So glad we stopped here for morning tea. Excellent coffee. My friend said the the mince and cheese pie was the best he ever tasted and the Anzac cookies are wonderful! Huge rimu rafters and posts support the building but ask to see the old Cafe. The ceiling spine is an entire tree!!!
We were welcomed to Karamea with a (stereotypical) West Coast bout of weather. Arriving in a real downpour I made a dash to the reception are only to find the door locked, but managed to find access via the bar area. Check in was easy enough having pre booked and just needed to make payment. Pricing was ok. A sizeable property overall with a number of units and fortunately parking at/close to the unit door. The interior of the unit we had was tidy and functional enough especially for a one night stay, but showing a little bit of age related wear and tear to the carpets. Usual tea/coffee facilities, kettle and a microwave for the basics. Good sized bathroom/shower, comfortable bed, basic fan type wall heater and a wall mounted tv and satellite tv box. The restaurant food was a highlight. We ended up with a great evening meal, and a drink at a reasonable price looked after by a pleasant waitress. The cooked breakfast the following morning to set us up well as Karamea township options were a little limited.…
Fantastic accommodation very affordable, but the heart of this place has to be the restaurant. Simply the best food that we’ve encountered when travelling the west coast and we are those awkward vegan. Friendly staff awesome chef’s and I what a fantastic location to visit.
Lovely arrival. Dinner was very nice. Room was a bit budget for 130.00 we asked for a upgrade on arrival with a bath but it was 40 dollars so we kindly declined. We weren't acknowledged on our anniversary that I had sent a special request for. There was cob webs in the door way and ceiling. No sleep every 15minutes a humming sounds would start up and sounded like wind whooshing though a pipe it was horrible. Got up for a shower after a sleepless night and after 2 minutes it went cold! Let it run for at least 10minutes, tried far left, tried far right and in the centre, still cold while standing in there! 25minutes after phoning reception the handy man arrived to replace the gas to tell us there was hot water! Got told at reception this was on us!!!!! We were offered a bowl of Cereal and a cup of coffee to make up for this. Such a shame I enjoyed my time here last time. I won't be coming back and I will no longer recommend it after how that was handled. We spent a lot of money there for our room and in their restaurant just to get no sleep and no hot water. Very very upset.…
Stayed here for two days, and have mixed feelings. The evening buffet was fantastic, and the selection of food could rival many. The breakfast was another situation. The continental breakfast, was the usual fare, however for the fact that desert, soup, and teaspoons, are mixed together, and one has to sort through to find the correct spoon. The shower in the room, has great pressure. There was no shelve in the shower, to put any soap or the flannel.Wallpaper that is torn,just makes the rooms tardy. There are some little touches that could make this place really great. The grounds and gardens are great. Would I stay there again?
I’ll start with the positives: -The grounds are beautiful and appear maintained -The food at the restaurant was good -the size of the room was good (lodge ensuite for reference) -the staff were friendly -great location -beautiful friendly cats! The not so good: -A band played until midnight. Although the staff mentioned our room would be far enough away not to be bothered… we were up past midnight listening to the band. Also had the pleasure of hearing the locals get drunker and drunker. -At about 2am we heard a loud domestic break out which included yelling, fighting, a lot of swearing about money(?), stomping around (including in front of the rooms) and a car zooming off (gravel car park makes that even more of a joy to listen to). About 30 minutes later another fight broke out. Potentially between the same group of people which were either locals or the owners. I felt exhausted and uneasy by that point. What a bizarre experience. On arrival when we walked into the room we were greeted by a musty smell. The room was dated and bed was average but we gave this place the benefit of the doubt thinking it was nice to be in a local place and supporting their business. In hind sight and in all honesty, I felt a bit disrespected. paying customers kept up all night by drunk locals and fighting. Surely someone could have had the decency to ask people to settle down? This is what makes me wonder if it was potentially the owners making the noise… it was clear the bar atmosphere is what’s keeping the place afloat right now. If that’s the case , fine, but it should be made clear that this is not a good place to stay if you’re actually wanting to sleep. Also with the amount of fighting and swearing I’m pressed to say it’s not very a very kid friendly atmosphere either. I’m hoping the drunkenness and fighting was just a once off because it has incredible potential. I hope once tourism picks back up this place can be given the attention it deserves with a bit of a revamp. Recommendations (as mentioned by other guests) Clean the windows Get new bedding and towels Re-do the bathroom in the ensuite Modernise the rooms…
Trapped by slips for 5 nights we ended up moving to The Last Resort. The welcome was instant, the food was outstanding by chefs Sheryll and Peter. Maggie was a hive of knowledge and even lit the fire for us. We played pool for free, played cards and feasted on home cooked meals.
Positives- relaxed welcoming vibe, lovely staff, really good food . The accomodation: i feel this is more suited to trampers wanting a quick stay after the Heaphy track. We had a 2 bedroom cottage . Little tired but thats ok . Flies and bugs at front door were not particularly welcoming and a good sweep and clean would have helped. Corrage was spacious however only one two seater couch . Shower was good . Warm evening, couldnt leave any windows as worried about bugs coming in and no insect screens on windows. No aircondirioner so also uncomfortable. Just a few things like insect screens would really help but appreciate things will be tough without tourists. Niceand close to Oparara basin which was beautiful.! Good beds and kitchen was fine:)
Our stay here was average. While our room was a nice size, it felt tired and needed a renovation, particularly the bathroom which had mould in the shower, a rusting shower caddy, and intermittent hot water culminating in no hot water at all on our final morning. The shower pressure itself was okay but not amazing. Coming from the Heaphy Track walk (like many other guests) - a good shower after 4 days is more important than a nice-ish bed. So the initial impression was poor. - Wifi was stable but slow. We also used the guest laundry services, the dryer was faulty and needed another $2 coin which we were charged for. The pros of staying here was that there is plenty of parking and an on-site restaurant which we found to have good food. Slightly expensive, but to be expected on the remote West Coast. Would recommend coming here for a meal, but if I was returning to Karamea I would look at other accommodation options.…
A very nice place with a most appropriate name. I had heard the name “The Last Resort” for many years- finally had the chance to dine there. The food and service was excellent. The restaurant was full on a Saturday night, which says something about the place. All the dishes we had were delicious and well presented. The service was quick and courteous. All in all, a nice experience! We had a vegetarian Thai green curry and an vegetarian Asian style noodles. I would certainly return here if there is an opportunity.
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