Pembroke Patisserie — Restaurant in South Island

Gourgess pastries, and fab coffee. A great wee treat hidden away in Albert Town. I took a visiting friend (who lives for desserts) as I had driven past a few times and checked out their Instagram so was excited to try their treats and support local.

Unfortunately the service was quite cold and borderline rude, they were close to closing (we didn't realise until we had ordered and were paying) and the woman clearly was over it. They started packing up and cleaning around us and were more interested in clearing out the remaining food in the cabinets than selling it to the constant stream of customers coming through the door after us who were served in the same manner. We felt very rushed and would have preferred to have been told it was takeaways only or that it was close to closing before we had ordered and were paying. I understand people have off days and it was school holidays, so will try again but it did sour the experience.

$25 for 2 desserts and a flat white.

Our desserts would have been at home in the top cafes of London or Paris. A visual delight, the chocolate mouse was rich and not too sweet definitely a treat. The large custard square had lemon icing, thick creamy custard with visible vanilla bean seeds and delicious homemade pastry. It illicited fond memories of childhood, which I consider a magical skill of food. Couldn't fault the pastries in anyway.

Can't wait to find an excuse to try again, and hopefully will be met with the brilliant service I'm sure other...

Dear Store,

It was a beautiful Friday with lovely weather when I went to your store with a joyful heart, hoping to buy something to eat. As everyone knows, your food is incredibly delicious, and when I entered your store, I thought starting my day with a meal from your place would be the best thing. However, things took a turn when I ordered from a young blonde woman. I wanted a sandwich with a wide bread and ham, but she handed the chef a baguette sandwich. I told her a second time that I wanted a different type of bread and pointed it out to her, but she simply looked at me coldly and replied that they were the same.

Later, after I ordered a coffee from the counter staff and went outside to wait, the lady brought me the toasted bread. I then explained the situation to an Asian woman, and she immediately understood that I wanted a different kind of bread, quickly replaced it for me. I’m very grateful for her help.

However, I observed that the young blonde woman seemed to ignore Asian customers. An Asian man wearing sunglasses ordered from her, and she simply handed him the bread without informing him that the counter staff would assist him with the coffee or anything else. But she was very patient with the white customers, explaining everything to them.

I sincerely want to ask: is there still racial discrimination in New Zealand, specifically in this pure and quaint town of Wānaka, as we approach 2025? It’s truly disappointing, especially considering how famous and delicious...

Really disappointing experience with staff. In a place like albert town this cafe has not bothered to provide any adequate amount of outdoor seating other than 2 tables but despite having no where for customers to sit continue to take dine in orders. Today after placing an order our group sat at the only available outdoor seating which was right next to the cafe outside a closed next door business. When staff came to deliver our order they initially refused to give us the coffee because of where we were seated. When asked where we should then sit as the owner had not bothered to provide adequate seating we were met with a shrug of the shoulders like it was our problem. Eventually I had to just take the coffees from the tray myself and take them to our group while the staff member continued to huff and puff. The same staff member then came back and again with an attitude told us we were sitting in the wrong place again I asked where we should the move to and she again just shrugged her shoulders and told me 'whatever' before stomping off. They then sent another 15 year old staff member outside to reprimand their customers and when again asked where we should then sit as they were obviously happy to continue to take money from customers despite providing no where to sit were told 'i dunno' while the staff member wandered off. I appreciate it is notthe staffs fault but if management are happy to continue to ringing the till go buy some tables and train staff up on...