Friday, June 20, 2008
Riva Cafe
We went for a drive along the waterfront to celebrate Barbara's thesis oral, or to encourage her that merely having some small alterations to make was not a disaster - it all depends on how you look at such events how you see them, like looking at an ascending rise in the road through the car windscreen (a small rise) or over the handlebars of a bike (a small mountain).
The day was clear and sunny, not wintry at all. In fact I sat on the pavement in shirtsleeves and was almost too hot! They put up the sunshades just as we were leaving. The setting is stunning, at least on a good day, with views across the harbour to Rangitoto, and plenty of interesting people wandering by (even on a Friday) so that people-watching is fun. (I wonder why that wee girl seemed determined to throw herself under oncoming traffic, thank God her mother got her safely inside the large ATV before she succeeded ;-)
However, though we arrived well after the lunchtime rush, just as the cafe was turning from packed to empty, we waited over 25 minutes to get to the stage of cutlery and glasses of water arriving :( though to be fair the food was not far behind.
I had scallop and bacon salad with banana, the scallops and large chunks of bacon were satisfying after the wait, and the banana was an interesting addition. (I am still not quite convinced, but almost!) The salad was less impressive, supermarket mix with some rather chunky tomato, cucumber and capsicum added - I wonder if the chef was having a break after the lunch rush? I could have done with some carbohydrate, perhaps a nice slice of bread with the salad.
Barbara's seafood chowder was fine, though a bit thin and accompanied only by a small slice of white toast.
The coffees were fine. My long black came only slightly long but with a china jug of hot water to add to taste - well done!
Coffee: good.
Service: slooow.
Food: OK, what could have been really good was spoiled by the details.
Overall: disappointing, slow service and disappointing food.
Riva Cafe
89 Tamaki Drive
Mission Bay
Auckland City
09-528 8566
[to Del.icio.us]
The day was clear and sunny, not wintry at all. In fact I sat on the pavement in shirtsleeves and was almost too hot! They put up the sunshades just as we were leaving. The setting is stunning, at least on a good day, with views across the harbour to Rangitoto, and plenty of interesting people wandering by (even on a Friday) so that people-watching is fun. (I wonder why that wee girl seemed determined to throw herself under oncoming traffic, thank God her mother got her safely inside the large ATV before she succeeded ;-)
However, though we arrived well after the lunchtime rush, just as the cafe was turning from packed to empty, we waited over 25 minutes to get to the stage of cutlery and glasses of water arriving :( though to be fair the food was not far behind.
I had scallop and bacon salad with banana, the scallops and large chunks of bacon were satisfying after the wait, and the banana was an interesting addition. (I am still not quite convinced, but almost!) The salad was less impressive, supermarket mix with some rather chunky tomato, cucumber and capsicum added - I wonder if the chef was having a break after the lunch rush? I could have done with some carbohydrate, perhaps a nice slice of bread with the salad.
Barbara's seafood chowder was fine, though a bit thin and accompanied only by a small slice of white toast.
The coffees were fine. My long black came only slightly long but with a china jug of hot water to add to taste - well done!
Coffee: good.Service: slooow.
Food: OK, what could have been really good was spoiled by the details.
Overall: disappointing, slow service and disappointing food.
Riva Cafe
89 Tamaki Drive
Mission Bay
Auckland City
09-528 8566
Labels: auckland_cafes, review
¶ 5:53 PM
[to Del.icio.us]
Well done to Barbara. Getting through the oral defence with only small alterations to make is indeed worth a celebratory event. Though, it can take a while to recover from the experience.
By 
Stephen G, at
June 23, 2008 9:41 AM
