Fig Tree Cafe — Restaurant in Wellington

First time visit. Service started off pleasant enough.. lots of staff on and fairly quiet for a Friday lunch. I ordered coffee and grabbed a table number. Not much of a selection table wise inside so I went outside in the sun.. Coffee was slow to arrive and when it finally did I had to stop the waitress from rushing off so I could order food... simple things... but not earth shattering.

Meal wise, they didn't have my first choice, nor my second, the third was finally something they could serve. Food ordered... so I waited for my meal... a few minutes after the bottom of my coffee was reached the waitress came back and said "sorry, your lunch is coming but the manager wants you to come inside to pay first because we have had lots of people run off without paying". My first thought was - fair enough the front of the cafe is on a main street... but in the back of my mind I was thinking do look like someone who would run off? I was a bit over the service at that point so didn't make a fuss and complied with the request to go inside and pay.. .when I got to the counter I was feeling more irked so decided to forgo the lunch and just pay for the coffee and leave.

Now here is the thing with this... as I walked away from the cafe I remembered seeing another table finish their meals before me and then go inside to pay...they were white, I am not.. or was it because I looked like a fast runner and they did not? I won't say racist but there is no other way to describe that except prejudice.

Left a bad taste in my mouth anyway (pun intended).. and I will...

We are so disappointed by our experience today - a busy mother's day which was clearly a speed-feeding opportunity for the cafe to make as much money as possible by gross overbooking. My husband booked 4 weeks in advance for 11am- a table for 5 and a high chair. We arrived just before 11 and were seated at 11.05 after the table had been cleaned down from the previous occupants. We were told the table needed to be vacated by 12pm. We took 5-10 minutes to make our decisions, then waited 10 minutes in the queue to order. Meals arrived at 11.45. We barely had time to eat before being herded out. The tables were so closely packed, there was no room for the highchair so we abandoned it and held the child on our knees. People were trying to shuffle between tables but there was no room as things were so tightly packed. This created some serious safety issues, particularly for the many elderly that were there. Staff were clearly embarrassed by the situation that had been created for them. All in all, not an pleasant experience at all and not one we'll...

Four 1/2 stars Loved this place. We were a group of 12 visiting from Auckland, Nelson, Ashburton and Taupo we hadn't booked but they willingly moved tables around to cater for us. Cabinet food as well as blackboard menu -food all made on the premises.The slices looked especially devine but we were too full!. Friendly staff, great coffee and the food was delicious. I had the corn fritters and they were best Ive eaten with a fresh tasty salad on the side. Don't usually drink hot drinks but ordered the lemon and ginger tea super tasty and delicious. The only down side was my Aunt wanted to try the lemon tea after I raved about it and they had just run out and that this cafe is not in Auckland where I could make it my local! Toy play area for kids/outside seating area as well and interesting...