Reviews for Grand Beer Cafe

by Joseph
16th February 2011

This business is a MenuMania SponsorOne of the Business' Favourite Reviews

I have been to The Grand for meals on a few occasions and was very impressed. The staff were really helpful even though the bar was fairly busy. The food was great; good portions, descent price and it tasted very good.

The bar also had cool music, I will definitely go back.

by Leanne L.
9th April 2012

We bought a treatme voucher for a meal at The Grand Beer Cafe and booked in on good Friday. The waitress was very sweet and helpful however the meals let the place down. I ordered the ribs which looked like a massive pile of food (too big to look appetising) but mostly the ribs were bones with little meat. They had obviously been cooked and refrigerated or frozen, then warmed up with a sauce thrown over, I know this because a couple of ribs near the bottom of the pile (which should have been hotter than the ribs at the top) were stone cold. This put me off eating any more as food should be thoroughly heated up as any chef would know! My husband had the steak egg and chips but a few minutes after ordering the waitress came to tell us there were no eggs so would he mind having mushrooms. It was also served as though plonked on the plate with no garnish just a pile of chips and gravy which was a bit peculiar being served with steak! Dessert also was a disappointment for him as he ordered caramel sundae but once again after a few minutes was informed there was no vanilla ice cream! I appreciate that if they had been really busy on Thursday night they might have run out of these items but supermarkets would have been open until midnight on thursday and they could have popped out to get eggs and ice cream before closing on Thursday night. Don’t think they had been busy on the Friday either as there was only us and one other couple in the place when we were there! The map on the voucher also took us to a different restaurant! Overall rather disappointing especially for the prices on the menu.

by tania
10th March 2012

My friend and I went to dinner at the Grand on sat 10th March. It was not very busy – there was only 2 waitress’s on and we were not asked what we wanted to order for awhile – we had to go up to the bar. The drinks and meals took quite awhile to arrive. I ordered the pork spare ribs and was very disappointed. There was hardly any meat at all on the ribs. They were mostly bones and fat! I think out of the whole meal I only got 5 mouthfuls of meat. Halfway through the meal I expressed my disappointment to 1 of the waitress’s who said she would get the manager to come down. The waitress was very rude and not polite at all, it felt like she couldn’t be bothered and that it was such a hassle for her. I had to ask her 3 more times before a duty manager saw me (not the manager who she said would come down). The duty manager was friendly enough and refunded my meal which was great, but said that the chef said the ribs are supposed to be like that. I told her I have had ribs at other restaurants before and they have had way more meat on them than theres! What made the meal a real disappointment was the unfriendly and rude waitress. Even when we paid at the end she didn’t smile or say thank-you. Would definitely not be recommending the Grand to anyone!

Comment from Anne B. of Grand Beer Cafe 12/03/2012    Hide »

Tania, I am Anne the owner, and deeply disappointed, your evening…    More »

Tania, I am Anne the owner, and deeply disappointed, your evening dining with us was far from relaxing. I have met with the chef and the waitstaff to discuss the issue at hand. Due to illness we were shortstaffed for a period of time, but rudeness is not tolerated, and has been attended to.
The ribs are one of our most popular dishes, the chef was perplexed, we will address this with our supplier.
Can I please take this opportunity to ask that you make contact with me, then I can address the issue personally.

by Poppy C.
9th September 2011

I came here for a work lunch and got a meal and a drink for $13! I was really happy to find a vege pasta with a creamy sauce – delicious. The staff were kind to me even after I spilled red wine everywhere. Sorry about that.

by jo
20th December 2010

We visited “The Grand” for dinner on Saturday 18 December 2010, having booked a table for 7p.m.
There were two staff serving at the bar and also taking orders for meals. The female bar person took forever to take our orders so I went to the bar to place an order for a pot of mussels (incidentally there were no grilled mussels on offer as stated on their on line menu). She duly took our order and then returned 5 minutes later to say they had run out of mussels, and sorry about this. So we then looked at the menus again, two of us ordering the fish and chips asking what the fish of the day was. Surprise surprise she had to go and ask, and returned saying “teryaki”. Doh! we were not ordering Japanese food, could she possibly mean terakihi? Apparently so! The meals subsequently arrived, and the fish and chip meals were fine. However, the seafood basket bore no resemblance to the desciption on the menu. It contained 3 battered prawns, 6 crumbed (previously frozen) mussels, a ton of chips, and some salad garnishes. No fish, squid rings or scallops. When the male staff member asked how our meals were, we expressed our dismay at the poor show in the seafood basket, and asked to have a reasonable discount to compensate. When we paid our bill, the female wait person deducted $4.00 from our bill. OMG!
If you want mediocre pub food at a price, then this is the place for you! Otherwise choose one of the excellent places nearby to eat e.g. Cafe Express and Brewers Apprentice.

The owner has since contacted us to apologise and has sent vouchers for meals at The Grand and Roma.

We revisited The Grand on 12 February and were warmly welcomed to our table by the lovely waitress.
The mussell platters were divine, and so too was the antipasto platter, which we enjoyed with Roaring Meg Sauvignon Blanc.
Our compliments to the owner Anne Bragg for a wonderful evening, and also for ensuring that everything was rectified.
Anne’s other restaurant Roma is fabulous too.

by Lorena T.
2nd January 2010

great to see there is a new owner!!! hope the bar takes off!!!!

by Jannine Morpeth
9th April 2008

I recently spent a wonderful night at the Grand Beer Cafe. Michelle Cullum our host was amazing, the staff were fantasic,the food and music were delightful. All in all a great experience and one we will all enjoy again very soon. Thank you Michelle we had a great night.Everyone is talking about your cafe today in Palmerston North.

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