Honey Bones — Restaurant in Waitematā

I can't fault the food. The brekkie was good. The service? Disgusting and racist. I have been in the service line for almost 20 years and I've never received such horrible treatment ever. From the moment I walked in to my last order. Google clearly stated that closing time is 2:30. We rocked up at 11:45 AM but was told that kitchen was closing in 10mins. Food ended up serving in the whole duration we were there. Strange. every change request which requires an add on, "are you sure? It's $4 more." I don't care. I rather taste something different, why would I choose your cafe coming from a different country on holiday? Why does my skin colour or the company I am with reflect on what I can afford?! -nothing special with the orange juice. Comes from a bottle you can get from New World being charged an arm and leg for. totally different service from the other patrons, smiley, genuine. -asking for water after meal already served. Ignored, had to ask twice, and the whole "yeah i'm getting it" attitude is next level rude while she serves the other tables. -accusing me of not paying for an add on. The audacity. You're incompetent of doing your job properly, please check with your fellow colleagues first BEFORE accusing a customer that she did not pay for a meal she's asked you for.

The only person who was somewhat genuine (i hope) is the english staff. He was okay. And the girl who gave my baby 3 colouring books and crayons.

I'm gonna spell it out for you. If you're not white, please expect to be treated badly and judged the second you walk through that door. Actually don't. PLEASE DO NOT GO HERE. And DO NOT BRING LITTLE TODDLERS OR CHILDREN - only one baby chair with no straps. (It's so odd that they pull out colouring books & crayons for the kids but treats us so differently. The stare, the annoyance, the vibe.) They don't like them here either. Most uncomfortable dining experience all 3 weeks in NZ.

It's 2023. Being kind cost NOTHING. If you needed an organ transplant from the person you were serving as a fellow human, you will not bat an eyelid to be kind. Absolutely appalled. Never again.

Reply to Greg:-

1. please read closely. We placed our order at 11:45am. Not 1:30pm. Orders were still being taken. It was not last orders. We ordered way before last orders were requested.

2. her tone was not a concerning tone. I quote, "you didn't pay for this." That's not concerning. That's incompetence. Not checking before accusing. Very different from concerning.

3. we were blatantly ignored. The water we requested was well and truly mid meal. We waited for a long while, whilst the table along side the wall were (white) clients, all served with cutlery AND water, then order being taken. When asked if we could have water again, there was also annoyance portrayed.

We have experienced this. Not your manager. I am NOT from New Zealand, the people I was with are. I have worked in Australia as a server for over 2 years with 2-3 staff only, full dinner service, with banquets etc. I know what a slammed busy service should look like, and how it should have been managed. And we were definitely not treated equally. Not spoken nicely by your manager. If that's how she is projecting her stress onto her customers, then she really needs to take this feedback on the chin. I've heard about racism being common in NZ, but to experience it was truly shocking, and really disappointing as it was my suggestion to come to this cafe. I do not need to email you. This is my experience. And if you read my other reviews, I review extremely fairly. Which is why I feel so strongly to write this. Emailing you will not change my experience here and we will...

Rude and awful experience. I can’t believe it. We got an unexpected, unfriendly and rude cafe experience and service today!! Totally shocking. I loved this cafe and every single time when our friends and families visited us that’s one of the cafes we must go to. I’ve been one of your biggest advocates for over a year. But today…

Today I was so happy to be there with my friends. I had so many good words and then we got a rude guy who served us with an unfriendly manner and literally managed to not say a single word during the whole service (cool! All good you don’t have to)… but then he kicked my chair without any words (I thought maybe an accident, let it go), but then he grabbed the cutlery holder and took the napkin out of it and dropped it in front of us (seriously I’m not joking, I’m not crazy even my friends were shocked, please review the cameras if you doubt this story) treated our space like it is a trash area, took away our salt and pepper while we were still eating (still without a word). Three strikes. We don’t expect fine dining service, we don’t ask more than just average cafe service which is covered up by great food… but this was unbelievable.

I felt so embarrassed to take my friends here after I told them nonstop how good it was. We all work in cafes/restaurants in hospo, so we know how it is, but this was honestly unbelievable and really uncomfortable.

If there was zero or negative stars I would definitely go for it. I’m not sure if it was because we were foreign (Asian and South American, most other patrons looked white), but I wouldn’t recommend this cafe to anyone especially if you are Asian like me. I don’t wanna go this far but that’s how...

This place has become so popular that they have become complacent. A cold waiter served us and after talking about the best meal that my 5 year old could eat with me, the green pea pancake with extra avocado and halloumi ($33), he didn’t tell me it would be spicy with curry powder. This is a simple mistake anyone can make but he wasn’t particularly apologetic. Another kinder waitress asked if I would prefer a small zucchini fritter instead, which I agreed, but it turned out that wasn't available. So we settled for a poached egg and halloumi only to discovered we were charged an extra $9 for it. When it came to bill time and I asked what I was paying for, the waiter didn’t read this aloud. It took a print out of the bill for me to check properly. They gave me a refund for the extra egg and halloumi once I complained as it was only ordered because my daughter couldn't eat the other meal, but I can imagine most people wouldn’t because of the cold environment. I’m not sure if they’re like that with other people, but I found them unfriendly, except for the only female waiter working there that day, she was exceptionally nice. Bread & Butter or Ozone have a much more attentive service. However, I’m glad they didn’t make a fuss in giving me...