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Location:Between Countdown super market & K-mart plaza
Cleanliness/Hygiene: Seemed very tidy.
Price: $4.00
Presentation: Well presented in a clean cup with a mint on the saucer.
Taste: Fairly nice coffee, a little too watery.
Selection: Excellent selection of foods & drinks.
Service: Was very good, a little too 'hands off' but friendly & helpful
Ambience: In general good.
Additional comments: It's a bit of an Enigma why this café only has a B grade, with a little effort they could easily bump it up to an A grade café! There is too much exposed wiring in this café & they have a set of worn leather chairs, they are very comfortable and I always sit in them. They make the place look worn-out & tired too.
Location: Alleyway between Church & Main streets (Entrance on the Square too), Palmerston north.
Cleanliness/Hygiene: Very good, not excellent.
Price: $4.00
Presentation: Great.
Taste: Nice and frothy but a too watery.
Selection: Wide range of beverages and food with an open kitchen with wide selection of food there too.
Service: Very good in general.
Ambience: Has to be one of the biggest café's in Palmy a very relaxed & pleasant feel.
Additional comments: This is an extremely popular café, catering for many businesses. One issue I have is the large doors that face out to the alleyway, they can be opened all the way & in the hot weather they often are, which is understandable. Apart from being exposed to cigarette smoke waffling in, a large number of flies buzz around the seats closest to the doors. Then there is my other little annoyance, that is birds coming into the café. I concede that it is summer & hot, but other café's manage it. This café does a roaring trade, I find it hard to believe they can't afford air conditioning. Sacrifice those impractical people movers and buy a real van for your deliveries. Double the space, half the fuel... no brainer!
Taste: Excellent - very enjoyable coffee, not too bitter, not too sweet.
Selection: Wide range of beverages and food with an open kitchen with wide selection of food there too. I found the selection of food in the glass cabinet a little... lacking.
Service: Excellent service. There is a very fine balance between getting patrons to buy things, but not "hovering", They have it nailed! maybe a little too hover-y, but I'd rather that than not having my needs meet.
Ambience: Overall ok but a little tightly packed.
Additional comments: In my opinion, the best Café in Palmerston North... but for 1 thing (or more accurately: lack of) and that is space. Holds an open license to serve alcohol.
Presentation: Pleasant, fern leaf design in the froth.
Taste: Excellent taste, not too watery, excellent consistency!
Selection: Not a very big selection of food, plenty of hot drinks.
Service: Prompt, polite and helpful, everything staff should be.
Ambience: Very nice, trendy, Café.
Additional comments: This has to be one of the smallest shops I have ever been to, but there coffee is excellent. The limitation (because of space) demand excellence in all other areas which I believe it doesn't meet.
Selection: Not a very big selection of food, plenty of hot & cold drinks.
Service: Prompt, polite and helpful, everything staff should be.
Ambience: Very nice, trendy, Café.
Additional comments: This Café did not display the standard Palmerston North City Council (PNCC) letter grading system, however, a required NZQA certificate WAS displayed. I can only guess as to why a grade is not displayed. That is their right of course, but it does create confusion & hence I had to rate them accordingly. That's a shame because they are definately one of the better Cafés in Palmy.
The PNCC Safe food bylaw (2004) states: "If the Supervisor/s - Manager/s have not completed NZQA Unit 168 or equivalent by the given date, the highest score a premises can obtain is a 3". A score of 3 equates with an E grade, "E = Substandard - where the inspection score is below 6 (Prosectuion or closure is likely)"
Taste: Excellent taste, a little "thin" but not to noticable.
Selection: A huge selection of food, plenty of hot & cold drinks.
Service: Prompt, polite and helpful, everything staff should be.
Ambience: Very nice Café, a few too many tables.
Additional comments: Overall very nice. I went at a very quiet time (Late Sunday afternoon) having been there on many occasions, I know the level of quality is quite variable
Location: K-mart plaza, Church street, Palmerston north.
Cleanliness/Hygiene: Good, tables cleared extremely promptly as well as counter cleaned often.
Price: $4.00
Presentation: Nice, welcoming coffee.
Taste: Ok taste, not great, please read the "Additional comments" section.
Selection: Great selection of both sweet & savoury foods, good drink selection too.
Service: Prompt, relatively polite but not great, please read the "Additional comments" section.
Ambience: Please read the "Additional comments" section..
Additional comments: Ok, at the time of writing this review K-mart plaza is under-going massive rennovations and a number of shops have been moved to cater for the construction process. Greames is one of the affected shops, so in that respect I accept that this may not be the optimal time to review the Café, regardless of that fact they are still a Café and don't offer their services for free! I will review them again at a later date.
Another factor was doing the review on Boxing day, perhaps not the best timing on my part as the Café was unusually busy, but at the risk of repeating myself, I will review this Café again.
Location: K-mart plaza, Church street, Palmerston north.
Cleanliness/Hygiene: Good, tables cleared promptly, being such a small Café, the impression of clutter is doubled.
Price: $4.60
Presentation: Ok, not great, but tidy.
Taste: Excellent taste, no problems there!
Selection: Great selection of both sweet & savoury foods, good drink selection too.
Service: Prompt, relatively polite (more on that later).
Ambience: Busy, a little too contrived.
Additional comments: Gawking staff: because Cafés' tend to hire young (I know, not always, but the trend is there), their social graces can be lacking. I'm not a wall flower, I accept that aside from being physically disabled, I am also unusually tall at 6'5". I'm used to it when little kids do it and teenagers are in that "grey area" of being between children & adults. Asides from those 2 exceptions, I try not to presume to know why someone may be looking at me (I am a impressive man after all). But I don't extend that tolerance to the staff where I pay to relax. You may think I'm being too sensitive but disabled people will know INSTANTLY what I am saying. I have 1 other exception, but I think you can figure that one out.
Location: Cnr square & Main streets, Palmerston north.
Cleanliness/Hygiene: Very good, empty tables cleared of dishes quickly. Tables looked clean.
Price: $4.50
Presentation: Great.
Taste: Excellent - very enjoyable coffee, not too bitter, not too sweet.
Selection: Wide range of beverages and food with an open kitchen with wide selection of food there too. I found the selection of food in the glass cabinet a little... lacking.
Service: Excellent service. There is a very fine balance between getting patrons to buy things, but not "hovering", They have it nailed! maybe a little too hover-y, but I'd rather that than not having my needs meet.
Ambience: Overall ok but a little tightly packed.
Additional comments: In my opinion, the best Café in Palmerston North... but for 2 things. Firstly price, secondly space (or more accurately: lack of).
Cleanliness/Hygiene: Very good, empty tables cleared of dishes quickly. Tables looked clean.
Price: $3.50
Presentation: Great.
Taste: Excellent - very enjoyable coffee, not too bitter, not too sweet.
Selection: Wide range of beverages and food with an open kitchen with wide selection of food there too. I found the selection of food in the glass cabinet a little... lacking.
Service: Good service. I have been there quite a few times, generally the service is good, a few times my order has been mistaken. Sometimes the staff seem more interested in chatting with each other & less concerned with the patrons.
Ambience: OK, a lot of noisey children frequent the place, but it is inside a McDonalds restaurant!.
Additional comments: Surprisingly good! Once you get over the "fish-bowl" feeling of being in a glass walled Café, you can appreciate it more. I wouldn't go there to have a quiet, relaxing coffee, but it is a sociable place.
Presentation: No fancy design in the froth, no spillage marks
Taste: Clean, pleasing taste.
Selection: Wide selection of coffees and beans, plenty of food and bottle drinks for sale too.
Service: Great, prompt and welcoming and curteous.
Ambience: Large shop, eclectic but nice, the Café has a somewhat coffee gourmet feel.
Additional comments: I asked for a medium sized cup and was shown a medium sized cup, however when the coffee arrived at my table it was in a small sized cup.
I asked for a glass of water and was brought a glass and a chilled bottle of water - no extra cost.
I did over hear (and they were talking quite loudly) the two staff members discussing another staff member, not a good look.
Although i really liked this Café and wanted to give it a higher score, because it had no City Council grade displayed (possibly because of it's 'newness') I couldn't.
Location: Inside the main entrance of the Palmerston north public library
Cleanliness/Hygiene: Ok
Price: $3.50
Presentation: No design in the froth, no spillage marks.
Taste: Nice taste, nothing special.
Selection: Excellent selection of beverages and food.
Service: Pretty good.
Ambience: Nice modern Caféin a big space.
Additional comments: Because of the location can be a little noisey. coupled with the sometime raucus talking in the kitchen. Water available for free.
Presentation: No design in the froth, no spillage.
Taste: Nice, but nothing special.
Selection: Wide selection of beverages and food.
Service: Polite and modern, cashier read my order back to me to confirm, excellent.
Ambience: Hip and modern, extremely stylish.
Additional comments: Arguably the most popular Café in Palmerston north, suffers from being too cramped and the outside tables are seated close to a round-a-bout on the road, I find it un-nerving to see cars pointed straight towards me as they navigate around the traffic island. Because it is so busy, at peek times it can be a little too noisey.
= 8.5/10