Podium Cafe — Restaurant in Waikato

Nice looking cafe, and good atmosphere but unfortunately, the food was quite astounding and the wait staff we dealt with were extremely rude. We ordered iced chocolates, to which they came out as just a cup of milk with minimal if any chocolate flavoring in both with a hunk of ice cream on tip. Not mixed, nothing. Asked them and they made us one new one to which was not mixed either, and just had chocolate sauces excessively squirted in. This was dumped down on the table, and we weren't spoken to. Long black delivered to the table and we requested a small cup of cold water, to which the waitress went to get, then as delivering to our table, dumped it down hard, causing it to spill all over the table to which she said nothing and walked away. We ordered a sausage roll, pork pie, hot chips, eggs benedict, big breakfast, and keto fried chicken. The eggs on both meals were so overdone even though they were requested as being poached and the mushrooms on the big breakfast were absolutely burnt to smithereens and unedible. Was mentioned to wait staff, and they shrugged it off, no comment made or even an apology. Their kids menu consisted of bacon and eggs or waffles. Nothing else so definitely not a "kid friendly" Cafe, considering there's a playground right outside, we would have thought they'd offer more options. Service was extremely poor, and considering our meal was a couple of hundred in cost, it was very very...

We booked a table on Sat 14th August, as we had heard that they get busy and we didn't want to miss out. We drove from Hamilton for brunch. Upon arrival we went to the counter and was met by a young gentleman, we told him we had a booking he showed us the table or asked if we wanted to sit out side, we said yes (the weather was lovely). Then........ what??? We walked outside and ....... nothing. We had not been there before and didn't know whether we ordered at the table or at the counter. So I went back in to ask what the process was, he said yes order at the counter...... Then nothing.... I had to get my own menus and take them outside. I would assume that the information about ordering at the counter would be something that could be told to future customers and being shown to our tables and given our menus would be far better service. Just felt like we were left floating and noone cared enough to help. Then..... we were given our utensils, apart from one person short of utensils, they were disgusting and dirty, they had food stuck over them. We returned them to the waitress who bought us back some barely cleaner ones.

So it didn't set the scene very well at all.

On the positive note, the food was nicely cooked and present well on the plate. Undecided if we will return there again in the future. Service and cleanliness would...

CUSTOMER SERVICE is BAD. The staff who served us was not nice. When she served the first round of our orders with 2 haloumi burgers and a waffle. My friend asked if they ordered 3 haloumi burgers. (We were only checking because they can't remember.) The waitress replied 'i only got 2 hands'.

I'm sorry but 'Sarcasm' is not welcome. Other word is RUDE. We drove from Auckland to have a break from Covid lockdown and get this awful experience.

AND we don't recommend their CARROT CAKE. When I saw it in their cabinet it was sooooo enticing and that's the the first thing we ordered. I had a mouthful and nearly threw up. It's far from a typical carrot cake. It's a GINGER CAKE!!! The ginger flavour was so strong and taste is nothing like a dessert dish. When we returned and complained why they put so much ginger. They said they want to make it gluten free 🙄. Since when ginger became an alternative to flour? Unbelievable. I gave them 1 star rating because they gave us a refund for the carrot cake and the waffle is good. One thing for sure, we won't go back. And will not recommend to any of my family...