The Village Cafe — Restaurant in Waikato

The live music and the friendly girl at the counter who made our coffee were the highlights of our visit. Unfortunately, the overall experience was let down by another staff member. I was holding some rubbish with the intention of throwing it away before ordering, but a woman seated nearby pointedly mentioned that the bins were for customers only. When I explained that we were there to get coffee, she gave a rather unpleasant and dismissive look.

It’s disappointing, especially for a small local café, where you'd hope for a warm and welcoming atmosphere. We had planned to dine in and grab some food and takeaway coffee, but the interaction left a bad impression. One star is for service is just for the girl at the counter who already had the decency to interact friendly .

Edit after owners response : first of all I had literally 2 small takeaways coffee cups all merged into one size and two small paper browns bag all empty all crushed together and I couldn’t locate Any bins outside that’s why I came in to ask which I did very politely, you could have easily told us you won’t be able to help as you pay for bins and pointed us to a community bin location , but NOO you went the “extra mile” to be rude and not help people who are not locals, and the fact that this your response to a bad review just makes it clearer...

The food and ambience were lovely. Excellent location and kids playground. Food service was fast and coffee was great. We stopped here to eat and had intended on planning the rest of our trip using the wifi.

I asked the waiter inside for it before going outside to wait, as he said he would find it and I could see he had became busy with newly arrived customers. While outside I asked a passing waitress in case she knew it offhand however no luck. This was all fine, but then I went inside to wait for it and the waiter I had asked first came across as quite rude, with the comment he made. Not sure if he meant to be rude, but it definately left a bad taste in my mouth despite the lovely meal. Maybe put the wifi password somewhere where we can access it without asking...

Cute set up. Staff a bit frazzled. Food was average. I had poached eggs on sourdough bread with my breakfast. There was just a tiny blob of butter on the bread that barley covered one side of one piece. Dad got a scone and you pay extra for cream and jam but also no butter. I asked for a large latte and paid for it, only to be delivered in a tiny cup. When waiting in line behind my dads 2 older sisters, it gets to my turn to pay for dad and I, i see a gold card sticker on the till. I ask what does it offer gold card members and I'm told 10% off. So then my dads meal gets 10% off. But his 2 older sisters before me weren't told or discounted. Look its a pretty location and i saw fafamilies backpackers, its just that touch of servic that makes all...