Oat Cafe — Restaurant in North Island

Was keen to try this place so I popped in for breakfast and ordered an eggs bene. Chose a seat in the lovely spacious surroundings and waited. I was on my own so I checked out the reading material: a vegan magazine, the local free fortnightly arts paper and 2-week old (paid-for) local daily paper.

Then I was given the bad news that the chef had popped out for 20-30 minutes, so cooked meals were off, I would either have to wait or choose something from the counter. I couldn't have waited due to other commitments, so I chose a smoked salmon and spinach quiche from the counter instead, followed by a small flat white.

Staff were pleasant enough and although they did apologise for the chef's absence, no other gesture or compensation was forthcoming, other than a refund of the difference in price between my original order and the new one. The quiche was very tasty, the coffee generously-sized and very good, served with a little square of chocolate which I appreciated. But none of this quite made up for the disappointment of missing out on breakfast.

I know life can't always be perfect but this experience did leave me a little underwhelmed and thinking I probably won't return. Especially since there are at least 2 other excellent local alternatives where the food is great, always available and I can read...

I ordered a big breakfast recently that was amazing and so worth the price in these times. Everything was cooked perfectly and plated so beautifully. The eggs were poached well and there was flavour packed into every element. I enjoyed every bit of it and have ordered it multiple times since. It’s not often I say this, but I’ll definitely be going back as it was absolutely worth the money and consistent every time....

The girls on the floor don’t seem to care customers waiting. They just do their own thing and let the food sitting in the kitchen bench waiting to cool down instead of passing them to the customers. The Asian lady chef don’t seem to work fast enough either. Due to these 2 reasons it took me to wait over 10 mins after order is taken for a small fries to get on my hand while there’s only 2 orders in...