Herb + Olive Cafe — Restaurant in Marlborough

After an amazing night out with friends, the perfect start to a day is with a delicious breakfast. Well, today was a good day! As always, starting the morning with a coffee is a must, so I ordered a flat white and an americano with cream. This came quickly and go us off to a good start! I then ordered eggs benedict with bacon. The eggs were cooked perfectly, and the ciabata bread was fresh, soft and perfectly toasted. The stand out of the breakfast was the bacon - smokey and crisp, I could have eaten a whole plate of the bacon alone! All 5 of us who were eating were very happy with the breakfast, and it got us off to a great start to an amazing day. Another note is that we had a toddler with us, and the cafe catered to his presence with toys and a high chair...and lets not forget the 'fluffy' which eventuated with chocolate all over his face! Super cute. Definately good value and a...

Herb + Olive is one of those cafes that just got it right, in all ways.

When I came in, I was warmly greeted by the staff, it looks incresibly clean and tidy, it has just the right music at the right volume to sit down and read a book over a coffee, or chat to some of the others.

I noticed everyone already had food or coffee; a good sign that service is efficient. Everyone looked happy, so it must taste good too.

Putting that to the test, the coffee is amazing, while I thought as a Wellingtonian that only the capital has premium coffees: nice surprise.

The food, with ingredients all organically and/or locally sourced, was absolutely fantastic.

Herb + Olive combine big town flavours and service standards with a small town hospitable and friendly approach. Summing it up, it's the best place in the northern South Island to go for food, coffee in a...

I had a disappointing experience here. I ordered my coffee via the QR code to avoid crowding the counter, but after 15 minutes of waiting and seeing others who arrived later receive their orders, I politely checked in at the till. I suspected my order had been missed (which I understand can happen), but I was told it was on its way.

After another 5–10 minutes of waiting while other orders continued to be made before mine, I asked again. Instead of a helpful response, the staff member dismissively said to another customer, “The machine can only make coffees as they come,” making a joke at my expense. This was uncomfortable and unnecessary, as I had already waited 25 minutes and flagged the issue earlier. She then abruptly placed a refund on the table—without me requesting one—making me feel unwelcome.

I left feeling disappointed by the lack of...