New Zealand Herald

Reviews for Kenzie Cafe

by Claire B.
17th March 2013

Dined here for lunch on Saturday. Fast friendly service with fabulous food.
Corn fritters are the best I’ve had in ages, nice to see them accompanied by a huuuge dollop of guacamole – this in itself puts other establishments to shame!
Hubby had the big breakfast, great value and delish – the sausages were the nicest we’ve had.
We will be back…. yummmmm….

Oh … and coffee is good too…

by Lynette E.
6th February 2013

Stopped for a coffee and a scone. Coffee average and scone ghastly. It was dry , crumbly , rock hard and looked and tasted at least a few days old.very very disappointing. Whats more they call it the Kenzie date scone. I won’t be returning . Appreciate that others have their own opinion but this is at the other end of the best cafe in Auckland

by Mandi v.
20th October 2012

In my opinion the best cafe in Auckland. The staff is friendly the food is fantastic, the coffee is great, and the portions is very generous! Great selection on the menu or from the cabinet. Place you want to take you mum or partner to on Mother’s day.

by Pauline B.
13th July 2012

Lovely friendly staff, good selection of food on the menu and generous portions.

by Samantha W.
16th June 2012

Wow I feel really upset reading these reviews as I’ve been here twice and the service, food and coffee were all excellent. I have raved about this cafe to people especially the coffee art. Although I have only been mid week but the food was beautifully presented and tasted great. May try again soon but might miss a weekend ;0)

by Graeme C.
3rd June 2012

Ghastly! Used to be a favourite.
What a sad fall from grace for this once lovely cafe.
The place was freezing and the service unfriendly when we visited on 02/06/2012. The blackboard menu only lists the specials for the week.

by eugene K.
20th May 2012

Best to avoid this place like a disease on the weekends. The food is decent but the waitering staff are deplorable. Our family of 5 arrived for breakfast and were ask to be seated at a table that was just being cleared. The waitress took the dishes away but then forgot that she needed to clean/wipe it up. NO menus were brought to the table so my wife went up to the counter to ask whether the table could be given a wiped and the barista said he would send someone and was told to help herself to the menus. 5 minutes pass and STILL NO staff came to clean the table. Then the same waitress who cleared the table arrived to take our orders. I requested that the table be cleaned but because she was probably new and unfamiliar with her duties and language seem to be an issue, she went away and another waitress turned up to wipe the table with a dry paper napkin.
This was definitely a half hearted effort on her part. She then progressed to take our order on the paper coaster which normally lines the coffee cups.
The food arrived promptly with even what seemed to be kitchen staff serving food. But as the cafe got busier my wife’s order of a Mocha came out as a “flat-white”. Then another hot beverage arrived and the confusion started about what had been served.
By this stage, a male who I presume is the owner arrived and was helping with service. I brought to his attention that my wife’s drink was incorrect which he took away but NEVER REPLACED.
Even more disappointing, I discovered a fairly large coffee stain on my coat that was hanging behind my seat when i got home. Obviously, spilled by the staff as they were serving other tables.
Unfortunately, the cafe cannot cope with a busy Sunday morning. The barista tries to run the floor and then gets the orders wrong, the staff obviously aren’t trained adequately.
At least our children enjoyed their meals but then cooking a breakfast menu is not exactly “rocket-science”

by Sue
19th April 2012

Just popped into this cafe to have lunch with my daughter, the food was unappealing so we didn’t order any, I asked for a flat white without sugar, it came with sugar; my daughters hot chocolate came with a mouldy marshmellow, and she had to leave the rest of the hot chocolate as it tasted off. I would not advise going to this cafe. I would recommend going to The Florentine Tearoom Caffe, just around the corner of Manukau Rd at 51b Ranfurly Rd-it’s worth the drive further up the road.

by Gerard
25th March 2012

Food and coffee wise this place is pretty good but doesn’t feel very comfortable. The cafe is quite small and cluttered, and if you happen to use the bathroom upstairs prepare to be disgusted as it is shabby and quite dirty . 3/5 is generous as this place should be making up for it’s central Manakau Road location.

by Glenn S.
24th February 2011

Had breakfast there this morning The eggs ben with salmon was really yukky. I think the salmon was old or something. Wont be back gone to get therapy. Service was ok coffee was average I felt that the girl who seemed in charge (small ompalompa shaped) could have at least smiled a little bit. Glenn

by Alex
26th April 2010

I signed up here simply so I could review this restaurant. As a recent immigrant to NZ, I have struggled to find good cafes, but have easily found a god-awful one in Kenzie. The coffee was atrocious – my partner had a hot chocolate which was essentially just steamed milk with dusted cocoa, and to food was verging on inedible.

Have tried it again since just to make sure it wasn’t an off day, and it was the same old story, only this time with poor service.

Will certainly not be going back when there are delights to be had such as Espresso Workshop only a few minutes north.

by Tony
22nd December 2008

Great coffee and really nice food!

I love kenzie, they make nice coffee, nice food(special date scone). lots of choices in the menu and cabinet, never get bor…
good service as well…But the shop needs to repaint, my idea…..

by sweetcrazie
19th March 2008

Great coffee and food!

I am a date scone lover and I love their date scones because it’s done differently with the dates in between the dough which makes it less doughy…

Good for brunch but can be abit noisy with the coffee making in a small space hence gave them 4 stars

Overall it’s great! Friendly staff!!

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