Market Kitchen Café — Restaurant in South Island

Unacceptable Service and Racial Insensitivity at Market Kitchen Café

I had an extremely disappointing experience at Market Kitchen Café this morning, and I feel compelled to share my frustration. My group ordered an English breakfast tea and a long black coffee. After waiting for 15 minutes, we politely asked the staff if our order was ready and pointed to a tray on the counter, asking if it was ours. The staff confirmed it was, so we returned our pager and took the tray.

To our shock, another customer later claimed the coffee was theirs. Instead of handling the situation professionally, the staff member blamed us for taking the wrong order and spoke to us in a rude and accusatory tone. There was no apology or attempt to resolve the misunderstanding. What made matters worse was that the staff allowed other customers to believe we were at fault and even escalated the accusations, making us feel humiliated and unwelcome.

As an Asian, I couldn’t help but wonder if this treatment was influenced by racial bias. Is it because of our "Asian face" that we were treated so poorly? This kind of behavior is unacceptable and deeply hurtful.

We had come to Queenstown excited to enjoy our day and were waiting for the Luge to open. Unfortunately, this incident completely ruined our mood. We felt so upset and unwelcome that we didn’t even get to enjoy our order. In the end, we didn’t even stay to ride the Luge—we took the gondola back down and left.

I demand an official explanation and a sincere apology from Market Kitchen Café. No customer should ever be treated this way, regardless of their background. I hope the management takes this seriously and ensures better training for staff to handle situations with respect and...

If I could leave “0” star, I will. I have ordered 2 large latte and paid for them. The staff Hannah adv us to wait for 20 minutes however, we waited for more than 40 minutes and the coffee is missing. When we ask the staff, they cannot find our order. The attitude the staff showed and answered sounded like it is not their business. What a bad customer service. It made me furious then I asked for refund. The staff then adv we will need to wait because the refund card is somewhere else. Yes, another waiting AGAIN. We eventually spent 1 hour for this mess. I am really not sure why when your staff know we need the refund but they made us wait there.

Very bad service....

Delicious food. Great place for a quick bite to eat, a coffee, or lunch while checking out the view. Not to expensive.

After the gondola ascent, riding on the luge, and taking all the photos your camera can hold, why not enjoy at meal at the Market Kitchen Café.

It's a modern space with multiple food stations offering unique flavours and tastes from around the world.

The café includes a pizza oven full of gourmet pizzas, spectacular curries, an ice cream parlour and a selection of freshly-made savoury and sweet crepes. There’s an extensive drinks menu as well, including beer and wine, exceptional coffee and smoothies, all served along with the...