Birdwoods Gallery — Restaurant in North Island

Had heard a lot about this place, so we thought we would stop there for lunch. What a horrible mistake that was!!! Got the coffee order wrong, but thought being busy we will just go with it.

The team were super efficient with taking our order and were great.

AFTER waiting for over 30 minutes we get told that there is bit of a delay, I politely asked how long the wait was as we had plenty of other things to get done. Was told it would be 10-15 minutes max.

HOUR later, we asked about the food again; we get told that there would be another 5 minutes delay, once again I pointed out that we were now late and really needed to get moving, so we were offered to have our food as takeaway if we liked. If we wanted takeaway we would have gone to McDonald's (would probably been a better idea).

The original lady walked past and I pointed out how long we had waited for already, and not the initial 10-15 minutes promised. At which she replied "yeah sorry been an hour, we are busy" and I asked "if you knew it would have taken this long, why didn't you tell us right at the start", she laughed and walked off.

We finally received our food, straight away we were advised that the breakfast meal was missing tomatoes because they had run out of tomatoes (seriously what sort of poorly managed kitchen runs out of tomatoes before lunch service); as we prepared to eat our meals; we realised that there wasn't enough cutlery on the table. Another 5 minutes of waiting and waving our arms around before having to call out so that one of the young ladies would notice us. We asked for couple of forks, and we were given ONE!; at this point we had enough and ended up just sharing a fork between two of us.

While I cannot speak for the other 3 meals (they did look presentable), the chicken burger at $30+ was horrible! you could tell that the chicken burger was cooked first and had sit under heat lamp for a while, the chicken was dry and the top bun was super dry and crunchy. There was roughly a quarter of a chicken breast and few bits of lettuce with with bit of sauce. Obviously they couldn't afford tomatoes today 22/06/25.

All jokes aside, considering that a supermarket is about 5 minutes drive, while it may not be the smartest way of shopping; surely it would have been smarter to send someone to buy a bag of tomatoes?

Once we were ready to leave, we had to remind the same Indian lady who promised us 10-15 minutes, that we had already paid while she was trying to charge our table again.

Overall the atmosphere was great, there are a lot of potential for this place, the young ladies were very friendly. The obvious problem is poor/lack of management, lack of communication between the kitchen and staff.

Would I or my family go back there again; not for...

We have enjoyed many a meal at birdwoods over the years right back when it was plunger coffee and cakes and we have enjoyed the gallery and grounds each time. We often bring visitors here as it is delightful and the food is consistently exceptional. However the last two times we have been we have felt it is loosing its polished touch. First instance was my mother’s birthday, 9 of us, I had booked in advance. We arrived and waited while the party before us left the table and staff reset the table, ordering was smooth and meals lovely - food is always delicious, however after we had been there about an hour and 10mins and had finished our meals we were offered tea/ coffee and cake -we accepted and placed our orders. A few minutes later the same waiter came and put a reserved sign with a time on it right in front of us on the table and told us we had to leave in 15 minutes as the next booking was here. It gave us hardly any time to eat our cake and have tea/ coffee. My mum had to rush her cake I was rushing my tea and we felt really pushed out. Disappointing and bizarre really as we wouldn’t have ordered desert and tea if we knew we only had 15 minutes left, strange we were offered it then told to we needed to go, by the time the tea came we literally had 7 mins left on the clock. The next week we returned for a lunch with smaller group and this time we were not hurried along at all but the order was messed up (can let that go as it happens), but the remedying of it had to be followed up twice by us- kids meals came out after we had finished ours. As I was placing the initial order- another appeared to be senior staff member came and interrupted to speak to our waitress without excusing herself or any acknowledgment that I was in the middle of placing an order. I can see birdwoods is so popular and therefore busy but please hold on to the lovely service you are known for it can really make or break an experience.

Adding to my review and upping the stars, as we returned to birdwooods today and had exceptional service. The young woman who seated us and took our order was lovely and did a wonderful job on a busy day (Sunday) she was kind and friendly when I couldn’t use the QR code. The food was delicious and beautifully presented as always. Food all came together as did the drinks. I noticed the staff were very thoughtful and considered in seating and accommodating walk ins. Thank you for reading my initial view. We really love coming here and...

My first review 3 months ago had nothing but praise for Birdwoods Gallery & Cafe. However Todays visit is a lot to be desired. My Sister arrived from Auckland today on behalf of Clients looking for a Wedding Venue. Birdwoods Gallery & Cafe came Highly recommended and was top priority for our Clients , so first stop was to the Sweet shop, and after today we are not going back there again. Our Clients had visited with my sister a few months ago to enjoy the Cafe and of course purchase Sweets. "A great atmosphere" and "just perfect" were their Terms for Birdwoods hence the re- visit today. However The lady that was present was Rude, Short in Explanation, said that they never sold the particular sweet we were after , and when we went to try and explain that yes we had brought it from here, she said " No you did not buy it from here you have your shops mixed up" "and I would know as I'm the one that does the orders!!" , I would say being defiant in her answers and also being short and rude to the Lolly Salesman who was also present, did not portray your Business in a good light, We had heard him explain to her that he drove to Birdwoods especially just to infom them of their specials but instead he was also receiving further education on the History of Lollie Brands. Perhaps a quick explanation, follow up or even a suggestion that this particular sweet may have come from somewhere else or perhaps it was a seasonal item would of been more appreciated because that is what customer service is all about...providing excellent service and not about being right in her actions or title. Sorry Birdwoods but what turned out to be an exciting visit to show off your venue for paying clients for their Wedding, has resulted in People...