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Reviews for the herb farm cafe

by Gabrielle B.
19th May 2013

When is the herbfarm going to sort out their service and bad food issue? Three strikes and you’re out as far as I’m concerned. Don’t order the vegetarian stack. The falafel is SOLID…couldn’t cut it, couldn’t chew it…left it on the plate with impaled fork to give them a hint! After 3 crap visits, harassed owner apologising…looking at me like I have 6 heads when I suggested she may need extra staff. Don’t bother.

by Halie C.
23rd February 2013

Our party of 4 dined here today and found the whole experience entirely disappointing. After ordering, our drinks came out in a timely fashion, but our meals lagged very slowly behind (though we were told there would be a wait so that was ok). Half way through her meal, our guest from the States (who we had taken out to entertain for the day) who had ordered Thyme and Lime Chicken dish found her chicken was completely raw. We notified the waitress who then took the plate away. She came back and told us that the chicken would be re-cooked and gave us a card for ‘a free coffee’. We looked at the card which was a half-stamped coffee card which meant we had to buy 4 or so more coffees to get the free one. The meal came back from the kitchen, but by that time, the other 3 in the party had finished their meals and our American guest did not have an appetite any more.
We made a complaint at the counter that the coffee card was unacceptable and the cost of the (Thyme and Lime) meal should have been reimbursed. We were told that because half of the meal was consumed that this was not an option – however, the raw chicken was not found until half way through. We asked to talk to the manager who then offered us each a coffee, but we did not want coffee. She also told us that the price of the meal would not be reimbursed so we asked to talk to the owner and we were told she wasn’t there.
Another one of our party wanted to look at the Herb Farm shop (right next to the café), and while we were in there one of the staff asked ‘How was your day?’ We told her that she did not want to know, but she insisted, so we explained what happened at the café. She then apologised and revealed herself to be the owner and told us that she had heard about our plight while she was doing dishes in the kitchen. She then kindly offered our American guest any free product from the store.
While the owner, who was very polite, tried to rectify the situation, I still give this a one star because it wasn’t rectified properly at the beginning and we only stumbled across her by accident. Also what we really wanted was the meal to be reimbursed, and not a product that we probably didn’t need. This place needs a real shake up. There is definitely a need for a new chef and perhaps a new manager. Either the manager was lying, or the owner was hiding in the kitchen when we were told the owner wasn’t there.
My advice: Do not go to the Herb Farm Café.

by Mark M.
24th January 2013

We went here today with a few friends from the upper North Island and was very disappointed in the whole place, we have been here many times before and the garden looked very unkept part of the deck was water damaged. The cafe looked very nice but as we steeped down to the outdoor sitting area we were all very taken back the floor had paint coming off and look like it haven’t been washed in along time. The girl at the counter said take a seat and come back up when you are ready but it wasn’t said in a nice tone, f you are having a bad day don’t take it out on your customers as we do at the end of the day pay your wages. We ordered our food and it took somewhat a long time to come out. And the quality was not good I found a bug in my salad and the chicken was over cooked! The other people in the group were not happy/pleased either. The meals were over priced and not good value for money. Like other reviews have said very disappointed! Wish we had gone to another place. 2 stars from me. Lovely place just needs right team to run the show.

by Kayesha
22nd January 2013

5 of us went to ‘The Herb Farm’ for a meal, on Saturday. We found it a nice relaxed atmosphere, comfortable padded seats [where we sat.] The meals were nice. The red merlot [house wine] was great. While the service was slow, it suited us perfectly as we’d been away in the U.K. for 5 years and had a lot of catching up to do. We would definitely go again, especially when catching up with friends/family after long stints – it was perfect for that….we were there for over three hours. Thank you!

by Maxine G.
20th January 2013

I went to the Herb Farm just yesterday and thought I would test out and see what it was actually like as I had read the reviews on here, i must say I don’t know what the people are on about here as I absolutely enjoyed it. I had fresh herbs tea and loved every drop of it and my friends had a coffee and said it was one of the best she has had in a long time so I hope this gets back to the barrister that her coffees were amazing. The meals where also amazing and full of flavour and even though it was a busy day there was not a long wait for them. Lastly I just want to say that the service was fabulous, the young girl her served my daughter and I was extremely polite and very friendly and I loved the way she happily talked to my daughter when she asked about her nail polish and how even though people were behind me she just concentrated on who she was serving and gave a relaxed feel to the hole atmosphere. All in all I had a lovely time at The Herb Farm Cafe and would be happy to come back again in the near future

by Christine M.
1st January 2013

My friend and I met for lunch at the Herb Farm the other day. We both ordered from the menu. After a while, the meals came out together – but mine was wrong. The waitress apologised and said she would take the meal away and bring back the right meal. However, the replacement meal took a long time to come out. By then my friend (despite trying to eat slowly) had basically finished her meal. While I understand that mistakes can happen, I don’t really understand why they sent out the wrong meal in the first place (the correct one was written down), why the replacement took so long, or why some kind of offer – maybe a free coffee? – wasn’t made.

by Doug L.
30th December 2012

Four of us went to The Herb Farm for lunch on a Friday. We should have read the other reviews first and been warned. Overall – very disappointing. Two of us were guests from Oz, and we had intended to give them a treat!
On arrival, we noticed that the garden area was full of weeds, grossly overgrown and very unkempt. Obviously it had been neglected for a long time.
We ordered at the counter and took a table, and waited, and waited, and waited… for 50 minutes. We noticed other diners also waiting a long time. It was not a busy day. I went up and asked how much longer our order would be, and it came out soon after that. I noticed that the kitchen seemed to be understaffed.
I ordered lemon chicken, and it was very poor. The chicken “breast” was a piece of over cooked, flattened chicken about the size of 2 McNuggets. The accompanying salad had no flavor.
The rest of us had more normal size meals, but poorly cooked and lacking in flavour.
I would have given it 2 stars, except for the long delay, and my very substandard meal. So it really is a 1 star performance and we will not be returning soon.

What I find even worse is that this cafe is promoted as a tourist spot to visit.

by Karen E.
14th December 2012

A group of us had lunch at the Herb Farm yesterday – we were extremely disappointed in the service and the food.
Has there been a change in chef? Not enough staff on? I was there about 5 months ago and had a lovely meal.
We had booked our table, we were shown to it then told she would be back in 10 mins to take our order.
After 30 mins, one of us got up and ordered breads and dips and drinks at the counter. Finally drinks came out and orders taken, after an hour and 15 mins the meals finally came out. Very disappointing, no dressing on salad, dry bread, plates missing pesto on 2 of 4 plates that were the same meal, lacking flavour.
I hope these reviews get through to the right person to enable them to improve all round – as the dining area in and out, on a beautiful day is a fantastic asset.

by Matt
3rd December 2012

We ate at The Herb Farm and, was very disappointed in the quality of the cabinet food and also the place seemed very dirty, there were dead flies on the entrance door windows and as we walked down into the cafe the floor looked bad with paint coming off and like a muddy film on it. We order our food which took a very long time to come out and was ok but not the greatest food I have had here .I was going to tell someone but as we left there was no one at the front counter. Overall nice place, staff are friendly but not really happy with the whole experience.

by Danielle W.
2nd December 2012

We visited for a birthday lunch recently. The dining area is great – the room is set up with wind breaks which keep the wind out but let all the sun in, it’s lovely. Unfortunately we were unimpressed with the food. We had deal vouchers, and I was very glad we did as if I paid full price for our meals ($20+), I would have been very upset. My Thai green chicken curry literally tasted like a bowl of cream (not coconut cream either, plain cream!). I couldn’t detect any spice or Thai flavours. I could only eat half of it as it was not pleasant to eat such a rich dish. There was an OK amount of chicken and lots of vegetables in the curry which was good, but the cream was just overwhelming and it was a sin to call this a Thai green curry! My friend’s steak sandwiches looked good and the steak was nice and big, but the steak was overcooked (had asked med-rare and came out well done). Bowl of rosemary garlic potatoes tasted like the potatoes were very old and were mushy – not nice at all. On the up side it’s a great place to take kids – the basket of toys kept our little boy happy. Just wasn’t impressed by the food

by Mike S.
25th November 2012

We used to go the Herb Farm quite often but went there today for lunch and it was actually really bad. The food was shocking, my friend ordered the big breakfast – the mushrooms were cold and raw, tomato was raw, overcooked rubbery eggs and soggy bread. No dressings or flavourings, it was horrible. My meal was not much better, really disappointed and won’t be bothering to go back again.

by Felicity
21st October 2012

We recently had lunch at the Herb Farm and were very disappointed with the food. One of the party ordered the kumara and herb stack which had no kumara or herb flavour but the taste and texture of the meal was uncooked batter. Another in the party ordered the cubed potato cooked in rosemary and garlic with cheese and bacon. Her meal arrived late when the rest of the party were half way through their meals, it appears it had been sitting to one side as the waitress wasn’t sure who it belonged to, it was then microwaved to heat through! When it came to the table there was no flavour of garlic or rosemary and the potatoes and bacon were soggy and a lot of grease had collected at the bottom of the bowl from the cheese which was disgusting. The staff were very polite and listened to our complaints, however we were offered no reparation.

by Katie A.
20th June 2012

Had a great time on Sunday, stopped in for a drink after a long day out in Hawkes Bay. My partner grabbed a hot choc and loved it, I grabbed a smoothie and extremely enjoyed it, and my little boy asked for a fluffy. We were so impressed by his fluffy – it was amazing value and he was in awe of it. He personally thanked the staff and they gave him a lolly – so we were all beeming from our enjoyable visit and couldn’t stop talking about it.

by Tinna H.
20th May 2012

So glad we stopped on our way back to the bay. What a gem of a place.. Amazing staff and outstanding food. Chefs special was worth commenting on as well.
We will be back and recommend the place and the service. Well done The Herb Farm Cafe.

by Ben H.
15th May 2012

A good menu with a lot of home made items which is great to see as we are from Wellington city and we don’t see many cafes doing home made as much anymore. We went to the cafe last Friday on the way to see my mother in Bulls for mothers day.It was so peaceful the lady that survived us was very friendly and knew a lot about the cafe,plants and also the herb products. The food was speedy and was very tasty, along with the coffee. A great place to relax and enjoy away from the city.

by Moosey
13th May 2012

I took my parents, husband and daughter here today for a Mothers Day lunch. We had a booking for 12.30pm and arrived on time but it was all down hill from there. After waiting 20 minutes I asked the waitress to take our order and 40 minutes later our drinks finally arrived. After 1.5 hours I enquired where our entree of mussels, breads/dips was and some 20 minutes later again one entree of mussels arrived but nothing else. After waiting two hours with no service and no food I became angry and asked the waitress to cancel our order as other people who arrived well after us were getting their meals. I have never experienced such poor service in a restaurant and nor have I ever left a restaurant without eating. The only consolation was that the Manager gave me a $100 voucher after begging me to return on a day when they are not so busy. I will NEVER go there again. The Herb Farm Cafe ruined my mother’s day!!!

by Adam M.
15th April 2012

A good menu with quality drink list including some craft beers. Unfortunately some things are not equal… If you do not book there is no table service and your custom is diminished by staff telling others their food is a priority over yours. Please don’t treat your customers with such apathy, my custom is worth it.

by charlotte
25th October 2010

Awesome food service was not good, drinks came out after meals, but food and atmospheric was great

by Deborah G.
7th July 2009

The Herb Farm Cafe is well off the beaten track, which makes it Palmy’s best kept secret.

There is a good choice of food for meat eaters and veggies alike, with some gluten free options thrown in too. The staff are very knowledgeable about their produce and always greet you with a smile. They do excellent coffee and a good range of herbal teas.

Kids are welcome with plenty of space outside to play and if they get bored they can always be taken round the herb garden, which is nicely laid out and surprisingly interesting for grown ups too. There a small shop selling Herb Farm goodies.

There’s plenty of parking outside but be warned, it gets busy on summer weekends when it can be hard to find a seat. If you do have to wait, it’s worth it….

The downside is the loo, there’s only one and it’s in a space between the cafe and shop and not exactly private!

by Jasmine G.
18th June 2009

This is a great family outing in the summer, nice drive, good muffins and coffee, lovely scenery

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