Review: Butler’s Berry Farm and Café

On many a road trip to Christchurch it has been a tradition to stop at Butlers Berry Farm and Café near Waimate for some berries and an ice cream. Usually we would skip the café as we would be just passing through.

In February this year it was once again the destination of choice to grab some fresh berries including karakaberries, a hybrid boysenberry/blackberry which I have never been able to find anywhere else. I had also arranged to meet some people to grab something to eat and a coffee before the final leg of the trip to Christchurch.

When you arrive, you are greeted by quite a large space. There is the berry/ice cream section where you are greeted by row upon row of beautiful looking berries – I was looking forward to buying some on the way out – and a café is next door.

The café itself is what I would describe as quaint but a tad dated. They have gone for a cross between a cottage feel and an old ladys flat, although it is nice and spacious with lots of places to sit. When we arrived, it was empty apart from a couple who were just finishing up.

Due to being stuck behind a fiat with Italian stripes across it for most of my journey there I was craving pizza. I didn’t expect to see any there but they did have a slice. It was however a sad looking specimun that looked anything but appetising and the price was way too high. In fact the pricing at Butlers is definitely what I would call “tourist pricing.” I think it’s sad that so many businesses don’t understand that charging tourists hugely inflated prices is not only sad for the tourist but also means you alienate the locals.

I was definitely hungry so I asked cheekily and with a big smile if the chocolate cake was nice. Now there are genuine reasons I ask this question. Firstly it tells you whether it was made in house or not. It tells you if maybe the staff member has tried it. A number of cafes will use a baking mix for cakes or buy them in so I wanted to know if it was worth eating; it was as simple as that.

The server took offense to my question. That’s her prerogative, but at the same time it was a tad surprising. I mean, I was polite about it. Anyway, the server said she could guarantee that it was nice. I ordered a slice and cheekily and with a huge smile said “I will hold you to it.” Yes, I know I could have just bitten my tongue; but come on, its just cake, and part of me hoped it would settle the ruffled feathers. I then asked for a flat white as well, and asked if they had any artificial sweetener. I need to have artificial sweetener because if I have sugar and lactose together, it can sometimes make me pass out (true story). She informed me that no they don’t because they believe “it ruins the taste of the coffee.” Yup, that is literally what she said. My brain nearly exploded with that ridiculous statement. Urgh, I mean really? Seriously? There were no words in fact for once in my life I was speechless. So I took the cake and skipped the coffee. One of my companions ordered a smoothie and the other ordered a berryfruit sundae (which is one of their specialities) and asked for a Coke Zero but Butlers do not do any of the Coke range.

Let’s start with my companions. The smoothie apparently was nice; she liked it. The fruit sundae however was underwhelming. It had all the things that make a great sundae, but although the fruit at the bottom was fresh, it was swimming in overly sweetened syrup which wasn’t enjoyable.

Now to my chocolate cake. The cake came with a little cream and some strawberries. The cream was flavourless. A little icing sugar would improve it immensely. Initially I thought the cake was moist but it appeared that way because of coming straight from the chilled cabinet.

The cake wasn’t awful. It just wasn’t great. It was on the dry side and the icing was way too thick for the amount of actual cake.

As I was eating my cake I noticed on a trolley near our table there was sugar and also artificial sweetener. Artificial sweetener! I was once again speechless. Very veeery odd.

I did use the bathroom when I visited and the facilities were clean and well stocked.

Before we left we decide to get some strawberries and those gorgeous karakaberries.

We grabbed a punnet of karakaberries and some strawberries to purchase. They weren’t cheap, but berries are always nice fresh from the farm so we were prepared to pay a bit of a premium. As I was looking through the strawberries I noticed that one of the punnets of jam making strawberries had a mouldy berry in it. We mentioned this to the waitress who had followed us out to the berry area and, boy oh boy, that’s when the fun began.

While I pointed out the mouldy berry I also mentioned that there was actually artificial sweetener on the trolley in the dining room. I thought perhaps she didn’t know it was there or something.

It was obviously the final straw for the waitress who proceeded to step into my personal space bubble (yup she got right up in there) and accused me of being totally unfair and that she hadn’t lied (at no point did I suggest that I really did think she may have missed it), and that she had just misunderstood my request for artificial sweetener. It was then that she went into full melt down and said she didn’t appreciate being attacked. I understand that no one likes being attacked which would be why I didn’t attack her at all. She was the one up in my face. I was absolutely dumbfounded by this reaction. This woman just lost it.

All of us were shocked at this woman’s reaction. I explained that I wasn’t in fact attacking her. I was letting her know. It was then the waitress decided she liked my bubble even more and step right up to me and was raising her voice saying she thought I was completely out of line. She continued to argue as we tried to walk away towards the counter to pay. It was then she began insisting that I owed her an apology, that she was offended from the moment we walked in and that we could “ask anyone, I’m a really nice person” and that we had been “really nasty” from the moment we walked in, which was absolutely untrue.

It was at that point and with her continuing to gesture towards me that we decided to cancel the sale for the berries and get out of dodge. We just weren’t happy to give them an extra $32 for berries when we had already paid an inflated price for the few things we got in the café.

As we left we could still hear the waitress calling out and demanding an apology and generally being both unprofessional and nasty. I sat in my car for a moment until I stopped shaking and then drove off.

So its time for some marks.

First for the property itself. The fruit area is beautifully set up with mouthwatering berry displays. You walk in and straight away you are being tempted by their yummy fresh fruit. It was clean and well lit.

The café was a little dated but was clean and warm.

The bathroom was easily accessible and clean so overall the properly gets a 7/10, but I think the café would benefit from a bit of a freshen up however.

Now for the food. When you sell berries often you will find the odd dodgy berry but its up to staff to check punnets to be sure there are no obviously mouldy or rotten fruit. A quick check once a day is all it takes.

The food was okay but it was not memorable. Based on this I give a 5/10.

As for the pricing – it was way too high for the quality of the food. It is obvious that they are counting on being the only choice for people in that area or passing through so charge “tourist prices.” For price I give a 3/10.

Now for their customer service.

Having worked in customer service myself I know how hard it can be. I don’t believe that the customer is always right, but I do believe that if you are having a bad day then you leave that at home or out the back. You most certainly don’t hit your customers over the head with your bad attitude.

This waitress was unprofessional, rude and downright irrational. Her behaviour was so erratic that we had no choice but to remove ourselves from the situation.

I believe she really is in the wrong profession. She should consider a job somewhere where she doesn’t have to deal with people if she is unable to cope with people that weren’t even causing issues. She should be ashamed of how she behaved and how that behaviour makes Butlers Berry Farm and Café look to the public.

It is because of her behaviour that I give them a 0.5/10 for service. I would give them a 0/10 but she turned up for work so I am giving her half a point for that.

Overall thoughts.

Butlers has a long history in South Canterbury and a reputation for good quality fruit.

However, long history and good reputations are easily forgotten if you have the wrong people presented as the face of the business.

If you are heading to Christchurch from down south I would suggest driving that little bit further to Timaru. I personally will never spend another penny at Butlers berry farm and café.