Review Graeme's In The Plaza - Palmerston North

Great food Was in the Plaza, so tried out this cafe. Absolutely fantastic. Service was spot on. Food was superb, Well cooked and generous proportions. Would definitely go back there. I know they have recently got new owners so older reviews may not reflect how good this now is.

On a happy, kind note Graemes.....I had the most amazing 10/10 Neenish Tart today. Fresh, good size and full of delicious fillings. Thank you !!!!!!!!....oh and value for money.👏👏👏👏👏👏 P.S you are probably way better off without the nasty moaning petty pple that made ignorant comments, not stepping foot in your cafe again anyway.🙃

I don't know why there are so many bad reviews but my experience of this cafe was nothing but awesome. Pleasant customer service and great food and coffee.

This cafe, the selection of food on offer, and the wonderful service made this my absolutely best Palmerston North cafe dining experiance ever. Well done Graemes.....we'll definately be back

Great place .. Food and service is great... Staff need to smile more...

Fantastic food and service

Nice place to visit good food and coffee

Nice place to visit good food and coffee

Great Coffee, Great Food

Loved it

Like dining at a rest home! And very limited range of food on special diets. And though tasty enough, doubtful of whether my pie was actually gluten free.<br/>

Coffee - tasted burnt and like cheap instant coffee.<br/>Food - Stail sandwich bread<br/>Service - told to wait for an obviously untrained barista to make us our disgusting coffee. Not even given a number to take to our table. Rude and uninterested staff.<br/>Price. Paying too much for gross food and horrible coffee.<br/>My opinion: Don't waste your time going there, there are many better options for cafe's around town.

Minus 1 in my estimation. I ordered a jacket potato, $12 for potato coleslaw & sour cream. Expecting a jacket BAKED potato ,I was shocked to get  a microwaved spud, watery & horrible. I would not serve something so horrible in my home,why would I want to pay someone to serve it to me.A hot chocolate cost $6,expensive for any cafe and was warm not hot.Being polite & thinking it was because it was late in the day I foolishly said nothing.But according to others,if I had I would have been abused by the ill mannered ill tempered fat man sitting at a table in the corner,,who is the owner. I would not recommend this place to anyone.It was a bad eating experience.

poor service from big hennaz dog today, yeah na great food cheers for that discount hennaz we won't tell the boss about that one. good shit hennaz

I would never recommend this cafe to any body exspecially due to the expericence me and my mother had experienced today. I was appauled i thought racisim didnt exsist anymore but obviously not! We were looked up and down at, then told to hurry up, then when we asked for an extra slice of bread i was told it was an extra $4 after paying $21 for a simple eggs on toast. Oh did i mention i was asked if we had enough $. I was then yelled at for being rude to his staff when we only askd for a extra slice of bread! I said i was happy to leave with a full refund he refused to refund me, so we ate what we ordered, which was not pleasant! while been spoken loudly about amoung each other behind the counter! I wish we just ate at the food court always good service there!

I went to Graeme's for the first (and last) time ELEVEN years ago. Shocked to say that the reviews here all ring true; and nothing has changed. <br/><br/>Eleven years later my husband and I are still lamenting over the salmon thingamajig with a gagworthy garnishing of pubic hair, and the iced coffee...my goodness. People are still complaining about it over a DECADE later...I can't believe Graeme's haven't taken these comments on board, let alone actually learnt how to make a proper iced coffee. As I recall it was a concoction reminiscent of dishwater that tasted like a whole bag of sugar had been dumped into it. It really was undrinkable. <br/><br/>In conclusion, I can only end with this: There are three guarantees in life - Death, taxes, and the fact that Graeme's iced coffee will be, seemingly, eternally heinous.

Last Sunday at 1215pm me and emile got lunch from you guys we both had club sandwiches I had water and emile had a flat white type coffee and it was $16 or $17 and please change the prices

Went in for a quick toasted sandwich on my half hour lunch break, i was served by a very rudly spoken lady. It took half an hour for my toasted sandwich to come out leaving me no time to eat it. Horrible service! but the worst of it was when i had time to take a bite later in the day there was a clump of hair the size of a 50cent piece melted in with the cheese. Will never go in there again.

Went into to have brunch...thought we might be there for dinner as the service was so slow.When our order finally arrived after 45 minutes (and NO, they were not busy) we told them to take the coffee away. Only time ever that we have been to a cafe and NOT drunk the coffee. It was like coloured water and tasted like it. . Went to eat my bacon and toast but it was cold. Took it up to the counter and I was asked (very rudely) "What is wrong now." Was asked if we wanted another coffee (must be joking!!) and when we refused were given a refund. Definitely not going back!!!!!!!!

A group of us went for lunch yesterday, including two babies.  What a total disaster.  How can a mum be expected to seat a baby and feed it, eat a hot lunch, leave the baby and the lunch and go and collect a cup of whatever disgusting title they use for beverages!!  Food was disgusting, even the chicken wrap which I thought  would be impossible to mess up.  Service was shameful.  We won't return and would not suggest you even try.

My husband and I went to Graeme's for breakfast..wish we never did! The staff were not friendly at all and we waited over half an hour only for my husband to be served first and I had to wait a further 5 minutes for mine to be brought to me. There was no apology given by the waitress for the wait either. And to top it all off when my breakfast came out I was suppose to have poached eggs on my toast and what was on my plate was two little round HARD yolk balls with no whites. We paid $42.00 for these two breakfasts and I was disgusted!! Wish I had read the reviews before we had gone because I wouldn't have wasted our time or money!!!

Wish I had read the reviews first - we agree with all the comments below!<br/>We gave it another chance today, simply for convenience (we walked out after getting no service about 3 years ago). <br/>The staff need a rark-up. Service and good manners are not in their vocabulary,<br/>And never before have I had a Moccachino made with chocolate milk - it was disgusting!<br/>As for the food - no wonder the cabinets were still full at 1.30pm.<br/>Does the owner ever read these reviews?

This would have to be the worst and most over rated cafe in Palmerston North. The only reason it is still in business is because it is opposite Kmart in the Plaza.<br/>I visited for a light lunch with 2 others and the coffee was terrible and the lunch worse. The heat it up in the microwave for you. Was $ 50 for 3 coffees and the lunch fare which was a rip off.<br/>It is like a 1970's cafe fare and the worst thing about Graeme's is the service and the owner.<br/>The owner sits at a table by the window with a Reserved sign on it and is not friendly or welcoming to anyone. There are other cafes in the Plaza so why anyone would choose this place has no excuses.<br/>Avoid this place as you will regret it if you dont.

Have given this place a second chance and I conclude food totally overpriced but with food you would find in a tearoom 15 years ago! Bland and not very enticing. Coffee below average. The counter area used to slide your tray along prior to paying is ridiculous and not user friendly. Also not a good look to see the manager having his own reserved table out the front which should be saved for high paying customers. Very cramped inside with tables so close you hardly have room to sit down.<br/>Wont go back.

What can we say??<br/><br/>Food: average<br/><br/>Service: so slow, if we had not already paid, would have left!<br/><br/>Coffee: obviously they don't have a trained barista, average &amp; weak<br/><br/>Process: they give you (cabinet) food, then someone in party has to wait for hot drinks to be made, so others either eat without you, or wait &amp; food gets cold, do not offer table delivery<br/><br/>Summary, would not go back.<br/><br/>Based on the other comments, I can't see why owners aren't listening and improving their business, otherwise won't be in business long!

This place is a total rip off!! I bought a scone ($5.00) a sandwich and a small piece of slice to takeaway and the total cost was $16.90. <br/>The staff act as though they are not interested in serving you and the 2 men (obviously owners) just sit in the cafe drinking and talking. <br/>This place is located well (opposite KMart) but I would strongly recommend you avoid this cafe - Terrible expensive food and terrrible service.

A return visit to Palmerston North for two weeks saw us pay a visit to the mall and lunch at Grahams. The food wasn't bad but expensive. $50.20 for 3 people. The cheesecake was sickly and disappointing for the money paid. Sandwiches were nice but the coffee was disgusting. It tasted like water with a hint of coffee added. Three cups of coffee were left behind with a few sips out of each. The staff gave us the look up and down and were not polite. The youngest would have been early 60s. I will avoid this place like the plague in future as I hunt out a decent cup of coffee.

I thought that retire-ees would know all the awesome places to eat at, and had assumed by how they frequent this cafe that I was in for a treat. But alas, the times I've had coffee here or a bite to eat I've been disappointed. I think the worst thing would be the service, I don't appreciate 'look-you-up-and-down' types. A polite greeting / acknowledgement would be appreciated when a customer waits to order. Also, your muffins are lacking seasoning!

Average food - steak/mushroom filo pie and macaroni cheese which took a while to be heated in microwave. Service was slow and staff seemed a bit grumpy and all over the place. It took ages for tables to be cleared - I suggest the young guys working there be told that when they deliver food/drink to one table they then use their empty hands to clear tables - much more professional and efficient. We will go to the food court next time.

Would be good if I could give this less than one star, it's not even worth that.<br/>The food is overpriced, and tastes as though it's been sitting in the cabinets for days. Coffee is terrible. Almost zero vegetarian options. And the owner is a rude, arrogant man.

A friend and I went here once after walking past an noting that neither had been here and then wondering if it was any good? On the idea of "well you never know until you have try" we decided to get lunch.<br/>I received well below average food and what I would say was the epitome of rude service. I got a chicken lasagna, from the cabinet, that took so long to be heated that I might as well have gone to the kitchen and made one myself. When I finally got the lasagna it was under-heated to a disappointing lukewarm temperature, closer to still being cold; leaving me wondering why it took so long to receive it ? <br/>Worst of all as I was eating my lasagna I bit on something hard only to find I had bitten a chicken bone!!!!! <br/>Now imagine if I had choked on it ? The staff are of so little help I probably would have died there. I'm not sure what would have been worse: death by choking on a chicken bone or dying at Graeme's knowing the staff wouldn't notice my body. <br/>I informed the first staff member I saw who turned to me with an amused smile (as if to demean my near death experience) and said "it's ok we don't charge extra for that" then walked off to carry on whatever it is she calls work. <br/>I think one star for this place is almost being a little generous.<br/>I learned sometimes it's just better to not know and not to try and find out.

Really wish I had read the reviews first, to be honest my experience there was bad!!!<br/><br/>We arrived there at 10.40am today (Sunday Queens Birthday weekend), my partner and I ordered, the elderly lady behind the counter that served us was lovely, but that was the only pleasant experience!<br/><br/>I ordered myself a Bacon Eggs Benni, with hard poached eggs for $16 and my partner ordered a breakfast meal, which consisted of 2 fried eggs and toast ($5) then you had to make your own order which he wanted cooked tomato $4, Bacon $4, Sausages $4 Baked beans $4 Hasbrowns $4 which in total was a $25 Big breakfast!!! We also got 2x Mango and Orange Juice Large at $4.90, which really got served in a medium sized glass. Came to $48 something!<br/><br/>This is where the story begins, we waited 35minutes for our breakfast, the front house side was busy but the meals side was not, we sat there for 35minutes and I only seen 2 meals get delivered during this time, I went up and asked the girl how long our meal would be (this was at 30minutes) she said sorry it be only be 2minutes, 5 minutes later our order arrived!!!!!...... the lady gave us our meal to only see that on my partner's plate he had 2x pissy ass sausages, 1x piece of cheap crap processed bacon, 1x tomato, 2x triangle hash-browns and 2x fried eggs, no baked beans, no toast!!! On my plate I have a rock hard English muffin, 2x pissy cold cheap crap pieces of bacon, hardly zilch hollandaise!<br/><br/>I was not impressed!!!!, we spent nearly $50 on a cheap bad meal like this with poor service!!!<br/><br/>I bitched to the lady and asked if how many pieces of this "cheap crap" bacon we were meant to get for $4, she said 1!! 1 piece of sh*t processed bacon for $4, I complained about my meal and how the English muffin was rock hard, I could hardly cut it with my knife oh and that we had no baked beans!<br/><br/>She ended up refunding me my $16 for my meal and the $4 for the baked beans, my partner was too hungry so he ate what he got, overall we were not impressed.<br/><br/>Bad quality of food, bad service and overall a bad experience!

If I could rank this below 1 star I would because this had to be one of the worst cafes I have ever visited in NZ! Food is absolutely overpriced, $3.80 for a tiny savoury that's barely 2 inches in diameter!<br/>Service was terrible! The boss had told me and a friend to get our coffee ourselves. What kind of service is that!<br/>And to top it off she had delivered coffees to other customers, it was blatant discrimination! It was NOT busy that day.<br/>Coffee was below average, slightly burnt.<br/><br/>All I can say is, the food court in the Plaza has MUCH better options!

Food is not great and coffee is awful. Burnt and disgusting. Staff were disorganised and it is NOT cheap. Same sort of prices as the good cafes in Palmerston North. Wish we'd just walked around to the food court and got something there!

Ha, maybe I should have read the reviews before I went on the weekend for a dry slice and a weird tasting hot chocolate with no marshmallows. The service was so disorganised I was standing at the till holding my money waiting to order for a good 5 mins

I have been here on many occasions and the coffee here is awful every time...staff need to be trained on how to make good coffee....i.e don't burn the beans and please leave some flavour in my mochachinno

I totally agree with you jo! Graemes has the worst ice coffee I've ever tasted with not so friendly service either!

The food is old and the staff are rude. Nothing has changed!

traditional cafe cabinet food, i.e. pies, sammies, cakes. food is ok and there's quite a bit to choose from, but nothing exciting or different. Coffee is BAD. Fine if you want a quick bite while you're in the Plaza as long as you don't want a good coffee to go with it. New location is ugly, no windows.

We don't have a problem with the staff, they are quite often good humoured.<br/>It's the manager who lets the side down by having staff meetings and heated discussions with them at tables close to diners! VERY UNPROFESSIONAL, get an office or lose more customers.

Quite bad. must say the coffees quite....u know....aint goin there again !<br/>rude staff. Ok ambience. That's all i'd say. rest u can know by the fact that there r no other comments or ratings here.