The Church Manapouri — Restaurant in Fiordland Community

Our experience at the Church Cafe today was dismal. We are generally not ones to complain but there are clearly issues at this cafe. We went upstairs at 12.10pm after ordering lunch for 6 of us to find a man intoxicated, he was barely able to sit and when he tried to stand he fell between the sofas and was wedged there until he could extract himself. We later learnt he was the owner, so clearly the issues come from the top. Our lunch took 50 minutes to arrive, my GF buns were freezer burnt as well as actually burnt, there were several ingredients missing from every meal, including bacon, beef patties, cheese, and onions, basic ingredients. We complained and were refunded half of what we had paid, the lady I spoke to was clearly upset, so I am not having a go at the staff. As people who live reasonably local and visit Manapouri regularly we want to see a business like this succeed, and certainly do not want overseas visitors having this sort of experience. I can only hope that our next visit to this cafe will result in a...

Our meals were disappointing.

I ordered the seafood basket. The portion size was small, and I doubt anything other than the cod was fresh. While the plate contained several kinds of fish, I was lucky if there was more than one piece of each species.

My partner ordered the beef nachos, and she told me that they tasted terrible - the worst she's ever had. She also ordered a Screwdriver and was told by her order-taker (a young guy with big hair) that they don't make "fancy" drinks like that. An older employee interjected and the drink was ostensibly made; however, my partner commented that she didn't think there was any vodka in the OJ because the drink didn't give her a buzz.

I'm surprised this place has been rated so highly. This was our worst dining experience during our trip to...

Really nice and cozy place! Me and my friends stayed here during our roadtrip for some coffee and snacks. The coffee was delicious and we ordered a box of fries for only $6 NZD and the box was really big! The picture is taken after we already had eaten half of the fries up, so it was so worth the money. The staff was friendly and let us charge our phones the same time as we ate, really appreciated! (The restaurant right by the Church did not have any place for costumers to charge, so if you need to charge up I would go to The Church). Would recommend...