Way too expensive.

I always stop here when travelling through kaikoura. I love the food -it always tastes so good and homemade! I really like the fact they don’t deepfry everything and have a good selection of healthy meals for lunches. The food is fresh and tasty and the coffee is amazing, every time I visit. I wish more places on SH1 were so serious about the quality of what they serve.

I have to agree with Clare E. We stopped in Kaikoura on our way through looking for a coffee and snack. After being seated we were left to our own devices for about 10 minutes. When we finally received some attention from the wait staff we ordered drinks and a plate of nachos to share, although the exhorbitant price on these left us shocked. (We were actually looking for an afternoon snack, not a meal.)

The drinks took another 10 minutes to come, none of it was organic. And we watched while three wait staff were obviously getting ready for dinner rather than serving the two tables already there.

After half an hour we finally got the attention of one waiter and asked where our “snack” was, he went into the kitchen to find out and then came out to tell us that the chef had left our nachos in the oven and forgotten about them! It was left to the junior waiter to tell us this, without an apology. How can someone call themselves a “chef” and forget about something in the oven when they only have two tables of customers to worry about?!? I pity the people who were going there for dinner and hope they actually got food before the place burnt down or they starved to death.

I will not be going back to this not-fully-organic restaurant. (During our wait we could see that they were using Budget brand Soda Water and readily available jucies – nothing organic, and I drink the teas they serve there and I know these are not organic. Promoting themselves as “Organic” but not living up to this is misleading to all customers coming in the door. It is clear that they use the word “Organic” as a marketing hook to attract the transient population. The quality, service and prices are such that they will have very little return business.

Overall a terrible experience that put a dampener on our trip.

Oh, yes! Three of us went here for lunch and liked it so much we went back for dinner the following night. Top service and great food, at very acceptable prices. Excellent wines in stock as well.
Hislop’s is highly recommended.

Service good, food was served cold, steak was very tough, and I order a large Hot chocolate, and it was served in a very small cup, a wee bit disappointing overall

On the other hand, we had a very positive experience. Great coffee, fantastic juices and food, all served by very friendly and helpful staff. Reasonable prices make this very good value. Highly recommended.

We were in Kaikoura over the Easter weekend and had our worst dining experience in New Zealand yet. I hadn’t originally planned to review the meal we had there, but I am still so angry about the terrible experience we had and can’t believe that anyone would ever recommend this restaurant.

First of all, when the waitress took our order we were given the option of choosing between rissotto, mashed potato or roast potatos to go with our meal. We ordered the roast potatos but when the meal arrived TWO HOURS after we had ordered, it had the risotto instead. We informed the waitress of this fact and she said she would ask the chef whether we could get a side of the potatos to make up for the mix-up. She returned and told us that if we wanted roast potatos we would have to pay for them ourselves.

Secondly, putting aside the fact that our meal arrived 2 hours after we ordered it, the food was cold when it reached our table.

Third of all, the portion of crayfish was tiny considering the price which was charged for it.

Lastly, when we had had more than enough and decided to call it quits we were presented with the wrong bill. It turned out that it was actually the bill for the table next to us.

Overall, the service was shocking, the food was cold and of average quality considering the price and we were entirely disappointed with the whole dining experience. We spent only one night in Kaikoura and this meal completely ruined it for us.

I would definitely not recommend ever eating at Hislops Wholefoods Cafe.