Seashore Cabaret — Restaurant in North Island

Please note the one star left for service is ONLY for the manager on shift Thursday night & 1 server, otherwise I’d love to give 0 for the rest of the FOH staff. We had a booking for a family dinner, which doesn’t happen all to often, so when it does it’s something we look forward to.

We were sat at our tables & left to wonder for 40 minutes whether or not we were meant to go up to the front desk and order or wait to be served… as by this point staff had made 0 contact. We approached the front desk to politely ask if we needed to come up and order drinks & dinner and we’re met with snarky comments.

The young lady made her way over to our tables to take our order, during this time… she wouldn’t look at us while we spoke to her, rolled her eyes multiple times and refused to move around the large table to take orders, resulting in us having to yell our orders out in the middle of this restaurant.

Our food came out, all except one burger. When we asked if it was still coming, we were told kitchen staff had said they’d all been made and sent out… we’d received 4/5. After explaining that we had not received the final one, the two servers came over and walked around our table inspecting what was on our plates and IN OUR HANDS muttering “The kitchen said 5 were definitely sent out”.. as if we’d shove a burger in our pocket? That’s how it felt anyways.

Another server eventually brought the final burger out and was lovely (shout out to her - young dark haired lady). The food itself was great (bar the pulled pork burger, tasted like canned tuna… I’d steer clear if you’re a meat lover & opt for the cheeseburger instead).

After dinner we in couples & small family’s with children approached the front desk to pay for what we’d ordered (not as a table as a whole) and had to argue with the 2 young servers ONCE AGAIN.

They were flat out rude, wouldn’t listen to us & told us they were not going to honour their “2 for 1 Burgers on Thursdays”. Thankfully a manager came out and knew exactly what we were trying to explain to the other two standing there, about not paying the bill as a whole group of 15+ but rather what we’d ordered individually.

Although the way the two servers stood there arguing & disrespecting the manager IN FRONT of customers was appalling and quite frankly uncomfortable.

We will NEVER be coming back to this restaurant again, and if you’re reading this review because you’d like to enjoy your evening out… maybe head over the road to Petone Mc Donald’s instead, their customer service will...

I went with my best friend here yesterday as a first experience which we were both super excited about it. I gotta say it was very disappointing and sad. When we got there we waited at the table for 20mins no one came to ask so I went up to order and pay which I didn’t mind. It took such a long time for the food to arrive. A couple that came 10min after us ordered one of the same as we got, the waitress walked right passed us and gave them the same order even though we ordered first. By the time my friends food arrived it was cold and they didn’t even bring the garlic bread which is suppose to come with the seafood prawns. We told them it was cold the girl just took it and it took another 10mins to heat up when they brought it back they still forgot the garlic breads. Apparently the girl who served us was the manager who was really rude who was the one who brought the seafood prawns. We told her we still haven’t received the garlic breads so she walked off came back and slammed the plate on the table and walked off without a word, not even apologising for the delay of food. It took a while for my seafood mussels to arrive as well. While I was waiting for it the manager serving came out with the food I don’t mean to offend anyone but what she did was not right. She came out with the food she asked a couple tables seated before us if it was there’s and then she walked right passed us and asked everyone else if it was there’s then tends to walk off right past us again without even looking back with the food. We were the only table she didn’t asked because everyone else she asked were all white and we were brown. In her mind we looked like the type of girls who don’t order these types of food and because we were the only brown people which she completely ignored and that’s very heartbreaking. I went to counter to ask for my food and the girl said she’ll check up on it which took another 5mins to arrive. None of the people serving came to check up on us. Some of them were talking very loudly behind us while on floor working about their own personal things which was very unprofessional. This was one of the worse experience in my life where we both felt very uncomfortable and mad at the same time because of the service we experienced. We left the place unhappy. Anyone who reads this don’t mean to offend anyone but it was just what we personally...

Had brunch here at 12pm on a rainy Sunday and had somewhat mixed emotions. Major kudos to the staff who had great control of the long queue, speedy to clean and prep tables and were incredibly accommodating and communicative, however the overall ambience of this cafe really let me down. It was SO LOUD. I wish I was being dramatic when I say this, but literally noise cancelling headphones or ear muffs wouldn't have been able to block out the sheer volume of this place. The cafe was bustling and extremely lively, although this made for a very chaotic, unpleasant eating experience. This is not the place to have a mutual conversation with a friend, study, read, relax or bring a young baby to. The music was so loud and everyone was yelling just so that the person beside them could hear them speak. If you thrive amongst energetic environments, then you will love it here.

The food was good, but also slightly disappointing and unreflective of their reputation and prices. I requested trim milk for my granola, however the staff member said they were out of trim milk (only whole milk and plant based milks) which is very bizarre for a popular cafe at midday on a weekend. The granola was very clearly a combination of packet/supermarket bought granola mixed together, so it really lacked any sort of flavour “theme” if you know what I mean. For $17, the least I was expecting was housemade granola. The berry compote and yoghurt serving was minuscule, however +1 for there being a good amount of granola in the bowl. The avocado toast was okay, but nothing spectacular. This could have easily been replicated at home and I was hoping for more pzazz. Coffee was a 10/10!! Drinks were brought about 5 minutes after our meals which was a tad strange too.

I can’t fault the staff/service whatsoever, however the blaring, turbulent and ear-piercing atmosphere honestly made me want to escape out of there...