Virginia Lake Cafe — Restaurant in North Island

I really wanted to love the Virginia Lake Café . Unfortunately it seems to be a half baked idea of a café.

We started with the most expensive and smallest iced coffee I've ever seen, including the time I lived in Auckland (2013-2024)... $12.80!

I had Loaded Waffles, which should be renamed to the Loaded Waffle, as it only came with one waffle. The chicken seemed to be pan fried and not deep fried, we had the same experience with the chips. Everywhere else deep fries chicken for waffle/pancake combos.

The chairs appear very dirty, the redesign inside is not very inspired, it may have just been repainted?

Damn. Bwoh! Staff were incredible and friendly though. Their barista skills are good, just too expensive. Not their fault whatsoever....

Service- 5 star. Lovely and helpful staff. Coffee- 5 star. Couldn't fault it.

Food- 3 star. Burgers are INCREDIBLE! BUT cabinet food was very average... chocolate cake with no icing?? I mean come on! Also, the karage bowls in the cabinet were soggy and kind of luke-cold. Like not fully cold but not warm.

As previous reviews, the decor has much to be desired. It's very plain and boring. The whole place lacks feeling, it needs colour and life. Also, music or some background ambience. I hope this will change in the future!

Perfectly 3.5...

This is bad. They need to decide what they are. Pub style meals, sushi, an ice cream stand, and a cafe. No wonder there's no atmosphere. How can you combine such diverse uses? Not to mention that half the interior is taken up with display cabinets and yet the staff look squeezed in behind a narrow counter. No cafe style meals. Supermarket bought muffins and slices. Yesterday's scones wrapped in plastic. Below average coffee. I didn't take any photos because nothing was attractive. You won't have to wait for a table, because there's...