Review Chequers Cafe - Thames

Very nice place for breakfast, good coffee and a lot of space in the backyard. Awesome for a nice sunny morning

Shop was extremely clean and the staff amazingly friendly. My order was taken with a smile and arrived promptly at my table. Food was delicious and a very good portion size. My coffee was perfect, nice and hot which I prefer. Their prices were very reasonable, thank you Chequers Courtyard CafeThames, keep up the good work, see you on my next visit.

We waited for quite a long time for the coffee and food. We like fish pie and fish hotpot, very tasty

Cute and unassuming place but my soy flat white was on point. Kumara rosti and French toast were delicious and came out quickly. Played a game of chess there. Just a really top quality breakfast experience.

Wholesome, tasty, reasonably priced food. I recommend it in preference to the more upmarket, trendy, expensive version across the road. Pleasant environment. Staff are friendly. The only criticism is that staff can have an aloof manner - but that is a NZ disease - NZers don't 'serve' easily.

Lovely selection of food...friendly service...very nice setting...be enjoyable if summer ever gets here to avail myself of the nice seated area outside

Very great experience. We came from AKL and chose this cafe after viewing google reviews. This is a quiet and nice little cafe which has a backdoor little garden. Great coffee and yummy brunch. Thanks.

This place is unique. The tables out the back of the shop are built around some beautiful trees. The coffee and food is great too. A gem in Thames.

Absolutely awesome! Such a nice little gem. The food is delicious and fresh. The service is fast and very friendly. An absolute MUST if you visit the Coromandel.

Stopped in for a quick breakfast on our road trip and was happily surprised! The garden area was so beautiful and the server was very kind and friendly! Next time I am in Thames I will be back! P.s. I loved the chess board!

Totally friendly staff, very helpful and amazing atmosphere. The food is great. Highly recommend

Lovely outdoor area, very sunny & relaxing. Enjoy their breakfasts, coffee & special little friends keeping watch.

Can’t complain very decent

Had a lovely lunch. Cafe was busy. Beef hotpot and fish hotpot were both delicious. Coffee was good and hot. We will eat here again.

Excellent big breakfast great Coffee very friendly staff plenty of seating indoors & outside court yard, pooch friendly.

Enjoying the Paeroa Street Races and staying in Thames we have used Chequers cafe for our breakfasts for the past two years. The service has been consistently excellent and the food perfect. Damn fine coffee as well. We will be back!!!

Wow!!! What an awesome place with great yummy food and Coffee .... must be new owners

We visited Chequers Cafe on our way back from holiday. The coffee was OK, the service was uninviting and the steak and cheese pie, and sausage roll was the worst I have ever tasted.<br/>We couldn't find the steak, it was pretty much gravy, and tasted just of whatever herb was put in it, the sausage roll was not much better.<br/>Will never go back

It is so sad to read these comments, we go to chequers about 6 times a year, we always get our order on time and can raise a smile from staff on duty. The food we like and the price suits us as a family. half of us live in Akld so are not local. These owners have a really early start and all food is cooked on the premises and not frozen like some of the other eating houses in Thames.

Good coffee and pretty reasonable food. Good hours too, plus a nice outside area with trees for shade from the summer sun.<br/><br/> Too bad the staff are so terrible. Apparently good service is just too much work- grunting, monosyllabic counter-staff; confused or misplaced orders; slow food arrival and some questionable hygiene standards.<br/><br/> Too bad; if there were some friendly faces, pleasant smiles and a little bit better organisation then the place would be great.

The food looked fantastic, was a busy lunch time, the staff run off their feet. An older woman took our order which was paid in cash and then she proceeded to plate our food up with her dirty hands which she did not even bother to wash.

I have been to this cafe several times as I love the smoked fish hot-pot.<br/>However I would have to agree about "grumpy" taking the orders, as I have never seen her be welcoming or cheerful.<br/>Also I find the food a bit over priced, so consequently don't go very often.

There is obviously an ongoing problem with the service in this Cafe and as I was with Tony &amp; Leah I endorse everything they have commented on. <br/><br/>Top service and good food should automatically go together if management want to earn a good reputation and get repeat business. I shall certainly not be recommending this cafe so hopefully the management will take on board the comments made and immediately do something to especially improve the standards of their service. A smile, common courtesy and a warm welcome cost nothing bu mean everything to customers. Perhaps the management of this cafe have been watching too much Gordon Ramsay!<br/><br/>Wanda

Without doubt the worst service we have ever had in New Zealand - by a long shot.<br/>And judging by other reviews we are not alone.<br/><br/>A party of five, one decided to have the poached eggs on toast while the rest of us decided on counter food. Simple fare like a panini, a fish pie and a couple of hot pots.<br/><br/>The person that took our order was just plain grumpy. Horrible in fact verging on plain rudeness. She took our order and waved the piece of scrap paper that contained out order behind her without looking to see if anyone was available. In the end she just thrust it at the cook who crushed it as he took it.<br/><br/>It took about ten minutes for the eggs to arrive along with our drinks but there was no sign of the rest of our order.<br/><br/>Three times we queried or food with the staff. Once with the person that was meant to be the 'manager'. He said he would check. A visit to back to the counter and the 'manager' had done absolutely nothing. Grumpy who had taken our order told me that our order had been served to us. <br/><br/>They finally found our order and the counter-food dribbled out but it took some 45 minutes from our arrival. In that time one of the hot pots morphed into a pie and my panini remained missing in action - arriving just as we ran out of time and had to leave.<br/><br/>No apology the staff just blamed each other. <br/><br/>Simply put - Don't bother going there. If you do be prepared to clean you own table as the staff don't and enjoy your long wait!<br/><br/>It is a shame as the little outback area is lovely.

Being on a gluten free diet limits my choices. At chequers they had a range of glutenfree dishes. We ordered at the counter, and found the lady not specifically rude, but certainly not friendly. <br/>However - when the g/free meal came out it had 2 slices of normal bread on it as well. When I asked the waiter if it was gluten free, he just looked at me as if to say 'd'uh', said no, then carried on with his other duties.<br/><br/>The food I have to admit was very yummy, but the staff were either having another bad day, or have just been there too long and no longer enjoy, or want to work at it. Maybe they are better with the locals?<br/><br/>Summary - Ymmuy glutenfree food, very poor service. Next time will try Sola.

Well, I have been to Chequers for lunch several times. I like to eat out the back as it has a lovely atmosphere and is a great place to chill out.<br/><br/>Every time I have been here the service has been very friendly and quick. Both times I have had the chicken wrap which was delicious, and a coffee was great.

I have been here once for breakfast. According to my husband the coffee is good but I found the cooked breakfast was average. The setting out the back is very pretty and enjoyable to sit in but I wouldn't go back for the food. I prefer the free-range eggs they use at Sola Cafe. The service was kind of weird to be honest, not very friendly.

My family went to chequers cafe in thames today (sat)for coffee. We ordered 2 lattes and a tea for two. After waiting 25 mins I went to the counter to ask how much longer and was rudely told by the male barista that they were busy and after further promting was told another 5 mins. when the coffee &amp; tea finally arrived, the tea was for one and was again rudely spoken to by the male barista that it wasn't his fault and that we should get a refund and leave. We went to the counter to get our refund and was told not to come to a cafe and order coffee and expect to get it in a timely fashion and was told to get out of his cafe. on leaving the cafe he then gave me the fingers.. As a paying customer, I have never been spoken to like that and treated in such a horrible way. The whole experience has left a bitter taste in my mouth and I would never return to that cafe where customer service isn't a priority.