Kings Garden Cafe

This was one of my favourite cafes back in the day. Great atmosphere, great coffee, and you can get your gardening supplies while you’re here!
Today’s 4 stars rating is all for its environment, staff and amazing coffee.
Went there this afternoon and I must say I was disappointed. Everything seemed normal, but there was a bit of sneakiness that completely turned me off. The lemon tarts showing on display is not what you’ll be getting, in fact, you’ll get exactly half a slice of what’s shown. Yes they did display each «slice» in a zigzag fashion, so seemingly you’re gonna get what’s shown, except each «slice» shown is actually two extremely thin slices with no noticeable separation, and I hate hate hate these kind of deceptions, ruined my whole mood. Granted the lemon tarts are delicious and that thin thin slice is actually a good serving size, I just can’t get over the fact that they have to use such low and distasteful trickery. The waiter/​barista was awesome and super understanding when I clearly had confusion and hesitation written all over my face. (It’s not the first time a customer got put off by this)
Now now, with the rant out of the way, their coffee is superb and the barista made one of the best cups of mochas I’ve had, mum’s flat white was awesome too. So extra kudos for him ;) on the note of the coffee, they had two sized mugs, one slightly too big and one way too small for most customers. Yep, I believe a large and a small is all there is. (I might be wrong in this note because I overheard the conversation when I was waiting in line and a gentleman asked to see the sizes of the mugs.) My little guy tells me that this might just be another tactic they use to get people to go for the larger cup, since no one wants to go to a café and not have enough coffee. But since the coffee was so nice I’m not complaining… as much. My sneaky suspicion is that a new owner took over and made these changes, but I haven’t been here in so long that I can hardly remember the details of my last visit. I’ll need word from my friends to be sure ;)
All and all, it’s still one of my favourite places to enjoy a summer afternoon and I’d hate for it to go to ruins. Its a hidden gem in Remuera and I’ll head back soon… maybe just for the coffee this time.

I gave this place a 4 stars because of the amazing atmosphere here. There’s a range of seating options, private enclosed rooms, open area, outdoor area, all with great natural lighting and fresh air.
On my second visit here the service was quite different from what I remember the first time. The servers seemed to be getting through as much work as possible. Taking away your water glasses while you’re still seated makes a customer feel like your rushing for them to go. The food wasn’t as impressive second time round either. The pancakes… Didn’t really taste like pancakes…

I just visited this café today with the kids I nanny. It’s very close to the school they go to and they always feel like afternoon tea so I thought I would bring them here. I never like to go anywhere too expensive as I have to pay for them so I assumed this would be a good choice, and I was right! I’m not too sure what it is but I quite like garden centre cafes, I feel surrounded by plants (which I guess if obvious) but it makes for a nice atmosphere. We sat in their secluded ‘outdoor’ area which is still undercover but has the feeling of being outdoors. The kids chose milkshakes and I had a coffee, it all came to $ 12.80 which I thought was really reasonable because the milkshakes were those longest drink in town ones which are a decent size. They both really enjoyed them, the boy thought his could have been a more chocolatey. My coffee was ok, not the best but it was really nice, we had a relaxing afternoon here and I would definitely bring them again.

This is a delightful place to meet up with a friend after a sunny walk across the Orakei Bridge, or as a handy meeting location because it is situated at the Orakei train station.
The garden centre is lovely with all sorts of plants and fun things to buy (like bird feeders).
At the back is a cute little café that makes great pies and quiches and other standard café food. You can sit outside and enjoy their interesting collection of boats and things on display and not really know you’re in Auckland — it’s far away from all the usual busy-​ness, because it is nestled in by the Orakei Basin amongst some trees.
Worth popping in to check out, and there is heaps of parking outside.