We went here twice while visiting Queenstown, the second time because my friend really liked it and wanted to go back. She thought the lady who appeared to run or manage the place was nice (I thought she was fine, neither exceptionally nice or overly mean. Some of the other employees are much warmer, though).
Their coffee is OK. They burnt the espresso shot in one of our lattes once, but other than that, no real issue.
I can't really eat their food easily because of dietary restrictions, so on the second visit I brought a small snack in a takeaway box from someplace else. I ordered a carrot juice so that at least I would be making a purchase, and my friend ordered a latte and breakfast, all for dining in, but when the order arrived at the table and they saw my open box, I was told that I can't eat outside food in the cafe. As such, we had them put everything in takeaway boxes and left. It was unfortunately the only reasonable option as I was starting to get a bit sick and needed to get food in my system asap.
Sort of understand the rule, but it wasn't posted anywhere, I had the box in hand with a fork and napkin on top when I ordered for dining in without any reaction from the staff, and we had ordered a lot from them, so it's not like we were just sitting around using the space and not spending money. Definitely an annoyance, after all that, to basically be kicked out. Also the way we were told, with a stern tone and a blatantly insincere "sorry," totally rubbed me the wrong way. It doesn't help, I suppose, that I was a bit under the weather (hence the healthier snack from someplace else; healthy on a level that Exchange doesn't match, sadly), which made me sour more easily than I normally might. My thoughts on the matter stand, however.
I can't really rate a place based on something it doesn't advertise to be, but the way I felt we were treated (like a homeless person trying to set up camp in the restroom) is reason enough for me to not recommend it to others.
I originally rated this 3 stars, but looking back, 3 is too generous. Deciding between whether it's "A-Ok" or if I've "experienced better," I have to lean more toward: "Meh. I've experienced better." read more