Ti Kouka recently opened in Willis Street and received rave reviews so today the Kiwi and I decided to meet for lunch there. We arrived to a busy café and got the last available table, which the waitress apologised for as it was stuck in the back room which is a thoroughfare to the loos, but we agreed to take it.
The café menu is a step away from the usual fare, more like bistro food, so I chose the grilled haloumi with an apple and beetroot salad, bread and dukkah ($14) while the Kiwi went for the smoked fish with horseradish mascarpone, pancetta, soft boiled egg and salad ($18).
What a rip off! The grilled haloumi was two pathetic slices of cheese on thinly sliced bread which was slathered with oil which drenched the dish when oil is provided to use with the dukkah! The Kiwi’s dish was just as bad, with a small, miserably dry, tough piece of smoked fish and four small black, crispy bits of pancetta and all what I would consider starter size portions. I tried to take photos but my camera wouldn’t work, sorry!
As well as being dripped on from a leaking pipe above, all in all it was a below average lunch. Rave reviews from other sources left us feeling thoroughly disappointed and wondering whether Chef Elliot had left the building!
There are too many decent cafes in the area providing lovely food, decent portions, pleasant surroundings in a nice ambience – in my view if Ti Kouka is going to survive it will need to get over it’s identity crisis, up the quality standards and the value for money, as I know for sure I won’t be returning in a hurry or making any business lunch bookings. Hopefully it was just a bad day or a poor menu choice, but nonetheless, disappointing!
Thank you very much for the feed back. We are very sorry you had a bad experience dining at Ti Kouka.
We are looking at rectifying the issues and would like to invite you back to have a meal on the house, so you can experience what we are trying to achieve.
Once again we appreciate the feed back and hope to see you soon.
Ti Kouka cafe.
Thanks – yo have just saved me a trip 🙂 I have been meaning to try this for a few weeks. I used to to in there a lot what it was Katipo – the big breakfast was really good. I stopped going when the owner was really rude to my mum, but with it having changed hands (and I also read a review) I figured it was worth a go.
But I think Ill skip it 🙂
Hi Avalon, thanks for the comment. You will see Shepherd Elliott’s comment, which I feel shows he has the right attitude and is willing to look at ways of improving the dining experience which I think deserves full marks!
Shepherd, thanks for the offer to return on the house. Out of the reviews I have written this is the first time such an offer has been made and I will need to give it some thought. Thank you and it’s fabulous to see your customer service principles.