Earth Store Whitianga - Vegetarian & Gluten Free Cafe — Restaurant in Waikato

Am a visitor and can see by reviews this is a pretty new place. I think it's still feeling its way and so deserves support even if things are not there just yet. There are not enough of these types of cafes around, where you can get a more than halfway healthy lunch that isn't dying under an oil or sugar waterfall. And the food was certainly good. The pumpkin kale salad was dressed nicely, with tomato, red onion and pepitas. The cheese and onion muffin was perfectly cooked and seasoned - delish with butter and warmed well. The kombucha and natural soda options were great. I also bought a number of natural products that were all Kiwi made. The co-owner was nice to talk to maybe a little stressed with everything it takes to get things up and running. I didn't try the coffee (sadly I'm taking a long break just because) but I think it might have improved since the poor review from a month ago as there were several female staff/baristas now. The loss of the star was because one of them seemed quietly impatient with my dithering over my lunch selection even though I apologised - no acknowledgement or expression. I look forward to returning one day and finding this cafe/natural products shop 'the place to go' in Whitianga and awarding...

Everytime we visit Whitianga for a holiday (4 to 5 days), we come to this store / cafe at least twice a day. However, after the experience that we had today, they won't see our faces again. My wife order a smoothie to my daughter who suffers from allergy. At the teller she asked the shop assistant if there was a particular ingredient in the protein poweder that they use and the person did not know, my wife kindly asked the person to check and she "read" the box and said that there was no coconut. However, after 10 minutes my daughter drank the smoothie, she started having her allergic reactions. We went back to the store and we spoke to the owner and requested her to read again the ingredients. She read and she spotted that it CONTAINS coconut milk powder in the protein powder. For our disbelief she did not even apologise for the mistake nor offer a refund. She had not empathy for the poor child. We could not believe that a place where it promotes well-being had no compassion towards a little being. We had to go to the chemist and...

Pretty good coffee and decent food however terrible smoothie. It was just water with spiraling and a bit of kale. No taste of banana or mango. First reaction of the staff when I went back to give feedback was that the smoothie is supposed to be light. But that's not a relevant comment. I was offered to get another one but I had no time for that. My suggestion : taste what you sell...