Surf Shack Eatery — Restaurant in North Island

I can’t review the food because we didn’t get any! (The food review is therefore not applicable in this instance). Flying to Waihi for lunch requires some planning, checking aerodrome information and importantly checking online to make sure that the Surf Shack was open. On arrival it was good to see the restaurant busy with just a few spare tables, however we were surprisingly told that the café was closed The time was around 1:30pm and some diners were receiving their main courses as we were arriving. I explained to the nice young girl that we had flown in specifically for lunch after checking that they were open. However with a polite-ish apology we were offered the rationale that they are not normally open on Mondays. We already knew this but had read their website and fb post telling all their “lovely customers” that they were open and welcome. As we were walking away, two ladies arrived on bikes and we let them know that the café was closed. They had also checked online so they thought that we were joking. A few minutes later they were riding away disappointed. We also had flown in for a coffee last year and had a similar experience, however it was about 15 minutes before closing time and many small cafes like to get away early when they are not busy. This time we were well in time and the Cafe was still busy. If the kitchen had closed early then how hard would it have been to offer a coffee or a cold drink? The takeaway from this post is to call them before possibly...

We had previously booked for a large group of 14 people at 12noon on the Easter Saturday. The waiting time of 1 hour to receive our food was ridiculous and despite mentioning to the waitress we had another engagement in Whangamata at 3pm, she replied `Well it is Easter'. The lengthy delay took the edge off the whole experience and it became a matter of eat and run!!! The two minors were extremely patient given the length of time they had to wait. I think the waiting time would have been less painful if people received their food in order of arriving at the cafe. People who arrived at other tables and ordered after us, appeared to get preferential treatment and their food before we did. Yes, it was busy but management should be more prepared and have more staff on to cope with these type of situations. Especially given we had booked more than a...

Thoroughly enjoyed the spicy deep fried squid with fries. Hubby ordered the large bacon and banana pancake and it was cooked to perfection. Boy was he surprised at the size when it arrived! My daughter ordered the pancake with fruits but we didnt realise that the fruit was a fruit flavoured syrup. That, plus a topping of ice cream was way too sweet for her liking, so she could not eat it after a couple of bites which was a shame. We also ordered the choc thickshake. This was super rich and a welcome to us on such a hot morning. The only upset we had with it was that the reusable straw was not cleaned properly and on the first sip, I had to spit out a chilli flake and peppercorn that had been stuck in the straw.

The kids loved playing in the play house. Its nice to come to a cafe that is family friendly and has colouring etc to keep the kids...