Review Zeytin At The Mount Mediterranean Cafe - Mount Maunganui

Came up from Rotorua to try and it did not disappoint. The team were lovely and friendly. We had the baked brie for the starter and it was so good followed by the steak and prawn & avocado salad - both delicious! Will definitely come back again!

Nice food with great customer service. We love this place. There foods are very yummy. They are always busy. You will get hips of car parking beside the road but you need find yourself on busy time.

We decided to eat here because the Pizza Menu looked very interesting and really enjoyed our experience. Between us we had the Baked Brie and the Carbonara Pizza and were completely full and satisfied afterwards. Brie was beautiful and creamy and went very well with the Ciabatta and Cranberries it is served with. Pizza had generous toppings, nice and cheesy and the chicken wasn’t dry which can be a bit tricky on Pizza. Star of the night was definitely the Brie! Had a lovely waitress that was very attentive. Atmosphere and background music was very good and not too busy at all. (Glad we didn’t read the reviews before coming in so we could have a completely unbiased experience. Seems to be a fair bit of inconsistency with food quality and service, which is a shame because we had a great time!)

This place is amazing, visited here 9years ago it was great then and it’s still great now, excellent staff, fantastic atmosphere, beautiful and tasty food, large portions and good prices. A must dine!!!!

Planned to go here for dinner for awhile as I thought the menu looked good online. Portions are huge. Our service was great and as far as I could see everyone there that evening got good service as well. Short wait times, venue warm, seated right away , drinks came quickly.

A bit too popular with the cruise ship passengers for an evening meal, but we went for an early Sunday lunch when it was fairly quiet. I’m so glad we did as the menu was full of so many things I would have loved to try! I opted for the Borek, which was an extremely generous serve, accompanied by a lovely, fresh Greek-style salad. I couldn’t finish it. My friend had the Hot Hummus and Dukkah, and then went on to talk about the amazing Turkish bread for days... 😆 Efficient, friendly service and fair prices.

Great place, with excellent staff and a great atmosphere. The food took a while, but it was so busy, understandable. Great coffee as well.

This place calls it self a cafe, but it is actually a really great restaurant and really good value for such high level food. We had a fantastic meal with starters, mains and desserts all being very good. Authentic with lovely flavours. Keep it up guys.

Great to have a vegan only cafe in Rotorua, thanks for your hard work, dedication and delectable food, and the burger on ciabatta was very filling, fresh and tasty.

7 of us went for lunch and were very impressed. The food was delicious and large serves. Totally recommend the antipasto platter! The service was impeccable. We will definitely be back again!

Came for lunch with a friend and ordered a few dishes to share, the herb and garlic pizza starter was delicious, calamari perfectly cooked and the pumpkin cannelloni was superb! Definitely recommend. Staff are friendly and welcoming :)

Omg, booked for 11 people for my husband's birthday and the lady that took the booking enquired if it was for a special occasion, I replied with its my husband birthday and she asked if I wanted a small cake made for him, I replied she thank you, she asked what flavor. On the night a very big carrot cake came to the table with a candle, to later finding out that the owner made it and didn't charge me for this cake. Wow, what can I say, the owner absolutely made a wonderful night, just next level. Thank you Zeytin

What an excellent place. Absolutely lovely, attentive staff. Best bread I've ever eaten (the pesto one, strongly recommend you try this!), how can something be simultaneously so soft and yet so crispy? Pizza was excellent. Definitely recommend you stop on here for the excellent value, people, and food. Bring a hair tie so you can get properly stuck into the cheesy deliciousness.

▪️Perfect Service<br/>▪️Great portions<br/>▪️Nothing Negative to say<br/><br/>Well ignore the poor reviews for starters, the services was perfect.

Chatty helpful staff and aaaaamazing food! Beef cheeks were falling apart and cooked to perfection. Beautiful dishes and hardly any wait. Will 100% be going again.

God awful. Was recommended to go there by my mother in law. Might of been good back in it’s hey day but the evening we went clearly that day has passed. <br/>My husbands order consisted of a massive plate of fatty tasteless lamb. I got a salad with barely any of the key flavours it intended upon having. Mainly a bunch of cheap lettuce and a few pieces of walnuts and cheese. <br/>The service wasn’t much better either. The mount has so many good places and we happened to go to the worst. I really hope they can improve their dishes because the environment itself it actually really beautiful. <br/>

The staff at this restaurant were the rudest people I have ever encountered. In particular, the manager 'Mandy' was horrible.<br/><br/>In addition, the food was seriously overpriced and rather bland.<br/><br/>Will absolutely never visit again and would highly recommend going elsewhere, even if it means driving to Tauranga.

It was my first visit to the place but it didn't go so well. The pizza we ordered had undercooked vegs. The staff was cooperative enough to change it but we being vegetarians had no other option but to order the same one again and this time it was good.

Came here since latitude 37 was shut, ordered the chicken iskender, partner got the lamb shoulder iskender-definitely good value for money. I just wish they would use proper lettuce, not that  mesclun salad bag from the supermarket and would've been nice to see some sweet treats on the menu or in the cabinet.

If you're new to the region or a tourist in Tauranga please avoid this place. It showcases absolutely nothing that the mount (and BOP) is capable of, and you could have better food and a better experience literally anywhere else on the same street. Avoid.<br/>Such a let down.<br/><br/>I have the impression this place could be worth a damn if the management had any nouse or care for their customers.<br/><br/>We walked in, nobody greeted us, nobody batted an eye. We had to walk all through the restaurant to the girl stood at the counter (doing nothing) to tell her we'd like a table. She said "I don't know if one is available". Looking around the room there's 4 tables empty in a silent room filled with sad-looking diners who were promised a good night out but instead were given this place. Everyone looks dejected and waiting for someone else to start mentioning that this place is in fact abjectly shit.<br/><br/>Somehow, someway, they find us a table and manage to find 3 empty seats out of the 16 available. This is a miracle. However we're not given any menus so I collected them myself. And the water. And the glasses. <br/><br/>To say the service is unassuming is probably the greatest spin you could put on this place. It's hopeless, woeful, pathetic, utterly inadequate, but I think that's down to total lack of leadership here. Nobody is calling the shots, pulling people into line, it's a bunch of kids doing everything half-asses and not giving a crap because nobody else gives a crap and no standards are upheld. When we were there it was reasonably full, but one guy was working the entire floor and the other girl was just stood at the counter all night taking payments (which is about one every 15 minutes). <br/><br/> A table arrived next to us, were given a bottle of water but no menus or glasses. Luckily they were in good spirits about the whole thing.<br/><br/>So... we have a table, we have the menus, and we have water and glasses. Hurrah. The waiter asks us if we'd like any drinks. "Where's the drinks menu? I don't see it". They don't have one. It's a blackboard situated above the kitchen, there's pillars in the way, other diners who think you're eyeballing them because you now have to do a 180 in your chair to look at their measly selection of drinks that you could find in any dive anywhere in the country. "I'm alright, thanks". <br/><br/>I ordered their grilled chicken kebab thing, the other folks ordered their falafel on rice and their falafel salad respectively. It's around $21 a dish for reasons I cannot possibly fathom. They don't make anything here except maybe the pizzas (which looked miserable). The bread in which the kebab comes is store-bought. The falafel is tasteless and crumbly. The chicken is dry and bland and for some reason everything is covered in red cabbage and overall, a massive disappointment. Especially considering that the same $21 can take you to Turkish To Go and have something bigger, better, tastier, better made, better served by someone who gives a crap you're there and welcomes you through the door. And you could have that twice. Or you can come here, have a very awkward dining experience being served by people who don't care if you're there or not and get served food I wouldn't realistically value above $10.<br/><br/>It's worth it to marvel at how badly a place can be managed. Any owner worth a damn could kick this place in the arse, bring in a new chef with a new menu who actually knows how to cook, train the staff so they're efficient, welcoming, useful and relevant instead of phoning it in and serving up bland slop in the hopes they won't get found out this dinner service.<br/><br/>I said at the start it could be more. It could be, it just needs someone competent to take the reins and rebuild this place from the ground up. I won't be going back.

Went for breakfast not checking the menu properly. Expecting fried eggs on toast as ordered but instead got poached. Was then told they don't fry eggs lol. What dumb establishment can't even fry an egg? Rude incompetent staff. Avoid this place there are better cafes across the road with well conversed staff...not sure how this place git good reviews. AVOID! <br/>

Disgraceful restaurant <br/>I went to the restaurant explaining that I was allergic to gluten and was assured that all the food was checked. I explained that if there was gluten because I was allergic I would swell up very much like a person allergic to bees. <br/><br/>After getting multiple assurances we ordered. I had a sever reaction to the food which was seen by all in the restaurant. <br/><br/>Because I understand accidents can happen I didn't ask for a refund but offered to help them locate what gluten Item they had in their food. I was told there was no chance it was their food that caused my swelling even though I'd been there for 2 hours and therefore had not had any other food with me then told to f** off. <br/><br/>I was shocked in their attitude they told me they don't give a C**p about customers and I could f**k off again. I was pushed into paying the bill and shoved out the door. I wouldn't suggest anyone with allergies or kids or in fact anyone that doesn't want to be abused go there. <br/><br/>Honestly I've never seen such bad operators. Others with me also commented that their food didn't taste nice either. <br/><br/>Visit them at your peril

I had high expectations for Zeytin cafe, unfortunately I was let down. When we placed our order it took a good 30-40 minutes of waiting before the food arrived, which would have been okay if the food tasted amazing but it didn't. <br/><br/>It's definitely not my favourite place to eat when I visit Tauranga...

We ordered takeaways as when we called to book, they were full. no problem, good on them. We went down to pick them up 5 mins before the arranged time and my wife stood waiting in the takeaway area, which is separate from the restaurant, while I parked the car and waited. In the end I went in to see why it was taking so long. 15 mins had elapsed. We waited a further 5 minutes and then decided we had better attract their attention as we had not been acknowledged from behind the screen where they were preparing the food. There was no one behind the counter the whole time. When they came out we gave the name the order was under only to be told it had been ready for about 1/2 an hour. The woman did not apologise. Once we got to our picnic spot we found that they had not included the cutlery we had asked for when we ordered the meal so I had to return to pick it up. Once again not a sign of an apology, in fact not a word was said by this same woman.<br/>Not great when there is strong opposition which is meant to be very good, just across the road. Customer service training required and fast.

A must if you are looking to dine while in the Mount. Very enjoyable food, generous servings and good prices. Good range on the menu from Pizza to Salads, helpful staff and nice atmosphere.

Great food as always but the bald man with glasses was very rude. His attitude almost makes me not want to go back which is a shame as the rest of the staff are very friendly and again the food is delicious.

I came here for dinner with a group of friends recently.The food is always delicious and well priced. However, the service was not great this time.<br/><br/>First of all the waitress forgot to put our order in and went on her break, understandable mistake. <br/><br/>Secondly an extra friend turned up late and tried to order - she was treated as an irritating extra job and informed our table had not ordered. <br/><br/>I then tried to clear up the confusion by saying that yes we had in fact ordered. I was told that no, we hadn't. At this point it seemed the front-of-house believed my entire table were crazy, he simply refused to believe we had ordered. <br/><br/>When the waitress came back from break the mistake was recognised. By this point we all felt so incredibly uncomfortable so we left without eating. <br/><br/>You should always treat customers well. Why would I lie about having ordered? The problem was not the waitresses minor error, it was the way we were treated by the front-of-house.

We have eaten here twice at the Mount Maunganui Zeytins. The first time we came in late one evening for a dessert only. My wife had a chocolate moose. It was so awful she could not eat it. We presented it back to them to try it but they refused, neither were we refunded.<br/><br/>The second time we had a main course each. I ordered prawns. Well presented, but I could tell from the first bite they were not fresh but frozen. There was no flavour whatsoever. My wife had a chicken salad, and again it was so bad she could not finish it.<br/><br/>Add to that we had to pay before the meal and the waiter who was also on the counter, spilled a bottle of beer on our table. While he did replace the bottle, I would have thought he should have refunded the monies for it. Its a restaurant living on its past reputation. <br/><br/>Glasses still moist and steamy from dishwasher. Older guy serving at the counter could be warmer to the customers. Food quality very poor indeed.

Dine here all the time, Love the kebabs especially. The Pizzas are also a favourite. Great value for money. I recommend this place to all of our out of town visitors. The staff are always friendly, even though some wait staff do struggle with English, but the atmosphere and the great food makes up for this.

We have been to Zeytin Cafe many times over the years, every 2 to 3 weeks we pop in for a meal and although it can sometimes be pretty full, wait a short while and you should get a table. Obviously we like this place a lot and have never been disappointed with the food, service and value for money its hard to beat. The Salmon pizza is delicious, prawn and avocado salad just as good and the apple crumble with ice cream is hard to resist. We are frequent diners and have been to every restaurant in the Mount - we are happy regulars at Zeytins, there are only 2 other restaurants/cafés that we also enjoy just as much.

Pretty terrible experience to say the least. Service was slow and unhelpful. Not only were they understaffed, but those who were working were very inattentive and had poor communication. After we waited for a long time to order and receive our meals, we were very disappointed by a range of bland dishes. One main in particular was taken from the cabinet and reheated- this made no difference to the dishes price and was not communicated previously. The food was poor in comparison to my prior experiences of Mediterranean cuisine. To complete a poor dining experience our second round of drinks was not delivered until after we had finished our meals and were ready to leave.

Always make a point of eating at Zeytins and have always had a good meal, servings are a bit on the large size. I don't know why people whinge about the service. I don't expect anything special and have never been offended by the staff, I find them ok. I am going through Tauranga Tuesday and will call in for lunch

They have false advertising paid high price for a kebab and was full of cabbage minimal meat when asking why it had no lettuce they said it was to cut costs no apology for not having on the menu that the kebabs were going to be cabbage will not be returning and would not recommend this place maybe try subway down the road much cheaper and they use all yummy salads

worst place ever be in to dine with your family , rude unfriendly bold old man with aggressive evil look often give you offending answer to any thing you ask with yellow simile on face he offended us in front of people sitting there and we were forced to leave angry ...all what we asked is why your menu black and light inside place is not enough to read... something similar happen to us 2006 with same person ... sorry to see such bad customer service in bay of plenty ... very sorry ...not recommended place at all

Said I would be back and I was. Dined in for lunch today and got table service so made us feel special knowing you guys only do this at dinner. Nice girl and guy floor staff and loved the duck salad. Great again!

Yesterday, Sunday 4 August my daughter, husband and I made a choice to eat at your restaurant. It was about 1pm and you were quite busy and we noticed only one waitress and cook working. We ordered a haloumi entrée ( it was delicious) and our main courses. The entrée arrived and soon after our daughters main. We waited and waited and waited - our mains did not arrive eventually after noticing many people who had arrived after us getting their meals I asked where ours was. I will readily admit mistakes are easily made and accept this happens - the cook had put our order aside after the entrée. However it was the laid back nature of the male staff member that irritated us - there was no real genuine apology, just a " sorry we'll cook it now". No can we get you a complimentary coffee etc while you wait, just the expectation we would be happy to wait longer. As we had been waiting almost an hour by this stage we decided enough was enough and asked for a refund. The staff member's response was to say rather flippantly " sorry about that" as he handed over our $. I told him we were too. As I said - the entrée was delicious a pity we did not get the opportunity to try the items we ordered .

Went in on Wednesday. My friend couldn't believe the waitress couldnt speak english AT ALL, in fact, after taking our order my friend was so worried about it she went to the counter to look over our order with someone who could speak english... sure enough, her salad was ordered with VINEGAR not balsamic vinegar. Very frustrating having to chase up your own meal at a restaurant. Ihave just returned home from another night there with my partner hoping we would not get the same waitress as we love the food don't get me wrong.. Sure enough.. same waitress who we could not communicate with, 3 different sized wine glasses were presented through out the night (we own a few bars and this is frowned upon and also looks hideous) calamari salad is always amazing this is why I go back,partner wasnt impressed with the whole thing and when he went to pay our meal total was $102 he handed over $105 cash and recieved $4 change ...staff really make or break a place. Staff were lovely and no offence to the girl who can't speak english as I can imagine how hard it is for her but maybe she should be helping in the kitchen not front of house, its frustrating to have to repeat yourself 4 times explaining you want entree's before your mains etc and then re check your order at the counter..Lucky the food is good

Had a lovely experience here Thursday night. Ordered a Pizza, garlic bread Greek salad. All delicious and fresh. Was a very busy night so the wait was a little longer than usual probably but it was an acceptable wait time. Staff were friendly but very busy, could have done with more waitresses.

Bit of a mixed bag with Zeytin. Had heard it was an amazing restaurant, and parts of our experience were. But having read the most recent reviews - I agree that the service could be a lot better The girls on the night we went there looked tired and possibly a little overworked. I know cafe work is a bit hard going, especially when there's rude patrons and it's been a busy night. But a smile wouldn't go astray - lucky they don't all work for tips!! <br/>Big meals, good value for money and the baked brie is a reason to go there all on it's own. it's AMAZING!!! <br/>The table we sat next to didn't have the greatest experience and some of the food they ordered was less than impressive. One lady ended up with a very dry looking kebab!<br/>Would go back for the beef moussaka and the baked brie. But would probably be tempted to try somewhere else before making Zeytin a destination restaurant.

Called in for a late lunch (2.30) on a Sunday when it seemed like everyone was closing the kitchen. <br/>The service was fantastic! My friend is allergic to nuts, they not only checked the dishes we asked about, but came back and triple checked that she was OK with some ingredients!<br/>We had the 4 dips (babaganoush, Olive Tapenade, Jajick, and a beetroot one) which came with lots of bread, and the oven-baked brie with pistachios, honey and dates.<br/><br/>The dips were great but the Brie - sublime, we ate and ate til we almost popped - fantastic food! more than enough (could have just ordered one dish. Topped off with excellent coffee

Went for dinner on a Sunday night with a party of 4, restaurant was about 3/4 full but most people already eating. <br/><br/>Enjoyed the decor of the place although sitting close to the main door wasn't pleasant as whenever patrons leave the door makes a wild bang.<br/><br/>Beers were cold and the bread platter were ordered to share was delightful.<br/><br/>The staff seemed very disorganised and put a bit of a damper on the night as we were interrupted during our entree with the delivery of our mains, this would have been fine but the pizzas came out 10 or so minutes before the other two dishes. It also felt like we had to go to the bar to order more beers as staff were largely absent apart from taking our initial order.<br/><br/>Luckily the food tasted alright and very large servings which is OK too.

Have been there many times and have never been disappointed, great value,service and environment and Albert makes the perfect coffee.

We always have a great experience here. Great food that is home cooked and well presented. Service is always warm and we love the atmosphere, especially on Wednesdays when they have live music! Renovations look great and table service in the evening is fab! Best coffee ever too!

Underwhelming Zeytins..<br/><br/>I've certainly had better dining experiences. Went out to dinner with the family tonight and wasn't too impressed. First of all the restaurant isn't byo which was a bit disappointing, and there was no fish of the day. <br/>The waitress seemed a bit perturbed/distracted over something so maybe she was having a rough night, but still...<br/>Anyway our meals came out in a really reasonable time but the Father's meal was a whole 5 minutes later than everyone else's which was pretty average considering the restaurant wasn't very busy. It then took 30 minutes after we'd finished for anyone to notice and clear our table. Didn't even get offered dessert or a second round of drinks. All in all, fairly mediocre service. <br/><br/>The saving grace was the quality of food, it was really nice, substantial, and mostly well presented. Definitely value for money there but come on people if you wanna run a restaurant and get repeat business you've gotta treat people well! It's aint fast food..

Horrible lunch experience, went there with a few friends (which one of us had already eaten, but she came along all the same). After seating ourselves and collecting our menus, we decided on pizza's only to be told that they were no longer making these untill the kitchen reopened for dinner….Only to have a couple - who ordered after us have a pizza brought out to them!! We then re-chose and ordered our meals (with one friend not ordering). Our meals took over 20minutes despite the fact that there was only our table and the other couple in the restaurant. The 'manager' brought over all but my meal, upon seeing her meal one of my friends went and asked for a second fork to share as it was rather larger than she expected. The 'Manager' then responded to her request; for a fork with a snarky "What cheap-skates, your sharing your meals". My friend answered with "PARDON????" to which he did not reply. After waiting a further ten minutes for my meal, which was merely a plan rice eskender… I asked the 'manager' where my meal was (because all my friends had almost finished) he did not say anything and walked off only to collect my meal which had been sitting getting cold for him to bring to me! Most horrible person Ive ever dealt with and will never go back!! Food was also below par!!!! I only gave them 1star because I had too.

The place itself was nicely decorated, however the atmosphere due to the total rudeness of the staff and management spoil any nice atmosphere, have never come across such rude staff. <br/>Also when trying to find out if a particular item was gluten free I was told it was an on further inspection realised it wasn't, that type of ignorance about food allergies can be really serious if you dont know if its gluten free then don't tell the customer it is!<br/>Real shame, though apparently everyone else liked their meal and it was quite cheap

I love this place, great service and beautiful food everytime!!!

Another good meal at Zeytin. At peak dinner time Sunday night wine was served 5 mins ,appetiser 10mins and mains 20 mins after ordering. All staff working tables and behind the counter were pleasant and efficient. Food tatsy and good value.

Fantastic! Went there for a bite to eat with a few friends and we all fell in love with the place! We even went back and dined there a couple of nights after. The food was beautiful and fresh and considering it was on a busy Saturday evening, we thought we might be in for a bit of a wait but we were pleasantly surprised when our food came out a very short while after ordering it! I don't feel 45 minutes wait is long at all regarding the above review but we were from Auckland where you're usually waiting at least an hour. <br/>Would totally recommend it!

Worst lunch experience we ever had! Tried to have family lunch today, waiting for over half an hour before asking staff why it is taking so long. With no explanation offered we waited for of an additional 15 minutes, when the food was served by the manager. In a unpleasant manner, he explained that they had a busy day (on our observation less than half tables were occupied) and if we want something in a hurry we should go to Burger King! This kind of establishment where they charge money first and they definitely have a chance to warn cliental about such significant delays in serving. No apologies or refunds were offered. The rudest restaurant manager when had meet in our life. Having to wait for more then 45 minutes for lunch it totally unacceptable, and being so rude with you clients is totally unprofessional. The food was very average. Presentation is also average. Totally disappointed, not coming back can’t recommend to anybody.