The Storehouse — Restaurant in Waikato

Everything was overcooked and the manager got irate with us for letting her know.

Are there on Dec 27th, three friends and I. Our food came out after a long but expected wait given the time of year and literally everything was overcooked. My steak was both overcooked (well done when I asked for medium rare) and cold which was surprising and confusing. Everyone else got some form of eggs, the two poached eggs were overcooked as were my friends scrambled. Super dry.

I tried flagging down a waitress for a good while but wasn’t able to and no one came to check the food was ok like most cafes do. Ended up speaking to a lovely lady who came over and had a look and she said she should grab her manager.

Her manager basically said that we needed to have told her sooner and she can’t tell if it was actually overcooked as the food had been sat around for a while. We let her know we’re just trying to let her know that the food coming out the kitchen is overcooked but she wasn’t having a bar of it still saying that she can’t tell because everything had been on the table for a while. Super stupid as:

1. the poached eggs were cooked through for both and for the table behind us who just got served
2. my steak was not pink at all
3. the scrambled eggs were visibly super dry

All she really needed to do was apologise but she kept going on that we should’ve told her earlier and that she can’t tell if anything is overcooked. We were offered a free round of coffees but at this point we were a little fed up of being told we were wrong and our food wasn’t overcooked and so decided to leave.

A shame as I had reccomended the storehouse to my friends as I had good food there last time but won’t be...

OK. I can see why this place might hit the spot for some. The place felt clean, open and chill. A good spot to come with the laptop maybe. But our coffees were terrible. They both tasted burnt. I was unable to finish mine (even after adding sugar). My meal (the chicken waffles) was very tasty (definitely their strength). My partner's meal wasn't. He ordered the chicken burger. The onion rings were lithified and the satay kimchi tasted and smelled like old socks which was funny at the time but also made the meal enedible. It was overloaded with fried chicken, which would've been awesome if the accompanying kimchi slaw and onion rings were any good. I ended up giving him one of my waffles. The water glasses had to be replaced because they were dirty and covered in dust (the waitress did this immediately). Overall, it was disappointing and I strongly feel we caught the chef and the barista on a bad day. So try to take this review as a glitch report. It's not at the top of my personal Taupo cafe's to try list, but I'll give it another go later...

I so badly want to give you more stars, honestly, but the food was just not up to standard they day I visited.

star off because the coffee was overdone - the milk was overheated which spoilt the coffee and ended up being bitter and acidic.

The other star was because the big breakfast was not too great. The eggs were overcooked (scrambled) which makes it rubbery. The potato rosti was yum though. But, the simple elements should be on point such as scrambling of an egg. The avocado on the greens as well was not fresh i would suspect and it lacked flavour altogether.

I LOVED the aesthetic of the cafe, and the staff were very friendly. Ill give that to you. There is sufficient parking outside as well which makes the cafe accessible.

I will be back sometime and I'm sad I didnt get try this cafe again to give a more comprehensive review, and to see if the standard was just a one off - which I suspect it was. Its just unfortunate it was on the day I decided to come in.

If you're reading this review, I would say go give this place a go and...