Palace Cafe — Restaurant in Wellington

BEWARE THIS CAFE HAS NASTY OWNERS OR EMPLOYEES. THEY MAY TURN AWAY PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES. THEY MADE MY VISIT VERY UNPLEASANT. I have concerns how they will treat Blind People with Blind Dogs, People in Wheel Chairs with or without Mobility Dogs & how they will treat other people with Medical Assistance Dogs. I now have a fully qualified Medical Assistance Dog & one of my dreams was to revisit the Palace Cafe. We entered the Cafe at an off peak time. While we were there I belive there were 3 clients, plus myself & my friend. I was so excited to see the food in the cabinet still appeared to look very delicious. I allowed my friend to make her order & then I made mine. I then noticed that the female owner had seen my dog, this was indicated by a very foul look on her face. I said yes I do have a dog with me he is an assistant dog (he was wearing his coat confirming that). I explained he had the same rights as other services dogs e.g. blind dogs. I asked her if she would like to see his license & I immediately took his license out of his coat pocket which shows both of our faces & I told her there was information detailed on the back of the card if she wanted to read it, she chose not to. She handed the card back & I paid the bill. The pricing was so excellent that I asked her to check she had all the items. I told her it was good that she had asked about my dog & that she had checked my license, as there were people who said their dogs were Service Dogs but they were not. I then seated myself & my dog, attempting to position him against the wall so that he could not be a bother to anyone. I had my back to the lady & man who were operating the cafe but my friend was able to see them. She gave me no indication that there may have been an impending issue. My dog new to cafes tried to settle himself in the strange/new environment & I was overall very impressed with his behavior. While I was enjoying the beautiful cake I had purchased the owner came to my table & announced for everyone to hear. "Next time, NO DOG, no Dog my kitchen". I was calm & said "I do not wish to be a problem but my dog is legally allowed here". The lady continued to say "No dog, my kitchen" & some other things I didn't understand. I remained calm & continued to answer in a calm manner. Eventually she walked away in a bad mood. I believe it was then that my friend noticed she & the male staff member were still in discussion & that he was expressing negative looks my way. My friend believed that the male was also was going to come to the table to have a go at me but he did not. When we had finished our afternoon drink & food (which was absolutely delicious), I stood up & loudly thanked them for the delicious food & my friend did the same. Neither of them responded or thanked us. When we were out the door my friend asked if I noticed the looks he was giving me as we left. I did not but I knew by her description that they were not of a pleasant nature.

As a person who has been ill for so long & is now gradually attempting to rebuild a small portion of "normality" one small step at a time, I felt the behavior expressed by the owners or employees of this business were RUDE & DISCRIMINATING towards me. They had the opportunity to make me feel welcome & to enjoy my experience at their Cafe, they did not. I will NEVER visit this Cafe again & everyone I talk to will hear of my experience.

I hope that this feed back is seen by others & maybe it may encourage them to also detail similar...

Palace Cafe Written 28/12/22 Bad Experience Dec 2022

We went in here today to have a coffee and something to eat, We ordered 2 coffees and 2 filo bacon and egg slices. She brought 3 coffees to us and when we tried to call her back as she had given one coffee too many she just ignored us. We ate our food and drank the two coffees we ordered then took the extra one back to the counter for a refund. She tried to say she didn't charge us but she did as I checked my account. Then she wouldn't even give us a cake the equivalent of the coffee and says she couldn't refund as it was a public holiday. It was not even a public holiday.. it was today Thursday. I know she owned the business and definitely could of refunded us but just out right said " no refund, no refund". What a thief taking our money and not even willing to exchange it for a cake or something else to eat. Never will we go...

Food was ok. Service was dreadful. No communication to tell us they had run out of what we ordered. Waited over half an hour for our food and coffees. Had to go up to the counter three times to find out where our order got to. That was when they said they'd run out of what we ordered. Asked why they didnt come to tell us and got a shrug. This happened twice. Coffee was cold by the time we got it. Still no lemonade. Third visit to the counter. Still waiting half hour later for the final meal to arrive - a muffin that needed 10 secs in the microwave! Others who came in after us got served before us. Used to be a great place to go. No apologies. Extremely bad service. Will never ever go...