The Grape Escape Cafe & Catering — Restaurant in South Island

After reading through their website that showed Vegan choices available and one definite option of a Thai green Vegetable curry that was vegan I thought this would be a good place to dine? I was very disappointed after reserving a table for a lunch meet up with some friends. After being seated and receiving a menu I could not see any mention of Vegan choices available or the Thai green vegetable curry? I asked one of the waiters about these apparent options and to my disappointment was told the menu had changed late last year. They had not updated their website to their revised menu and there were no real options apart from a side of rice with peanut butter sauce or a bowl of chips! I’m allergic to peanuts and my only option was to order a bowl of chips as it was too late to then up and leave and find a better cafe.

I ordered a glass of Coke and others at the table asked for a jug of water. My glass of Coke was served in a chipped glass. The waiter then walked up with our cutlery wrapped in paper napkins and just through them down in a heap on our table and just walked away. A short time after that our food was served and to their credit my chips were cooked well and everyone else’s food was very good. The waiter was asked again if we could have a jug of water which simply never came to our table. Another waiter was then asked for a jug of water and within two minutes it was served with reluctance. After our meals, we sat at the table for around an hour and at no time did any staff come and clear our table!!!

Something we found very deceiving were the Flapjacks for $18.50 as one of my friends order one serving for herself and one serving of kids Flapjacks for $9.50 each for her son. When both of these were served, the only difference noted between them were hers had three pan cakes and his had only two! She paid nearly twice the price of the kids serving for one extra pancake which is an absolute rip off!!!

Upon paying the bill I expressed my concern with the duty manager of being mislead to come and dine here based off there website menu. She gave no apologies, told me the menu only just changed and the website menu was being updated today. I called her out on this, I said one of her waiters had already told me the menu had actually changed over four months ago and not just as she was trying to fob me off with. She said she would let upper management know about this and made no apologies or took any of my details??? My friend also brought to her attention about paying $9 more for one extra pancake!!! With no surprise she was fobbed off just like I was and no reason to why you can buy two for $9.50 and you pay $18.50 for three???

None of our group will ever return to this cafe and I give this place a 1 out of...

Overall we enjoyed our experience at Grape Escape and are looking forward to returning again soon.

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We (my husband and almost 2 yr old daughter) had the pleasure of visiting Grape escape today for brunch (Thursday 6/10/2016). It was an overcast day with a few showers but we still chose to sit outside on the balcony. The view did not disappoint with our table overlooking the beautiful gardens and a miniature windmill, it was such a picturesque spot.

Pity about the weather though: My daughter would've loved to have seen the bunnies in the bunny hutch, or play in the fully-fenced playground. But that's something we look forward to doing next time we come.

The Cottage has a warm feel to it with great ambience & artwork around the place. It is also located next to a gift shop, a place where you can taste test cheeses and a nursery.

At The Grape Escape there is a great kids menu. My daughter had bacon & eggs on toast which also came with a sausage, piece of toast and a hash brown; which she scoffed down as if we hadn't fed her in months! My husband had delicious Pancakes served with maple syrup, fresh fruit and bacon. He said it was a perfect portion; very satisfying. The beverages we ordered was a mocha chino and a cappuccino: my Mocha was a little in the cold side, but was nicely presented.

Overall we enjoyed our experience at Grape Escape and are looking forward to...

This cafe needs a considerable brush up in our opinion. Time to get rid of the wobbly tables, redo the very neglected grass and hedges and most of all improve the service. Women serving rush about all over the place but as we waited for service ( then left because just noone returned in a reasonable time to take our order at all) we watched as waiting staff chatted to people leaving and cleared tables and generally were unaware that there could be a better order :-) in which to do things! Bringing a dog a water bowl is cute and nice but taking customers' orders =$$$. We have noticed before how neglected this place has become. Oh, it's still well patronised, but man could the tables use a decent scrub and the rocky section a decent smoothing out! We suggest a training session with staff and the consideration of level gravel or woodchips perhaps under the tables (some new ones that don't need repair) with old fashioned daisies and roses around about. Gardens are nice but do need regular attention. We won't go again. There are so many more places that are much more focused on their customers and its too expensive an outing these days not to have a very pleasant experience. Best Wishes...