The Cleghorn Bistro & Bar — Restaurant in Marlborough

Went here for lunch and ordered the two specials. Lady taking the order seemed to not quite understand what I wanted but we got there in the end. Ham and cheese toastie plus coffee for $8. Hubby ordered chicken tikka special for $10 - mistook this to be a chicken tikka masala, so was a bit disappointed when only four pieces of (delicious) chicken turned up. That’s our bad, though. The ham and cheese toastie was under toasted but had good quality ham in it. Coffee was average.

The reason for the low rating is the service. After we had sat down, the lady who took our order came over with my coffee and told us that as we were dining in (specified at times of ordering) that our meals would cost an extra $2 each. The sign for the toastie combo indicated no such thing; the tikka sign said “T&C applies”. We pointed out that she probably should have told us this when we ordered and paid, but she said it had slipped her mind. After a tense moment during which she clearly expected us to go back to the counter and pay the additional “forgotten” $4, she backtracked and said that this time she will let it go but next time we will have to pay the extra.

Well, when you’re made to feel like that, it’s really very unlikely there will be a next time. We will not...

Friendly helpful staff that went out of way to help with making a vegan gf option for me. Unfortunately when they took all the dairy laden sauces and cheeses away the result with the slaw was dry & unappetizing as just dry chopped cabbage. I paid extra $3 for avocado with my burrito thinking that would help make up for lack of sauces and after checking thoroughly found half a dozen small pieces in the burrito and didn't eat the dried cabbage 'slaw' on the side. Suggested a dollop of guac or lime juice would have been great to lift it but chef said avos too expensive to be generous. Owning an organic vegan cafe myself I disagree with lack of generosity especially when as a vegan I didn't have any of the creamy sauces or cheeses. Maybe they need a new avo supplier. They said they don't get many vegans in but I suggest they need to educate themselves on how to cater for vegans as they could really offer so much more. The cocktail was great and I imagine when it's busy the atmosphere would be awesome too. Was pretty quiet on a Sunday night so hope they can get the support...

A lovely little bistro with great service n food ...parking limited at the best of times outside the little eatery but you can always park across the road at countdown or the pub . My concern would be around the staffing situation there was only one cook n one person serving customers n clearing tables ...they need that third person atleast Incase of emergencies ,big groups n to allow there staff to catch there breathe n have there breaks when they're entitled to it ... I hope these two get paid well n not just the mediocre above minimum wage stuff ..they work extremely hard n generate good revenue for the price of the food n beverage served ...someone has to carry that bar licence since yr...