Shortblack Cafe — Restaurant in South Island

Came here last Friday with a local friend. I got the eggs benedict, my husband got the big breakfast and my friend got the gluten free toast with eggs benedict. I had asked specifically to have my hollandaise sauce put on the side as I just did not want it splattered all over my plate, it came out splattered all over my plate, then to my horror I saw balsamic glaze in a swirl around the plate. Ooossshhhhh - I knew then I was in for an interesting breakfast. Let's be fair here as I always am - my husband said his breakfast was "fine". Fine for him is anything with eggs and bacon. My hollandaise was not home made - sure, it doesn't say anything about being home-made but surely in a wee country cafe like that, I would expect home made! Or not?! It's not hard. The eggs - I am assuming - correct me if I am wrong, I was bought up on free-range eggs - were NOT free range. There was so much egg white I had to literally search for the tiny yolks. Then when I found them, I was underwhelmed. The bacon was ok. Unfortunately, the ciabatta was soggy - I would have thought that if my breakfast had JUST been cooked it would have been ok - espcially with the massive amounts of unnecessary spinach in between the bacon and "eggs" and the ciabatta. Anyway, decor is tired, the cafe looked dirty, table was sticky - I wasn't feeling it at all. It may be ok for a place like Oamaru and that is fine, if people enjoy it that's good, but we will not be back. Attention...

We are visiting from Perth, AU. We attempted to come yesterday but didn’t realise the kitchen closed at 2pm. We came back today, and wow! Absolutely amazing! They have a lot of variety for dietary requirements. I’m DF and I have a Bene Stack. They removed the hollandaise and added a tomato relish to make it DF. The hash browns were soooooo good. I would have been happy with just a plate of them. Definitely recommend!

Edit: We went back again today 9/9. The Bene Stack was so good. I ordered it again today. I’m addicted to the potato cakes in the Bene Stack. Also ordered the Chewy Orange and Almond Biscuit. Amazing again! Might be back again before we return...

Will never go back based on the rude attitude of the owner - I don't usually write reviews but am feeling really let down - the query I made could have been dealt with in a far more friendly and helpful manner - and considering we are being encouraged to eat and shop locally this was a big fail - shame on you - I do suport local business but also if some businesses were not friendly before COVD-19 I tend to have the attitude that if you need local support you should have always provided a good experience not just when you need our support now - so as hadn't been to this cafe before quite taken aback with attitude...