Columbus Coffee — Restaurant in Howick

Please don’t ask me to get in touch—it's your responsibility to speak with your staff.

This is not a fake review—just honest feedback from a group of four who visited on the Saturday morning of June 14.

We had dined in, and unfortunately, the experience was quite unpleasant due to the behaviour of a female staff member (or possibly the owner). The way she spoke was unnecessarily rude and dismissive, and it really affected our time there.

Visited with a group of four and ordered four meals and four coffees. We were enjoying our food and drinks when we were asked to vacate our table—not once, but twice.

While we understand that cafes can get busy, we had been there for less than an hour and were still finishing our coffee and food when staff/owner came back and attempted to clear the table without asking. When we said we hadn’t finished, the response was surprisingly abrupt and unpleasant.

The whole situation left us feeling rushed and unwelcome, even though we were paying customers who had ordered a full meal each. It was disappointing, especially since we were simply trying to enjoy a...

Thought I ordered an oat milk coffee. Cashier must have misunderstood my order. I only drink oat milk. Got given normal milk instead. Took it back expecting them to replace it. They told me to line up and reorder, which I did still thinking the replacement would be free. Get to the front of the line and they want to charge for me for the replacement because it was my fault. So I ask for the coffee back that I had returned and they had thrown it out. Had I have known they were going to charge me for the replacement I would’ve given away the old one rather than returning it. There were three staff there shaking their head at me like I was trying to get away with a free coffee, when all I wanted was what I thought I had ordered and paid for. I ended up paying for the second coffee. Not a great experience, didn’t appear to be anyone working there has customer...

We just arrived at the café and were immediately asked to move to a high table—something we didn’t want. Most tables are available. We hadn’t even placed an order yet. How could you assume we wouldn’t want to have breakfast inside? Every other table in the room only seats one person, so we’re baffled as to why we were singled out. This level of service was unacceptable; we won’t be returning.

I believe your staff could improve their communication with customers when they first enter the café, rather than expecting customers to explain themselves. This was our first experience in such a situation, and the response we received made us feel uncomfortable. How did your staff assume we would be staying for two hours? We were not asked what we intended to order or how long we planned to stay. The lady simply instructed us to move to another table due to...