We visited the Black Dog at 10am on Saturday which is Market Day in Matakana.

The welcome from all staff was pleasant and professional and the food cabinet well stocked. There’s a large selection from the blackboard menu as well. We ordered a steak pie and sausage roll, and coffee & tea.

The food was average. The sausage roll was dry and lacked any real taste and the meat in the pie was quite tough and included a large piece of gristle, which I left on my plate. The coffee fine and the tea was real loose leaf green tea. However the tea pot was a typical stainless steel model found in back country tearooms and the pot quite dirty? The outdoor plastic chairs could do with a clean + get the bird s**t off one of the outdoor tables.

This place is in a great location and laid out very well. With friendly and welcoming staff the venue is sadly let down by the food.

As regular visitors to Matakana, we wont return.

Food was ok but the birds plagued the table constantly until they actually pecked at my food despite my shooing them away. Disgusting. When I raised it with the staff they didn’t appear interested. Will not go back.

Went for breakfast with my boyfriend. Hard poached eggs, cold toast and the spinach tasted like chemicals. When I told the waitress about my spinach she told me ‘its frozen and gets defrosted so we cant do anything about the chemical taste, sorry’. I didnt get any money off our meals and they wouldnt do anything about it.
Wouldnt reccomend.
I wont be going back. Ever.

Not so good at this cafe, huge potential to be better. Service was soooo slow and considering we had ordered cabinet food there was no reason for it. Food was average, coffee OK. Glasses and crockery were unclean and old. Wouldnt be going back here in a hurry.

We stoppd here for lunch on a Friday, place was empty but the menu descriptions looked great.
We ordered two burgers at $12.50each and two coffees. The coffee turned up promtly but tasted burnt, presentation was sloppy.
The burgers were the smallest things you have ever seen on a large white plate with no fries or any other garnish, it took three bites to fininsh the entire burger. For the price I would have expected a lot more. Won’t be going back.

Both of us ordered burgers from the menu at $12.50 each. When they arrived there was nothing on the plate but the burger. I’d expect this in a fast food chain, but I have never EVER been to a restaurant where the burger has come with nothing – side salad, perhaps a few fries – something to justify the $12.50 price tag. Disappointing – unlikely to visit again.

Well, colleague recommended this place. ‘Dog’ most certainly suits as its middle name. Husband and I visited. I asked for a short black with a heated cup – only to be told “sorry, too busy to heat the cup”. Bad move. Coffee duly arrived, albeit lukewarm,in a badly chipped cup, but with a small jug of hot water as asked for (well done on this point). Decided to converse with barista, only to be told “too busy to heat the cup”. I questioned “don’t you automatically heat the cups?” “No, came the reply, “too busy for that”. She offered a replacement cup, I said “that would be nice, thank you”. It arrived some 10 minutes later (place was buzzing but not overly busy). This time slightly warmer. I was tempted to suggest if she had heated the cup in the first instance, she would have saved time making a second cup! Totally unfriendly, uncoperative (though good looking, so my husband said) staff, I was made to feel like I had asked for more than my $3+ worth. Only just made it onto the STAR chart.

Yes, go here if you don’t value your tastebuds and can wait 10 minutes to be served. From the moment we walked in, we were growled at for not walking to the far end of the counter to be served. The counter near the door which had a slovenly looking staff member slouching behind it seemed to be the obvious place to order. Then when we did arrive at the far end, the other staff member made sure she had wiped down the entire area around the previously hidden till before she bothered to look up and acknowledge us. She then sent us back to the first girl who made us one of the most slap happy coffees I’ve ever tasted. Yes I do have a high standard for coffee, so perhaps some people could tolerate it, but I didn’t rate it. Won’t be back.

We turned up for lunch at 12 noon. The three of us were the only customers. There were three staff on. It took 40 minutes for the average food to arrive!

Won’t bother again.

Very good food from a good menu, good coffee and great service. Recommended

Out of all the restaurant’s I was surfing for on the web I managed to find this one. It’s so much stress having to ring up for reservation’s with other restaurant’s .But I’ve found the Black Dog Coffee and Country Kitchen and now I’m satisfied.

What a huge breakfast, we had the Black Dog Grill and a Warm Salad, both good sized portions and well treated.