Pancake Rocks Cafe — Restaurant in South Island

Situated right across the road from the Pancake Rocks and Blowhole as well as nearby the new Paparoa National Park Visitor’s Centre, the location of this café is undeniably convenient. Parking is just a short walk next door. The interior decor is inviting, with a mix of indoor, sheltered (large tented area), and outdoor seating, plus a small gift shop area. Don’t be surprised by the odd weka hanging around inside the restaurant.

We ended up holed up inside the café as it was raining heavily, so we were grateful for the shelter. There’s a decent selection of hot and cold drinks, and their specialties are pancakes and stone oven pizza, though we didn’t try them as we were just there for breakfast.

Unfortunately, the food was disappointing and not quite worth the above-average prices. We ordered an onion, cheese, and herb scone, which was undercooked, stodgy, and lacked flavour. It was so lack luster I couldn’t finish mine. The coffee was just okay. Service felt indifferent, and to top it off, there’s no free Wi-Fi for customers.

Overall, it feels a bit like a tourist trap- great location, but underwhelming food and service. I’d recommend going to the cafe at Paparoa National Park Visitor’s Centre instead. They offer free wifi, nicer brand spanking new ambiance and I highly recommend visiting the Paparoa Exhibit there- everything (gift shop, cafe, toilets, exhibition) is under one roof. You can checkout my review about the Paparoa National Park Visitor’s Centre here in Google...

Staff were rude yelling at me no taking photos. They have signage in there of a camera with a line across the picture. Due to being a gift shop their signage blends in with the rest of the shop & it's easy to miss their signage outside their door due to heavy foot traffic.. You need to make better clearer signage cause I know I'm not the first person they've yelled out about that plus ur tone of voice could use a bit of work. I didn't deserve to be talked too like that,made a whole scene in front of everybody, I felt embarrassed over something dum! I respect that you can't take photos but I don't see how this cafe is special and different from any other shop, I thought photos would be a great idea to promote the business as a form of advertising and marketing when being shared on facebook, twitter plus the great feedback etc Lady gives poor service 4 coffee. Coffee taste below standard, maybe because my coffee was made in anger. Still no way to treat a visiting paying customer. Shop is expensive, I found my name in a $2 shop. This store charges 3-4 times the price, I felt ripped off. As for the other lady working there, always stood behind the counter, no greeting no nothing. This store relies on the foot traffic from the punakaiki attraction. You'd think their atmosphere would be more inviting, instead this cafe, shop & staff are not worth visiting. Ruined my...

Disappointed to say the least. Don't recommend at all!

FOOD Being at Pancake Rocks, of course we were lured into trying out the pancakes...and what a mistake. The cheapest pancakes option was already at $27.50 and that's a complete bloody rip off. I got the streaky bacon pancake and my friend got the savory pancake but what you're actually getting are undercooked pancakes which leave a weird bad paste in your mouth as you start chewing it. It's quite starchy so there's a hint of baking soda aftertaste that we had to "wash down" with the cream/syrup. Wasn't offered any free water either so we weren't sure if we had to purchase this separately.

Pretty much just ate the bacon (2 strips only) and bananas, and left more than half my plate of pancakes. What an absolute waste for almost 30 bucks.

Maybe their other menu items are better, but I'm honestly not coming back to even try.

VIEWS If you're after the view of the actual Pancake Rocks, there's not much of it from the cafe. The Pancake Rocks are hidden behind trees/hedges where the actual entrance is, so from inside you're only really staring at the main road of Punakaiki. It wouldn't have mattered so much but it's obvious they're capitalising on their proximity to this tourist attraction, with little regard to the actual food...