Orlando Cafe and Country Club

Nicholas from Hokowhitu

I work at an elderly rest home and quite often we take some of our residents out for lunch to various cafes around the Manawatu area. All cafes up until now have been very hospitable and accommodating of our lunchtime visits. Today we thought that we would try Orlando's Country Club Cafe on Rangitikei Line.

Our residents, being elderly, don't all have a great appetite, so they often order off of the kids' menu which all cafes until now have been fine with. Today, three residents ordered off of Orlando's kids' menu and the remaining five of us ordered from the rest of the menu. When ordering, we were told by the staff that the elderly residents weren't allowed to order from the kids' menu as they were over 12yrs old, but that they would make an exception for us today.....wow! Thanks a lot Orlandos!

We were shocked that this was the case, so when we got back to the rest home, a colleague called Orlando's to check whether this was a misunderstanding, or if this was indeed the case with the thought that the owner/manager (Sarah) might take kindly to the fact that our elderly residents didn't have the same kind of appetite as most that visit them. The reply to my colleague from the owner, was "well this obviously isn't the place for you to come and eat then". It was quite obviously her polite way of saying don't bother coming back.

I am disgusted and surprised, that a business like this doesn't have more of an understanding for the elderly in our community.....shame on them!

I've eaten in a lot of cafes all around NZ with my work and consider myself a good judge of quality and value in a cafe. Today, I had Orlando's 'big breakfast' at a massive cost of $26.90, which is the most I have ever paid. It was no better (or bigger) than many other big breakfasts that I have had in other cafes, so needless to say that with the mediocre quality, their over the top prices and more importantly their attitude to our elderly community, I will not be going back there again or recommending it to any friends, family or colleagues.