Dunstan House

I wasn’t going to post this because I thought my fiancé had already said enough, but the poor response to her comment made me feel I had to. The owner was extremely unreasonable. I’m choosing my words kindly here. We stopped in with my family while on holiday. It was my first time showing my then soon-to-be fiancé New Zealand. We wanted coffee and a taste of the famous Kiwi hospitality, and my partner also needed to get some work done. That was an unfortunate necessity because we’d been out of reception and there was a deadline. We ordered four coffees altogether and stayed for around 90 minutes. Then the owner came over and told us to leave, saying we’d been there for four hours and apparently mixing us up with people who had visited the day before. He said things like, “you were here yesterday and I’m not going to put up with it again!” It was my first time there, and my last. His wife was a bit nicer and tried to calm things down, but honestly, as a Kiwi, I’m embarrassed for you. I understand you may have had a tough couple of days and that tourists can be annoying, but they also keep your doors open. Going from zero to ten like that without speaking to us first was wildly amateur. I’ve worked in hospitality for over a decade, and this was a very strange situation. Nobody told us there was a minimum spend or a time limit, both of which would have been completely reasonable. We were happy to move tables when we were told one was booked. That was no problem. But then to kick us out so aggressively, with several tables still free and no explanation beyond suggesting we were someone else, was baffling. The rest of the staff were nice enough. For much better service all round, Oliver’s is across the road. It’s a much better example of what New Zealand hospitality can look like.