TJ's Cafe and Bar, WAIPAWA, Hawke's Bay

I met up with a long-time friend in Waipawa today, and after having coffee in one café, we decided to have lunch at TJ's Café. This was a big mistake. On entering, the smell of old chips and fat was overwhelming. We had a look at the lunch choices and although there were enough, their quality was very mediocre. Rather old fashioned, same old-same old, nothing exciting, nothing very healthy. A Panini with a fried egg isn't exactly appetizing. Everything looked cold and day-old. We ordered the least questionable food we saw, plus a coffee and a tea. While we were waiting, a waitress brought something to an adjacent table, noticed the cardboard take-away coffee cup and serviette, which were not ours, on our table, but did not come over to take it away. The food came reasonably quickly, but was plonked on the table on one side, instead of the waitress walking around the table to put the food in front of each of us. There was no garnish, nothing to make it look appetizing, just a toasted sandwich and a toasted bagle. The tomato sauce in the usual plastic bottle, which wasn't closed, looked tacky enough to be ignored. The tea & coffee did not join the food and after about 20 minutes, my friend went to the counter and asked about it. After that, it still took 10 minutes. On eating my toasted sandwich, I found an unappetizing looking streak of something under the last part of it - it looked like a dribble of old fat from a fryer. The whole sandwich was extremely greasy. The bottom of the tea cup was not clean. The tea pot dripped while pouring the tea. The black stone tables were cold and looked suspiciously half-clean. The toilet was old and not clean. The windows were smudged. The ceiling looked dirty, if not filthy. Some lamps were hanging loosely from a fitting, showing the wires. There were a number of spotlights which shine right into the customers eyes in certain places. In one spot, an electrical wire just protruded from the ceiling. There was a hook in the ceiling with something unidentifiable hanging from it - it looked like a piece of rope. The radio was on and way too loud. The staff were reasonably friendly, but with an indifferent manner about them. Personally, I wouldn't take any pride in my work either if I had to spend my days in a depressing place like this. The entire place was chilly and unpleasant. It looked like this place caters for the pub crowd, the pokey machine users, the rugby match watchers. Which is fine, but giving your place the name Café is then very misleading. On coming home, I had to change because the smell of the fat just lingered in my clothes. Needless to say, I won't visit again. One star is too generous for the experience.