Review Talisman Cafe - Waihi

What a gem of a place.Tasty food, fantastic surroundings, has a real artistic in the bush vibe. Local art and gifts are for sale, there is plenty of seating incl a coffee only area, brilliant. I prefer this darker, in the bush style cafe, as opposed to the modern bright, soulless type you get in the city. Service was efficient, tables cleared promptly, actual folk music playing on the stereo. I've never had coffee, which was great, served with a nice flower on the side. I'll be back....

Really cool place with a chilled out atmosphere and arty decor. Had a really good range of food and service came quick with friendly staff. Food was great - had veggie quiche and a bacon role which were great and then the caramel shortbread hit the spot after a hike. Looking around the sandwiches also look good. We had coffee and a smoothie which were really nice - maple and banana smoothie was a winner. 10/10 recommend coming along for a chilled lunch after a walk. Sad to see on average only has 3.3 stars - coming along today it deserves higher!

It’s really beautiful landscape and natural surroundings. Everything is lovely but the food price are a little bit expensive. Handy location, opposite the parking. The overall is lovely cafe to visit. VH

Great place with nice garden scenery and great food! They decorate their tables and even the drinks with real flowers. Really liked the atmosphere here.

Such a lovely little spot with beautiful gardens to sit in and enjoy. Stopped for coffee and cake on a ride and they were both great (date and apple oaty slice) Only doesn't get 5 star because of the reception you get, grumpy as. It's a real shame, but in this sort of environment even pretending to be happy will make your customers that much happier and get those 5 star reviews. Still absolutely recommend this place, enjoy your own company and the great cakes!

Such a cool cafe with that NZ eccentric, upcycled, eclectic decor that is zany, unique, colourful and homely. The gardens outside are a treat to wander through with quirky discoveries to be stumbled upon at every turn. Great coffee and cake pit stop after exploring the old mining community across the road. The owner’s daughter was so kind -and generous- to post a camera case (containing a card with all my vacation photos which I had left behind in the cafe just before the onset of the Covid lockdown) back to me at no cost. So much appreciated. Thank God for the kindness of strangers.

I felt very lucky to eat at the Talisman Cafe on its second day open under new management ❤️ the food and coffee were delicious and all of the staff were so lovely. The owner came round to offer us a go on the flight simulator but unfortunately we needed to keep moving to go get ready for a wedding! Thank you again for a lovely meal and wishing you great success with your new cafe 🙂

Absolutely beautiful, cozy and magical place. Love the decor and the paintings in this cafe. Cabinet food was delicious.

Omg! Totally blown away by the warm friendly service and the exceptional quality and huge portion sizes of the food! Definitely my new favorite place to stop. Amazing.. just Amazing.

Driving along in my sweet whip, found ourselves a one stop wonder-trip, Everything a travelling man could want to please his troubled woo, perhaps this will even bring an hour of peace to the weary nobleman, In for a penny, in for a pound....the feijoa cake is sure to turn that frown upside down. Think of it this way my young sir, in the end she gets the lot so say not no, but yeah...stuff it, while there's a penny in my pocket, let's pull over and see if we can't find somewhere to blow it. Tip of the hat to old Keith Austen and his outback bible of wordy wisdoms.

Absolutely love this place, the owners have done an amazing job, the food is delicious and reasonable, and the coffee is amazing, the bonus of the aviation experience was a great surprise, my husband had a great time

Cute place with a nice vibe, decent food. Majority of the staff was friendly, accept for one lady who was quite cold and made is feel unwelcome.

Great food & coffee. Fabulous cake maker. Garden ambience is amazing. Do not drive past this cafe without calling in, you will not regret it.

Such a gorgeous, quirky cafe with delicious food and coffee. The gardens are amazing and the fresh floral arrangements on the tables and steps really make it feel like you are in an exotic location. Well worth the stop if you are passing through or visiting the gorge!

My daughters and I absolutely love this cafe! The outdoor space is beyond magical, such an incredible place for children and adults to explore. The food is delicious! And their cakes are out of this world, like none I have ever seen before. My daughter could not believer her eyes when she saw the birthday cake they had made. And to top it all off these amazing people got behind me when fundraising for spinal surgery that would enable my 4 year old daughter to walk. They held fundraisers and did raffles, helping to make my daughters dream to walk and dance a reality! I could not rate this cafe highly enough!

loved this place,the food ,the gardens , the people, the photos and pieces of history displayed are fascinating ,all great and awesome coffee<br/>-they do great celebration cakes too!

I went to the cafe with a group of about 30 who were cycling the gorge. After ordering and paying for my meal I went down the stairs to join the group who were waiting at tables outside. Unfortunately, I did not make it to the down on my feet. The stairs were wet and consequently very slippery. I slipped on about the sixth from from the bottom and bounced on my backside to the bottom.<br/>Fortunately, I was not injured but badly shaken up. I went back to suggest they address the problem by putting mesh on the wooden stairs something that is commonly done. There was no apology, no inquiry if I was hurt and no acceptance that the wet stair were a hazard.<br/>I certainly will not be going back. I will either go to the winery up the road or the Waikino Railway Cafe where the service is excellent.

I have been to the Talisman Cafe twice and have been appalled twice. Once is excusable, however the second time, I arrived with my two children, we waited approximately 12 minutes to place an order, not due to the woman behind the counter being busy, we were ignored, with not as much as an acknowledgement or smile as she came in and out of the kitchen. I am referring to the older slim woman who I presume is Leanne. Upon ordering menu options on the board behind the counter, we were told in an exasperated tone they had run out of most things. Being hungry and waiting for my husband to return from getting the car having cycled the cycleway, we persevered until we came upon something they had available and ordered a vegetarian nacho option, toasted sandwich and a coffee for myself. I am not kidding when I say we waited 3/4 of an hour to receive our meal. When our food arrived, I was not impressed. The nachos consisted of mixed vegetables mashed on corn chips which was disgusting and was hardly touched. The toasted sandwich was passable, however the coffee was undrinkable and I left it. I will never return to this place and endorse other comments that there are other options that far exceed this place. May I recommend the winery up the road, which we went to afterwards and had great service as one expects in this competitive market. I also recommend the Falls Retreat which has fantastic pizzas. I assure you, this woman is venomous in her attitude to children. Reading her advertising makes the place, her gems and garden sound appealing, the door was locked due to children entering the garden, the bridge unstable and the children were told not to touch anything - this is not indicative of hospitality . I am not concerned about the dog issue but it seems the signage is ambiguous, perhaps Leanne can take heed of what patrons are saying, rather than be defensive. I will continue to dissuade any people I come into contact from entering The Talisman. Having read the reviews, it seems a trend to be disappointed at The Talisman not a rare occurrence.

We have been to the cafe 2 times now, the first time we were served by a grim lady who did not greet or smile nor answer me when I asked for my scone to be heated and buttered, I had to ask 3 times each time she looked more annoyed. We had our food outside while the owners dog slobbered over us and annoyed us when having our food. <br/>Assuming that it was a dog friendly cafe we returned with our lap dog, ordered again to an unfriendly reception. The only time we were spoken to was when they delivered our food and was told, no dogs the owners dogs are the only dogs permitted on this site, this time there dog was tied up and it barked through our entire meal and could still be heard barking from across the road as we went on our walk.<br/>It is free to smile and say hi and it goes a long way in welcoming your guests and showing some gratitude for spending money at your cafe.<br/>We won't be back.

I have taken groups of about 20 walking in the gorge for about 6 years now, never had a problem with the cafe EXCEPT for trying to cross the road with high speed traffic not giving a hoot about the safety of pedestrians, however this is a NZ wide problem with hopeless authorities going by the letter of the law, not common sense. Surely that area could be 50km/h, it wouldn't hurt anybody except the most impatient of drivers?<br/>Although we have never tried taking dogs there, it's disappointing to discover the anti dog approach. At least now I know, if anybody brings their dog along we will have to go elsewhere.

Most unwelcoming... After a few hours walking in the area our tongues were hanging out for a coffee and sustenance! Spied this place over the road from the carpark. It looked intriguing from the outside. However it was fenced and gated like Fort Knox from the road - that made for bad vibes to start with, felt like they were trying to keep people out not invite them in. (Later learnt that it is a Council requirement, so not their choice). We got through, garden looked nice and then poked our noses in the door, only to be ignored by the one lady behind the counter. The interior looked so dark and gloomy, (they even had the lights on) not at all welcoming, certainly was not inviting. This was in summer, I hate to think what it would be like in winter. Not another soul in there either, that's always a sign. So, in spite of our urgent needs we backed out and went on to a delightful cafe at the Station just down the road instead.<br/><br/>UPDATE: The owner responded with a personal message to my review -she rudely attacked my character and criticised the nearby cafe at the Waikino Railway ( that we had enjoyed going to instead.) Extremely unprofessional. In any business it is the customer's perception that is all important, not the owner's own glowing perception - it is surprising that this is not understood by anyone running a business.

I love your pizza i reckon its the best in the world and you make much better milkshakes than me your garden was beautiful very pretty my Nana thought it was lovely as well, she really did love your garden.

I visited the cafe this morning for breakfast. Absolutely stunning. Great service and food beautifully presented. The prices were pretty standard and the coffee was good. The gardens were awesome, this place is a real gem. I am totally behind the owner's no dog policy. Good on you Leanne for standing your ground. As a paying customer I would prefer there were not any dogs on the premises. They would spoil the atmosphere of this gorgeous place.Will happily return, and have already been spreading the word. Leanne, a big thank you for the no dog policy. I am pleasantly suprised by this. obviously I am not a dog lover. I am sick and tired of not being able to avoid them in public places. They are everywhere you look and go. Beaches, parks, peoples houses, streets, leaving their business everywhere. I know some are well behaved, and some owners are responsible, but not all. I am sick and tired of being barked at, sniffed and generally annoyed by dogs. And seeing owners treating them as equals, allowing then to sit on the couch with them and at dining tables. this really grosses me out. Unfortunately some dog lovers don't take other people into consideration. They are oblivious to the fact that some people frankly can't stand them. So thank you so much for thinking outside of the square and making my visit to your cafe a pleasant experience. cheers Leanne. See you next time Talisman Cafe.

What an unwelcoming excuse for a cafe... we stopped in to the Talisman today, in need of a refreshment break, with our well behaved leashed Labrador for lunch. We entered the premises, looked nice... plenty of outdoor seating for us to sit with our dog, we checked with the waitress that it was ok for us to sit outdoors with him. But to our dismay we were told "no". He wasn't allowed on the premises, but "we could tie him up in the carpark!" We asked why he couldn't sit with us outside, on his leash and were told it was because the owner's have their own dog! We said our dog was well behaved and he wouldn't bother their dog or anyone else. But again a firm "no". On our way out we noticed, the unartistic ice cream container lid hammered to a pole with faded vivid pen saying (we think) no dogs. What a stupid policy, un-welcoming, un-kiwi, not in-keeping with a lot of cafes nowadays. Will never go there again, the only sour point to our visiti to the beautiful Karangahake gorge. The train station cafe down the road however is brilliant! Dog friendly, water bowls, share an ice cream with your pooch even :-) Shame on you Talisman, very rude and inhospitable.

The owners of this cafe should be ashamed of themselves, not only are they rude and offensive (maybe they feel "artists" can be rude?), but to swear in front of our children was inexcusable. We did not realize that dogs were not welcome in the outside area (many other cafes we frequent across the country are dog friendly!) and while our dogs were leashed and we were gathering ourselves together to leave (as we would not eat without them after a 5 hour hike) we were hit with a barrage of abuse. This continued despite us warning and reminding them we had our early teen age daughter walking with us. We went on to have a lovely meal at the train station further towards Waihi and some lovely staff that spoilt our dogs. I have since stopped on my way travelling to give this cafe and owners another chance and was astounded by the price and poor quality of food. It seems the food is as bitter and tasteless as the owners. I would never recommend this place to anyone especially tourists that are stopping at the gorge there are plenty of other cafes close that can give you a taste of real kiwi hospitality.

I have been to the Talisman Cafe at least 6 times in the past and I have always enjoyed the food and coffee. Today a friend and I parked at Waikino (7 kilometres away) and walked to the cafe along the River track, with the thought of having lunch at the Talisman. I have 2 miniature foxterriers, and whilst I now understand that dogs are not welcome at the talisman I was parked 2 hours walk away and my friend and I needed some food. My dogs are well behaved, they are small, had been walking for 2 hours so were quiet and would have been content just to sit under the table quietly. I should have checked before I planned to do the walk and have lunch at the cafe, but to be honest I never thought a country cafe would have such a strong negative dog policy and that it would be so inflexible. I have always liked the cafe, but am quite offended and shocked. I expect people to be courteous and welcoming, I also would not have thought that you would turn someone away who then had to walk 2 hours to get to their car!!! As a person I try to be kind and thoughtful, i am surprised at the lack of kindness and thoughtfullness I experienced today, especially from a cafe. I frequent many cafes with my 2 dogs and i have never had anything but positive friendly service and treatment. We walked back to the car that was parked at Waikino and had a lovely late lunch at the cafe at the train station on the platform. Two of the staff of the cafe came and patted my dogs and the owner brought them out a pie!!!! All the other patrons seemed happy and the kids were patting the dogs etc. Sorry Talisman, but I think today was unnecessary and a little OTT. Your call though, but a bit of tolerance and some kindness never hurts

Wow what a cafe, you could not ask for a better place to take your family, with a good range from kids menu -gluten free, everything was home made YUM YUM. Great outdoor setting in the garden. The food was excellent. It had a great atmosphere and wonderfull service. Definitely recommend this cafe to anyone heading to the historic karangahake gorge for a walk

Always enjoy time spent at the Talisman with friends. Lovely setting, good food, good coffee and friendly staff. Jude

Our group of 4 went to the Talisman and had a lovely lunch. Nice warm atmosphere, yum food, friendly prompt service. Thank you.

We were on that train from Waihi, and I looked up the Talisman on menu mania as we were considering it for lunch. I trawled through all the terrible reviews and was intrigued to see how bad a place could be. I was sadly disappointed. It was lovely. The food was really nice, especially the warm salad and Panini melt, but what really did it for us was beautiful layout, the wood fire smell, the really interesting knick-knacks to play with and yes, the lovely service. I had to check that we were at the same pace you guys had written about becouse honestly, it was brilliant. What was lovely was the smiles on the staff's face when I told them so too. Highly, highly recommend it. This place was fun.

I have two friends which visited this place to get take away coffee and were charged extra for the cups the coffee was served in . Not many local go to this place .The reviews are correct Fred <br/>As a local I have visited this place twice to confirm that both the sevice and the food /coffee is well below par with what you expect from a cafe .Probable the worst coffee I have ever paid for .I would like to know the number of repeat customers .I doubt there would be many

just recently i visited the talisman cafe and to my surprise it exceeded my expectations after reading the reviews above the food was exceptional well presented and could tell each plate had its own loving touch put to it and tasted even better then it looked. And every thing was well priced some even under priced . so i believe the people BELOW don't get out much at all as prices in other cafes are either the same or higher specially in Auckland. the staff where great big smiles and talked lots is i am a chef i was well pleased with what i received and encourage every one to give it a try you wont be disappointed . and to those BELOW if your looking for a cheap meal go to McDonald's they love to serve cheap people and arseholes. <br/><br/>Beautiful cafe looking forward to been back for some more awesome food thanks guys

I had the worst customer service experience I have ever had in the Talisman Cafe last week. My wife and I ordered a cooked meal and two coffees. we were asked if we wanted the coffees immediately or with our meals. We chose to have them immediately. We paid and then were told that they were expecting a large group of people and if they arrived we would have to wait. We both felt this was pretty rude but as we had paid let it go. We sat at our table for 12 minutes and then the large group (20 approx) started to arrive. I asked the lady at the counter if our meals were on the way (we hadn't received our coffees). She said no as they were waiting for the group. I asked for my money back and she said "where is your bill"? We got our money back and I firmly stated that we were not happy with the service and wouldn't return. The lady behind the counter didn't seem to have any understanding that she was rude and giving totally abysmal customer service. This week I have mentioned this to a range of people and have been surprised at the number of people who have been there and experienced a wide range of serious customer service failures. Definitely don't go there - but do go to the Ohinemuri Winery a bit further up the road where they are very welcoming and friendly and the food and wine are both excellent.

I wish I'd read the reviews. Very rude women (?owner), unaccommodating with food menu -,food mediocre and toilets out of use - had to cross SH2! isn't that illegal? <br/>younger waiting staff polite - thank you.

Today I had no choice but to go back to this place, as we were driving past, in need of a coffee and a rest between Tauranga and Auckland. We had our small (1.7kg) Pom in the car with us, and of course, we brought her in to the garden area of The Talisman. We didn't think anything of it, as most cafes are very willing to allow dogs in to their outside areas. Our dog always sits on my lap whenever I go to cafes with her, and is always very quiet. We weren't going to leave her in the car - it was a hot day. <br/>We only came in for a coffee, so in and out in 10mins or less. Didn't think this would be a problem at all.<br/><br/>My husband ordered our coffees and came back outside to sit down with me. Our coffees came out, and the waitress told us of the Talisman's "no dog" policy. I asked if we could just sit for a few minutes while we drank our coffee, and she said, "You're okay for now". <br/><br/>Moments later, a man came out (presumably the owner), and started actually yelling at us, calling us "ignorant" and "stupid", saying that we weren't allowed to have our dog in the cafe grounds. He continued to yell at us in the same, obnoxious way, for several minutes. <br/><br/>How's that for customer service!! We gave up trying to talk with him and got up to leave (I hadn't even had the chance to touch my coffee), when he went up to stand centimetres from my husband, and continued to yell at him. I thought that he was about to attack my husband, he was that angry at us.<br/><br/>I understand that living out in the middle of nowhere makes you lose touch with your people-communication skills, and apparently your manners, but you are in the hospitality industry ---- be hospitable. If they had told us nicely about the dog policy, we would have left just the same. No need to verbally abuse us and frighten the other customers with your language and tone. I'm sure they won't be back either.<br/><br/>What an awful experience. We left the grounds shaken and deeply disturbed.<br/><br/>This cafe is meant to provide a rest stop for worn out travellers (who will probably have pets with them). <br/><br/>If you have a problem with dogs, make your signage outside the cafe clear. A peeling business card-size sticker in the carpark is a bad excuse for signage.<br/><br/>Talisman is losing so much business from having this policy in place - it's no wonder there are other reviews just on this website complaining that staff at Talisman were rude to them for having their dog in the cafe grounds. <br/><br/>Awful. Absolutely awful. We've never been treated like this by anyone. All because of a 1.7kg dog, that sat on my lap and didn't make a sound.<br/><br/><br/>Previous experience (in 2011):<br/>This place has horrible service, horrible food, and you have to PAY FOR WATER??!!!! No where in NZ do you have to pay for tap water.. This is ridiculous. I'm pretty sure it's actually illegal to charge for tap water. Shame on the Talisman cafe. We will not be back.<br/><br/>..I wish we didn't come back as per this last comment that I posted.

On Easter Sunday went to the cafe after spending 5 hours tramping through the gorge. The lady who served us in the afternoon obviously wanted to be some where else and to be hit with a surcharge of 15% ( which isn't correct ) came as a surprise. Food very expensive so we decided just to have coffees which were fine. Unlikely to be back. Better options at Paeroa or Waihi.

awesome food great price cheerful staf beautful views

I thought it quite expensive for what you get - $7 for a toasted sandwich. A lovely setting but I didn't warm to lots of rules everywhere i.e about toilets, purchasing water, breaking things and the fact that they won't modify the menu. It make it sound dictatorial rather than friendly.