CafeBlog

Gloria Jeans have been advertising their hot mudslide mocha recently, and it certainly looks good on the store placards - a mocha topped with what looks like chocolate or coffee flavoured cream and chocolate sauce - who could resist that?

Me. I asked if it could be made with soy. That was no problem, but it came out as a normal mocha. I understand that someone asking for soy milk rather than regular probably won’t want cream, and points to them for realising that. But to be charged a premium price for a premium coffee that comes out to the table as a standard coffee (no cream, no chocolate sauce ) was mighty disappointing. Plus they still charged extra for the soy (and 80 cents at that) !!

The food was pretty substandard too. A cheese scone that was so dry it could have been a week old, and a chocolate croissant that had been heated and delivered to the table in a plastic wrap - and that’s what it tasted like - plastic.

So, not an enjoyable time here. Based on my experience here, it’s likely we won’t be visiting any Gloria Jeans cafe for a long time. And unless you’ve had a better experience in the past at this particular location, I’d recommend you do the same - there are plenty more cafes available both inside DressMart and on Onehunga’s main street.

There are two Meccas in Mission Bay. One in the old Stone House, and the other in the “shopping strip” on Tamaki Drive. We visited the Tamaki Drive cafe for a lunchtime snack.

It wasn’t overly busy and we were able to grab a table right away and order the usual soy mocha and latte reasonably quickly. The coffees were strong. I didn’t think so at first, but once I got through the frothed milk on top - whew! - it was almost enough to blow your socks off. Similar to my experience at Mink Cafe in Parnell the cups were smallish, but you certainly got your caffeine quota. We had also ordered the ricotta pancakes to share. These were great; they were light and fluffy with just the right amount of bacon, banana and maple syrup delivered to last the entire stack. I’m not a fan of cream cheese, and was a little concerned that there may be cream cheese everywhere, but again, there was sufficient to get a taste without overwhelming you.

The service was polite, but it’s a pity that so many of the wait staff in what I guess you’d call the “posher” areas have so much trouble cracking a smile. Oh well - I guess you can’t have everything.

If you’re after a real caffeine hit, then this is your place.