Whanga Bar & Cafe - Whanga Bar & Cafe 101 Winifred Avenue

I stayed with an elderly family member over the New Year period in the Coromandel over the past New Year break, it was most certainly good to catch up and to enjoy some good food and company with the excellent 2022 weather as the backdrop. This was turned on its head after going to the “Whanga Bar & Cafe” in Whangamata for a meal on New Year’s Day. On asking for a bigger menu other than the limited breakfast menu, we were given the lunch menu and told that we could not order from this till 12 noon, another 15 minutes away. We ordered two coffees and were asked to come back to order from the lunch menu at 12 noon. The coffees duly arrived very quickly, so at the allotted time, my elderly family member went and ordered a cheese burger and a side of wedges, was given a number and told that the food would be delivered in due course after being made to wait two minutes by a rather abrupt “time counting” staff member. As the back eating are started filling up with clients, my elderly family member started to get agitated to see other tables that had arrived later than us, and presumably ordering later than us start receiving their food orders. We asked a passing staff member after 20 minutes whom told us in a harassed voice that she would check after asking what we had ordered. Five minutes after, another staff member asked us “if everything was okay” and wanted to clear our table due to the by now empty coffee cups. On being told the situation, another staff member appeared and in a rather rude manner told us that there was a “thirty minute wait” which no one told us about, it “was to be expected as they were busy” due to the holiday period and on being politely told that the other customers had already received their orders and in one case had eaten and left, we were then told that as we had ordered a “proper full meal” it was implied that the wait time would be longer. On being told once again politely that everyone else seemed to be eating “burgers and fries/salads” and that they had received theirs, it begged a question what happened to our order? The staff member then flounced off and within one minute had come back, abruptly put the money for the order for the food on the table and snarled that the order was coming before turning on her heels and storming back into the cafe/bar building. My elderly family member, a Coromandel local was by this time fuming, we took the money and left, but not before comments from customers at other tables who watched this all play out saying how rude etc………the staff were……… I saw in the local newspaper that Coromandel hospitality businesses had taken a real knocking due to the recent events and that many were hoping for a good summer to make up as many would be in dire straights if it did not occur. While I am from Auckland, I have spent the best part of my working life overseas, to be honest, I have had rude, diabolical service in the past, but I did not expect this from the Coromandel………...and I was told that Auckland was bad……, this experience at the “Whanga Bar & Café” takes top honours……… Oh, no staff member asked to see our covid pass which was interesting, then maybe not as some staff had masks on and others did not. PS: I would have given no stars, but this app does not allow for this

This gem has the best coffee in Whangamata.....such a beautifull shop and the atmosphere is inviting. Good music is awesome, not to mention the positivity shining out from all the staff.......amazing experience. Thank you!

This service was terrible. Food was average. Undercooked chips, Dry chicken, Nothing on the lunch menu you couldn’t get. Guacamole and chips was nice.

The best cheese burger and chips. We had a great lunch. Quick service too considering it was a long weekend and really busy. Cheers

Not really good quality. We had an open steak sandwich and expecting something good but didn’t happen. Too much sauce and the meat wasn’t good at all. We felt sick afterwards. Very disappointed The space is lovely for summer

Just want to say when we visited here yesterday New Years Day 2022 for a late breakfast we were thrilled with the service and how quick the meals came out even though they were quite busy. There were 5 of us and the four that had a breakfast were very impressed and i had a Date and Orange scone - it was beautiful. Also the cups of tea were hot and a pot each. Thank you so much. We will visit next time we are in Whangamata.

Lovely spot, great guac.. not the best service. We were the only ones in the venue with 2 floor staff on & no one ever cleared our table.. .. i get it your a bar service place .. but dirty tables are a buzz kill also the music cut out and never came back on that was the biggest buzz kill for a Friday afternoon on a sunny day. Manager on the laptop - figure it out To the owner: You need to really look at your wage cost and realise whatever your paying the manager should be covering the same duties that the Barteder is doing. Save you some coin.

Lunch from kitchen was well presented and tasty. The portions were good. The smoothies were tasty. Seating outside was comfortable with adequate shade for the sunny day. Staff were good and friendly. We had our small well behaved dog with us and we felt very welcome with water bowl provided, although the bowl needed a clean before it was offered to the dog. The staff were very obliging.