Two Birds Eatery — Restaurant in Hamilton

I have been a follower and fan of the Two Birds Eatery for awhile, and when taking a trip in Hamilton I made a point of visiting so I could pick up some food to take away for my lunch later in the day.

Two Birds always strikes me as an unexpected treasure upon entering; from the car park off Grey St the entrance is so unassuming. Once through those doors however the interior opens up into a lovely long and inviting space with warm wooden furnishings and accentuating, well-considered overhead lighting. The eye is immediately drawn to the items behind the glass, lovely sweet muffins and bright, vibrant salads. Many cafes are now aping their recipes now in New Zealand, but Two Birds was an early successful trailblazer with raw, paleo & vegan cuisine as the focus.

My server was friendly and polite, and I ordered a couple of Chicken Rice Paper Rolls; Carrot, Mint & Pistachio salad; a raw Espresso Slice; and finally a Cranberry & White Chocolate Muffin. All packed for me in decent recyclable paper or eco-friendly containers, though I had to remind / request takeout cutlery for my selection.

Such great flavors for my lunch! The carrot salad was a real superstar, I had never thought to combine mint and pistachio as hero ingredients in a salad before, but definitely a new flavor favorite. As to the espresso slice; at one point during my day I intended to cut off a tiny piece to eat then and consume the rest later. However once I’d had just one bite along with the coconut yogurt provided to accompany, I just couldn’t resist the rest. It vanished, and I was left wishing I’d purchased two. The rice paper rolls were decent and very good for the price, very fresh. I only found the muffin a bit dense and perhaps not as excellently executed as the rest.

Looking forward to one day when I could return for a sit-down brunch and get stuck in to what the kitchen...

PLEASE READ DO NOT EAT HERE. NOT WHAT IT WAS. Extremely disappointing. Bad service and bad food at unreasonable prices. I paid 62 dollars to have my whole day tainted. The owner changed in the last year or so causing a complete staff turnover. Anything that made this place good (which it was) is entirely gone.

This used to be a joint for interesting and clever meals with heaps of great dietary options, now the food is below mediocre, and their "vegan options" are less creative than your school cafeteria.

I got the "big vegan breakfast" and was served half of one unseasoned and un-sliced avocado, a lump off mushy unseasoned tofu, two plain slices of boring bread, maybe a tomato, and a sausage. A MEAT sausage. No sauces or seasoning, not even salt and pepper as far as I could tell. Unless this is the most realistic vegan sausage in history, this place's lack of integrity made me take a bite of animal flesh for the first time in a year. Looked, smelled, tasted, textured, and cooked like a regular pork sausage. I asked the chef about it and he just said "it's vegan" with no apology or even the beginning of friendliness. I didn't finish it.

My wife got loaded fries, with warning it was kumara instead of potato and again terribly seasoned, presented, and just unpleasant to eat.

We both felt sick afterwards.

ALSO their "bowls", probably their main menu item, were unavailable, and it took till like 5 minutes after I paid for the waitress to come and inform me.

We got our own glasses and water and had to collect salt and pepper from the neighboring table.

We also overheard others complaining while we were there. The staff were quiet and impolite.

Read the reviews and notice that almost all of the good ratings are from years ago, all the 1s are from...

Decided to try out Two Birds upon the recommendation of a friend... it was not worth my time. After finding a table and sitting down for 5 minutes wondering where the menus were, we realised it was the type of place where you order and pay at the counter first. This was a little annoying that this was not made obvious when we first walked in, even after being greeted by a staff member. After we ordered and were seated, I noticed a few coupes order and not be able to find a table. At the time of ordering there were only two or three other tables of two ahead of us. Despite this it took over 35 minutes for us to receive two "Morning Glory" dishes - poached eggs on toast. The food itself was nothing special. The butter is not spread on the toast and is straight from the fridge so it is impossible to spread over the toast. The eatery itself... nothing special. The outdoor tables are nice but the seats weren't wiped down from the rain the night before. Overall disappointed with my experience. It was not clear what the procedure to order food was, the seating (outdoors) was still wet from the rain the night before and it was a very long wait for a simple meal. I wont be returning to Two...