The Verdict

Rating: 2

We ate lunch here in April 2022.

Banana smoothie
Beef stroganoff with rice
Beef burger and chips

The Verdict has been around since 1989 and has recently moved to a cursed building opposite Palmerston North City Council. Will they be able to survive atop the corpses of so many unfortunate cafe’s? While we weren’t impressed by The Verdict, there were plenty of people there who apparently were.

The banana smoothie committed two very serious offences. One was containing banana syrup. The other, even more heinous, was being insufficiently blended with large chunks of banana sitting at the bottom rendering the last inch undrinkable. It’s a shame because they had done some things right - the smoothie was large, and a great temperature and texture. But these two sins cannot be forgiven.

The stroganoff came from a bain-marie which had a fly hovering around it. Just in case it isn’t clear, flies on food = points off. It wasn’t really bad, but wasn’t good either. And where’s the sour cream?

The burger was tragically over-saladed. Three huge pieces of tomato. Four giant thick cut diagonal pieces of cucumber. And a full one inch tutu of lettuce protruding around the burger. While the salad was fresh, it was just way, way too much. It completely overshadowed the good elements of the burger, such as melty cheese, a fresh brioche bun, a moist tasty patty and some reasonable sauce. The chips had the flavour and texture of fairground cup-of-chips. It’s hard to describe exactly what was different about them, maybe the oil was old? Regardless, they weren’t great.

The verdict on The Verdict? Meh.