Elizabeth Cafe & Larder — Restaurant in North Island

Had the most bizarre and unpleasant experience in this cafe today, after a brunch which was meant to be a celebration with our friends after their wedding last night. It started off fine, the food was very nice, despite some things being left off orders etc, which we understood as it was a largish group. However, the way we were treated by your staff when we went to pay was completely unacceptable and hurtful. Every person/couple at our table had gone up to pay for what they had ordered, but when the last person went to pay, there was extra drinks and food still on the bill. We were very confused as we were careful to make sure we had each said exactly what we ordered. The staff member with the long dark hair in a ponytail was very rude and snarky when we were trying to get across that we were quite sure those items shouldn’t be left over, we even called members of our group who had left already to make sure it wasn’t left off their order which it wasn’t. Nobody even bothered to help us check the bill again, just left us all standing in the middle of the cafe wondering what to do, and all the other customers were staring at us, it was so embarrassing. We then asked for our receipts and realised that almost all of us had been charged incorrectly, with lots of random items had been added in to our bills which we most definitely didn’t order or receive! We were made to feel like we were dishonest liars when we pointed this out, with absolutely no accountability taken by your staff, I dont understand how they had messed this up so badly, if they cannot keep track of what came out to our table and what they were charging us for how is that our fault? So some of my friends had paid for stuff they never had and now your staff were still trying to charge us for more things we didn’t order! After trying to explain this to the waitress, she suddenly just snatched the receipt out of my friends hand and so rudely snapped that the rest would just have to be paid out of the staff tips and stormed off. How dare she speak to us like that and how ridiculous to make us feel bad and guilty like that? I work in customer service and wouldn’t dream of treating customers like that, if you’ve made a mistake you need to own it. We are not those kind of people to try and get out of paying...my partner was super uncomfortable with the confrontation and was about to pay for things he didn’t even have to resolve it, but why should he! Your staff really need to be retrained on how to operate the POS system to avoid upsetting people like this, it was an absolute s*show. Also got mad at us about splitting the bill and blaming the mistakes on us for this reason. NO ONE told us this from the beginning that they didn’t split bills and we could have easily paid for the lot and sorted it between ourselves had we been informed. This is the first complaint I’ve ever made but we’ve all been left feeling awful after a great weekend. My first and last time...

We were excited to try this cafe as it had the "cafe if the year" sign up ( at closer inspection it was from 2015) We ordered two flat whites to start New Year's Day with, simple enough you would think. The first cups came out with about an inch of froth on it, we asked if they could make the flat whites flat and they both came back again with a lot of froth. So we sent it back again and the manager came over and asked if there was a problem with our drinks and then proceeded to inform us that what we actually wanted was called a "super flat white" and a "true flat white" come as they have served it.....an inch of froth!! So she then says she will return with a "super flat white". She comes back with the perfect looking coffee, one was great, the other tastes like it had been filtered trough used grins! It was horrible!!! We then had to embarrassingly take that one back and the final "super flat white" comes out and the manager says she's had to put a triple shot in to satisfy us, it had it's froth return to an inch, and it was not a triple shot on tasting, which was fine because all we want was a regular flat white! Was quite the shocking experience for the first day...

Absolutly horrendous service, honestly the worst I have ever experienced. I am not one to post reviews but this needs to be shared. I invited friends for lunch after my wedding last night to top off an amazing weekend, i wish I didnt. We all paid for our meals and were told there was an outstanding amount which noone had ordered. We were made to go through our receipts and realised several people in our group had paid for things they did not order and the incredibly rude waitress insisted wed ordered these items and they needed to be paid for. Clearly food had been rung up on our bill incorrectly, however we were made to feel we were dishonest and trying to get away with not paying. We are good, honest people and have never ever felt so horrified with service in our lives. After pointing out issues on the receipt, the waitress refused to admit there was an error on the cafes side and then said the amount will have to paid from the staffs tips. Absolutly disgusting....