The Coffee Club — Restaurant in Hibiscus and Bays

I have never given a poor review but this place deserves an exception, in the hope they listen to feedback and learn from it.

The overpriced food good was good, We had a Chicken Caeser Salad and the Calamari along with coffees. Both were as I expect albeit priced higher for similar meals in other places in Orewa.

The service was below average, although the person who brought over the coffee was polite. Service at the counter was surly - maybe he was having a bad day.

Then it came to payment: This place refused to take SuperGold Card in addition to stamping a coffee card. This, despite the fact they have done it before and their competition has no issue with it. The surly one explained it was their policy and it should never have been done previously. (I have 6 stamps on my current card, at least 1 was when he served me).

Needless to say, we then get to adding 1% to the price for credit card and/or paywave - another policy. This practice, which some of their competitors also follow, is inappropriate as bank fees are simply a cost of business and need to be covered like any other cost - in the food/drink pricing.

The cafe was clean enough (could definitely be improved upon) but the toilets were quite unsavoury. There was also a constant loud noise, apparently coming from kitchen machinery, the entire time we were there.

As I said, the food was nice so maybe I will go back one day, but there are a lot of better...

I really think the owner of this franchise needs to put some time into training his staff (even himself) to provide better customer service. I’ve been here a few times and on the first occasion I watched the owner himself go up to a table and put food down without saying anything, turning around and having the customers call out to him trying to explain that this isn’t there food, he then had to give it to the right table. Some hospitality skills like holding coffee cups is the basics, I’ve had waiters serve me 1 coffee on a huge tray, the staff should be trained to look professional & be efficient. I didn’t have anyone ask me if I was eating in or takeaway, when they served me my coffee not even a smile or a hello, they didn’t even tell me what coffee I had ordered to make sure they got it correct. Just placed it down and walked away. I was always surprised I wasn’t seated with a cup and bottle of water, that is something you have to ask / get yourself. These might be little things but as someone who works in hospitality, the standards for customer service and experience should...

If I was considering the Coffee Club in isolation I would award it 4 stars. However with other excellent cafe's within 100m such as Olivers and Dear Coasties it just doesn't measure up as well. Both Olivers and Dear Coasties are cheaper, have excellent food and offer full table service.

I love the decor at Coffee Club. It has a beautifull black and white picture looking out to the sea on one wall and the general decor makes you feel like you are in a nice restaurant rather than a cafe. The menu is enticing and offers a good range. Because the decor looks so nice and other cafes in the area offer full table service you often heard complaints about the service as people have come to expect table service. So if you go to the Coffee Club know that you have to seat yourself and go to the counter to order and this will stop the service area of your experience being let down.

I'm guessing Coffee Club is a franchise and have pre-made procedures on how it is to be run - but with the competition so good in the area the service level has to be lifted to get a better...