LOCAL - Licensed Cafe & Eatery — Restaurant in Palmerston North

True excellence in cafe culture! We dined at midday on a Monday. What an absolute delight this place is . The welcome was genuine and warm. Sun seemed to pour in without risking any sense of glare. I felt completely transported from the otherwise unremarkable Palmerston North roadside after taking only a few steps within. Once seated we received the perfect balance of attention and space - mostly thanks to the affable front of house’s impressive handle on his guests and their needs. The barista….Tall. Bearded. From his elevated position, laughed heartily with guests and his team. Then appeared table side with beautifully presented coffee. Long black with a side of sparking water in crystal … yes thank you !! What a joy he was. Then the food. Just brilliant ! Colourful, fragrant, textural. Bursting with flavour. Seriously … a good chef is found when you write like this about a salad. The iceberg, feta and strawberries all starred. Crunchy, wholesome. The smashed avo ran close to the risk of being too rich but that’s to the individual taste. Certainly a lot of flavour packed into the plate. The bill was not overly expensive at all. So I left with the firm impression - as made clear in this review - that value for money was found ! In summary, Local strikes the perfect balance. It is a stellar example of Inner city corporate eatery. Sophisticated yet not pretentious. Warm but clean and chic . One feels a bit special dining here. Maybe the name ‘local’ undersells this special sense awaiting its visitors . Or maybe I am just enamoured at this point. I will need to visit another time again and then another !

The highlight most vivid: watching those two fine gentlemen doing that they love. Kudos to the supporting crew …...

Have never reviewed before, but I was so disappointed by the service I am taking the time to do so. We left hungry after an hour of waiting for our order!!

Atmosphere seemed nice, my Husband and I were out on a rare lunch date together. Ordered two juice’s and two ‘Porker Toasties’. The two juices arrived promtly, but waited an HOUR for our order of toasties!! I noticed a few large groups (one would of been a group of 9/10) were eating their orders, yet they had arrived a significant time after us!!

Had to cancel our order as needed to return to work. Plus an hour waiting for two toasties, ridiculous.

When I got to the counter the girl apologised and said its about ready(ready all of a sudden) and offered to put it to takeaway for us. I declined, as the whole point of our lunch date was to sit down together, no kids and enjoy a meal. Not rush out and eat in the car separately. Plus we had waited an hour. I had paid to have it there.

The lady at the counter gave us a refund on our full bill, we had only had the juice’s though, but had to return to work famished!! Our lunch time gone, we were unable to get anything else.

It was also frustrating to see the guy that had served us and taken our order, eating his lunch at the counter, but we had been there for nearky an hour when he went on his lunch break. He never came to check why we hadnt been served after such a long time before hand.

This was my first visit here, my husbands second, will not return...

On first impressions Local is really aesthetic and has nice decor. Maybe feels slightly clinical? Staff were polite and friendly enough.

Took our order promptly however there was quite a wait on our drinks and food. Was a little frustrating when you put your order in before the couple seated across from us however they still got their order before us. We waited 30 minutes for our coffees from time of order and an additional 15minutes for our food. Understandable if it was packed but there were only a handful of tables. I wouldn't have minded about the wait if someone had come and told us there was going to be a wait, however we felt forgotten about and were nearly at the point of checking at the counter.

Any who the food arrive and it was seriously delicious. I got eggs on rye w/ mushrooms, tomato, hash and hollandaise sauce. It was really good, my only comment is I would have like the bread toasted more, as when it came out it was still soft like it hadn't been. Otherwise meals were great, very filling and very tasty.

Overall an average experience, had the service been better I would have given a higher rating. Meal cost $48 for two coffees...