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Tongue & Groove Café  My wife and I decided to have our Sunday evening meal on Sunday the 4th of January 2009, at the Tongue & Groove as we used to frequent the place and it had a real good buzz and the food was exciting and tasty. To our surprise the menu was pretty much as we remembered it and my favourite Nasi Goreng was still on the black board after all these years so that was me sorted, my wife went for the Vege Roti. That was the exciting bit as sadly our great food memories jumped out of the groove. It was 4.45pm and not busy, our meal took 40 minutes to arrive and after 20 minutes we started to observe the two young lads (in street clothes with baseball caps on) in the kitchen. One was preparing the food whilst the other was doing all he could to distract the cook. At one point something fell on the ground and one of them picked up whatever it was and threw it at the other one. Then one of them went outside to do the big air hand shake with some guys whom had just been play fighting in the middle of the street. There seemed to be no hand washing going on and the hygiene was non-existent.
Anyway onto the FOOD, if you can call it that. Having lived in Singapore we know what a Roti and Nasi Goreng are supposed to look and taste like but we expected a Raglan version of this. The Roti bread was a supermarket Turkish bread, the spinach (from the blackboard) was substituted with silverbeet - no worries except it was raw with the white centres and all. The hummus was as good as missing and the whole thing was pretty well ice cold. No surprise after seeing the goings on in the kitchen, my wife was not giving those two bozos a second chance to spit in her dinner. My Nasi was not memorable - the rewarmed rice had dehydrated to half its size and was pretty well saturated with oil and Ketchup Manis. The rest did not matter much.
The poor waitress who seemed to be the only one that was trying could not turn this one around and I think the owner has no discipline or standards for staff to adhere to. Gordon Ramsay would have a ball in that place. Sadly we will wait until these guys go bust and there is a serious owner that can put the restaurant back in the groove before returning. 
Review by Petrus, 4 January 2009.
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Other Reviews for Tongue & Groove Café
Bridget, 28 March 2002 (3.5 stars). Go West, Young Man
With continuing regular improvements along SH23, Raglan eateries are becoming more easily available to the Waikato diner. Forty minutes drive west of Hamilton is all it takes to find relaxed funky cafes and superb after-dinner beach walks. Tongue & Groove café is on the Raglan main street, opposite Molasses. It is fully licensed and BYO wine. Driving into the sunset, we meandered out there after work for dinner on a Wednesday night.
T&G is (one assumes), named for its beautiful floors. These serve as the base for formica tables, a coffee counter and comfy couches. Our favourite table (and everyone else’s) was unfortunately already taken; the half surfboard table-top with old cinema chairs. Surfboards and Raglan beach scene oils line the walls, along with some lovely rimu frames for sale. The walls are funky sea blues, with sunset red accents along the bar wall. There is display counter food as well as a blackboard menu.
We sat and perused the options. Very ethnically eclectic. Brekky is served between 8.30 am and 12 pm. Honey and orange infused hot fruit bowl with natural yoghurt ($6.50) makes me think there might be an alternative to eggs Benedict. The snacks menu has the chicken roti roll with bacon, cheddar and garlic aioli ($12.50), Turkish chicken sandwich ($10.50) and vegetable spring rolls ($6.50). The grown-up menu includes Seafood laksa; a coconut curried soup of fresh fish, calamari, prawns and tofu on noodles ($18.50), Italian chicken fettuccini ($16.50) or Scotch fillet ($20). Kids get the option of chicken nuggets with fries and tom sauce for $6 or pizza for $4.50. I went for the crumbed fish burger ($12.50) while Maverick tried the laksa. We ordered at the counter.
Meals on arrival were large. Mine was tasty with homemade tartare sauce and lovely fresh fish with salad greens. Maverick’s laksa had a somewhat uncomfortable level of piquancy (until numbness set in) and seemed to be lacking any fish, although it more than made up for it in tofu. Good prawns and calamari though. We sat a bit long after finishing, waiting for our plates to be cleared. We eventually tagged the waitress in mid-walk to order coffees and espresso hazelnut and chocolate bread and butter pudding ($8). This was lovely…a delicious alternative to the old comfort pud. Mocha’s were strong chocolately Atomic goodness.
T&G in Raglan is a worthwhile dining pause. The food is generally tasty, the servings generous, and the coffee is good. The service is friendly if a bit random, but I think that’s the relaxed Raglan approach. We trundled along the beach to sit on the bunker and watch the full moon. A perfect end to a lovely evening.
Overall: Truly casual and relaxing dining. The food and service may not be fabulous, but nonetheless, if you're visiting Raglan, this is a respectable alternative to Vinnies. And where else can you sit at a surfboard table?
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Tongue & Groove Café
19 Bow St, Raglan Fully licensed
Cuisine Type: New Zealand
Tel: 07-825-0027
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