Hygge at Clifton Bay — Restaurant in North Island

We came to Hygge about 1130 to spill time before we headed back to Wellington, also wanting to show grandparents a bit closer view of the cape. Location is great, food was great, venue clean and can tell it was popular by the number of reserved tables (though it was not busy at this point). However, we did not park in the main car park but on the main road by the coast, so we entered the cafe by this road...the subsequent consequence of this leads to the low score! There was no sign from this entrance on protocol so a family member grabbed a table while the rest of us went inside. We stood for 5 minutes looking at the cabinet and chalk board on what to get while a number of staff wondered pass us. When we eventually approached the cashier he advised we needed to be seated but asked us for our table number so I went outside to find my family member being told by staff (assuming duty manager/supervisor) she shouldn't of sat at the table and when advised there was no sign at the entrance retorted people wouldn't read it anyway, but told us to sit down. The cashier followed to take our order and more or less reprimanded us saying "when you come here again can you please wait to be seated". I looked at the car park entrance and can see the sign, but I cannot believe we are the first customers ever to have used the front entrance. I found the experience condescending, rude and completely unnecessary. I would suggest investing in a road entrance sign and coaching your staff to handle such situations better.

Post cafe response addendum: I can assure you that when we visited there was no sign by the roadside entrance to the building, when we first arrived we made an initial attempt to look for instructions and after being told of our 'great transgression' I went round to look again (finding the car park sign in the process but no other). It is interesting that my initial comment referred to several staff and your response focused only on the young cashier, indeed despite the pointed comment we found him friendly and polite - it was probably the older/supervisor like lady that left the biggest impression as I found her comments and demeanour towards my elderly grandmother (referred to as family member before) quite curt. I'm going to go out on a whim here and assume you do have a roadside sign but it was not put out when we visited, and instead of saying that you choose to invalidate our experience with your response. Either way, it was never really the lack of signage that was the issue but the reaction of the staff to the entire thing - as I said initially condescending, rude and completely unnecessary, and your response reinforces that. We will certainly remember the 'Hygge' treatment if we ever visit...

Edit* Thank you for the reply. Just to be clear, the very personable male waiter, perhaps of Indian heritage, was the only one who made any attempt to rectify what he knew to be a less than ideal situation and we were grateful for that because he was clearly really busy. All other interactions with staff were quite condescending and dismissive.

I was excited to take my overseas family here for morning tea, having had good prior experiences. Unfortunately I was left a little embarrassed and disappointed by today's trip. We ordered coffee, cabinet cakes and ice creams. I checked about whether we came in to collect the ice creams and was assured they would be delivered to our table. The coffees did arrive in an expected timeframe for a busy morning that had multiple tables of diners. We then waited and waited some more for the cakes to go with them. Finally, with coffees now long -finished I went in to ask at the counter and after acknowledging that our order had been overlooked, the ice creams were made on the spot with the assurance that they would follow directly behind with the cakes. This didn't happen and we waited for another lengthy amount of time. Eventually, having felt quite fobbed off by the maitre'd who was circulating around the tables, we just paid for what we had received and left to continue our day. I noticed as we were paying that our food was only just being plated up then, so let the staff member know it was no longer necessary. No apology of any sincerity was offered and we left feeling hungry and dissatisfied with...

Fantastic location let down by some average food.

We visited on a sunny autumn day - there's plenty of seats both inside and out with the choice outside of shady spots or tables in the sun. From many of the tables you can enjoy views out across Hawke's Bay.

There looked to be a typical selection of cabinet food. We ordered a burger and fish-n-chips from the menu which also offered pasta and salads amongst others. The chips that came out with the burger were grossly overcooked & by cooked I mean deep fried within an inch of their lives. The burger was solid without being spectacular. The fish-n-chips.... Well at least the chips were better than those that came with the burger, the side salad was limp - just don't bother. The fish - a generous portion of 4 pieces which is a wholy unsuitable serving for one mere mortal. Again, the fish suffered the same fate as the chips from the burger - deep fried and then deep fried some more. I couldn't tell you what kind of fish it was but it suffered under the oily batter.

They could easily halve the portion & lift the quality of the fish.

I ordered a long macchiato which came out as a long black with a side of textured milk. Curious. The two meals and coffee came to $57.

There's plenty to like about this cafe but overall I left feeling underwhelmed. Would I go back? No, not when there are many many other options...