Gusto Cafe — Restaurant in North Island

I'm not one to normally write reviews or complain about cafes or restaurants, but when my child is talked about in such a foul manor for being her usual well behaved and happy toddler self then I will not be holding back.

From the moment we were served at the counter to the moment we left the cafe, we were treated extremely poorly and with no regard for customer service or care. The staff member that took our order was not only unhelpful when questions were asked about the menu, but extremely rude and blunt with her responses. After finding our seats, we waited patiently with our toddlers for our meals. It was a beautiful day and the cafe had a steady flow of other customers and it was not at all overly busy, which was ideal for us as a family group. To our right a staff member was sitting having a meal and texting. She received her meal while we were still waiting for ours. We had to ask another staff member to please hurry our order along as our toddlers were getting restless. The response was extremely rude and no apology was given. Our food came out shortly after and it was definitely rushed! Poor presentation, poor serving size on one of the meals and our fries were very undercooked. After we left we decided to raise these issues with the manager. Instead of taking our criticism and offering us with an apology she simply walked away in the middle of the conversation. Furthermore the staff were then seen bickering about us in the corner of the cafe! And to make things even worse, when one of use returned briefly as something was left behind at our table, the staff were all huddling around bad mouthing us and our children!! We were made to feel like we were intruding a cafe where we were meant to be made to feel valued and looked after. After my friend gave her review, we were told by management that they were too busy and that "having children that are hard to control are not the problem of staffs" and "McDonalds would be a more child friendly place as apposed to a busy cafe". This cafe has obviously forgotten how to provide great customer service on even the most basic level. Extremely...

Mount Maunganui has its very own tourist trap! Never thought I would see the day... I wish we had read Jo Jo's review below this one, or any other recent review, before ordering here.

Their hash stack consisted of 4 overcooked supermarket hash browns, a thin slice of avocado, a raw underripe tomato chopped in half, and to bottom it off, a slice of Pak'nSave wholemeal $1 bread. Oh and almost forgot the mountain of mayo squirted all over it to try give it some flavour/moisture... key word being "try".

My pregnant wife could not stomach this $25 "meal" so asked for a refund, she came back crying saying they refused. The manager tried it with me as well, "no refunds" in the same rehearsed 'I say this often' bored tone... key word being "tried".

Waitress was nice and apologetic, probably deals with this on a regular basis. The photo was not tipped over for drama this is literally how it was served (not waitresses fault).

Good luck with the winter months when the cruise ships dry up and you are left with the locals who will not be fooled twice, word spreads quick...

I see a lot of people have shared one star reviews. I could not share that. I was by myself on a busy Anzac morning around 11am. I scored a table for me. I ordered mashed avocado with poached egg with a cappuccino. The cappuccino was served first as asked and was just perfect to drink. I was told the waiting time was 30-40min. I thought OK, that will make it lunchtime then. It arrived in 20 minutes and the food was nicely presented and very, very tasty. The salad sauce was a delicious surprise, the poached egg was perfect, the avocado plenty. The only thing I could fault was a bug bear of mine; the cutlery wrapped in a tiny serviette and felt like it was from the 2 dollar shop with sharp edges and the forks pointing in all direction. The price was a bit steep I thought but in the end absolutely worth it. Over all would...