Columbus Cafe

Rating: 1

We ate lunch here in May 2021.

Corn fritters with bacon and egg added
Vegetable stack

What is up with the popularity of Columbus Coffee? This chain of mediocre cafes has been around for more than 25 years, and they are everywhere. We have two in Palmerston North alone, and this particular cafe was doing a steady trade. This makes no sense, as the food here is on the bad side of middle-of-the-road, and the prices are exorbitant. We paid more than $50 for two meals and one ginger beer. That almost buys a house in Palmerston North! Worst of all, the menu is littered with predatory recommendations for add-ons. We foolishly decided to take these up, adding bacon and egg to the corn fritters. No price for the add-ons is obvious in the menu. We were shocked to find that they were charging $5 for two sad pieces of bacon, and $4.50 for a single egg. Why would anybody eat here when you could have better food for cheaper at Trio Cafe? The vegetable stack featured a very dry pumpkin rosti, under-cooked haloumi, and some “salsa” that was mostly corn kernels and looked absolutely nothing like the picture in the menu. The fritters were doughy, heavy on the fritter and light on the corn.