Fitzgerald Glade — Restaurant in Waikato

They have a code on the bathroom door to make sure that only paying customers can use it. As it was an emergency for me i spent the 5 bucks it costs to get a V drink and used it. (Just a note that ALL the food was grossly overpriced)

Inside the bathroom the have a couple notices saying that because the counsel had demolished the public toilets close by they can't afford to have every passer by using the toilet as water costs are high for them and septic systems are expensive saying that it costs upwards of 6 k a year on that by itself let alone cleaning and maintenance of the toilets.

I completely understood at that point and thought to myself "sure its a tough business choice and you have to make it". Right up until I went outside and saw the late model Audi that could only be owned by one of the owners as I was the only customer there. Obviously money isnt an issue when you have a car like that.

2 stars for the fact that its a great spot and the food isnt terrible. But the building and decor is dated, menus are dirty and as mentioned earlier too expensive for what you get.

Business wise it seems they need to stop spending money on themselves with expensive European cars and new phones and put that money back into the business. Right now all the stingey-ness is just shooting themselves in the foot and blaming...

We were at Glade roadhouse for breakfast yesterday, the café was fully empty which prompted me to think twice but we carried on anyway.

The food was pretty disgusting to say the least, I don’t think I ever had eggs benedict this bad, I chose this option because it is the safest best when it comes to breakfast and most of the time it is stock standard (what can go wrong). The bread was not toasted and VERY stale, the spinach was yuck. I am sure my 6 year can make the benedict sauce from scratch better, and since I pre ordered the coffee it was too late to cancel so I tasted it and once again, there is a reason why this place was completely empty at 10am on Sunday morning.

The worst part that put me off completely was their cutlery, it had either the butter or jam on most of the knives and who knows when they were last washed. At least from the look of it, they were not washed since it was last used by someone.

Overall a big thumbs down and I strongly recommend to not stop at this place, EVEN if you are starving. If that doesn't tell you something, then I am sure your own experience from this place will, it used to be good few years ago...

POSITIVES: 1) The Roadhouse has a large floor area with a variety of different spaces to sit and eat. 2) There is an extensive array of food to choose from. 3) We especially appreciated the sunken floor area with a dedicated play area equipped with books and toys for kids. 4) There is a cute petting zoo type area attached to the outside of the cafe complete with a donkey, goat, chickens and roosters. This is a neat feature for young ones.

NEGATIVES: 1) Staff morale was low and atmosphere was lacking. Serving staff were polite, but seemed unhappy. The energy was tense and the business owner interacted with us and his staff in an abrupt manner and tone. Not a welcoming atmosphere at all. 2) Pricing is quite high and isn't a match for the QUALITY of the food. 3) No working toilet facilities. This is completely unacceptable! This establishment is nestled some distance away from any other restrooms and after a sit down meal and beverages, no working bathroom is VERY problematic for travellers...