people...

Patience is required when dining here. We arrived at 6.50 without a booking, we were advised that if we were out by 6.30 we could have a table, that was fine by us. However we waited for someone to take our drink order, then waited again for our food. One would have thought given the short turnaround we would have been served promptly. There were at least three young people aimlessly wandering. Our food when it arrived was very good, venison was lovely and the nice variety of vegetables not over cooked, the chowder was also a hit. After vacating our table in time for the supposed booking, we moved to the bar for coffee and desert. I placed the order and was told that I needed to order items in different areas, I explained we had a table in the bar OMG, where else was I going to eat desert, so I then ordered desert with my coffee’s. Dessert arrived and we waited for our coffees, when my husband went up to the bar, he found our coffees were on the bar and had been for a while, apparently the bar staff were too busy to deliver. To add insult to injury when we went to pay for our coffee and dessert, the table we had dutifully vacated was empty and the waitress wanted to charge another service charge on our card. Grrrrr too much for hubby who said Nope. The food was great but...

Really disappointed, we were given a table and drink orders taken then told after food order was taken it would be a 40 minute wait. We were ok with this, it was busy long weekend and minimal staff. We then had another server come to us after an hour of waiting and after we had seen people arriving after us receiving their food that our order hadn’t been put into the kitchen and we would have to wait another 30 minutes. This was on top of our second drink order not being placed and having approach the drinks server to put my own order through. So after 1h 45min we finally got our meal. There was no attempt to remedy the situation when paying the final bill. Others in the restaurant were having issues with meals and drinks too. It becomes really hard to support a business when they are so incompetent in the basic necessities needed when running a hospitality business. We dined at several other places in Te Anau during the weekend who were also short staffed and slammed, they were open, honest, and courteous and explained their situations and abilities. Much better places to dine at I would only choose this restaurant as a...