Is the Talisman Cafe and Info Hub. A family run business who built the place from scratch 40 years ago. Here you will find a treasure trove of local information for any history buff wanting to know more about local history. Lining the walls are old photos from mining days and you can purchase some local maps from the counter. Coffee and home made cake is available with hot food too if your after something hearty to keep you going on the trail. Cakes are also available on order for special occasions. Friendly, down to earth people that are only too happy to accommodate thoughtful visitors.

I have never experienced such terrible service or been made to feel so unwelcome. I wish it was good as it would have been so nice to include a friendly cafe visit on my journey.

You will be better off not making the Talisman cafe a part of your trip. The experience was bad from the start to the end. Firstly being over charged for my order and then being served tea in a dirty cup was not the best service. We let the first hair in our order go but after the second hair we requested a new sauce. No apology given. Although expensive the toasted sandwiches were tasty. We had made the visit to the cafe a part of our cycle trip from Waihi to Paeroa but really regret it as left with a bad taste in my mouth. We had to finish off our trip with no water as refusing to give anymore money over we topped up our bottles from the sink in the bathroom which was not fit to drink... which we were only informed after we had drunk it! Tourists and visitors to the gorge really deserve better than what this tired cafe has to offer.

We came in after exploring the gorge and were served with a smile. Coffee and food came out quickly. I had vegetarian nachos and hubby went for the meat version. We were both happy. The kids enjoyed sausage rolls from the cabinet and chips. The little play area kept them happy while we had our drinks in peace before having a nice family time in the garden. The staff wete kinf and friendly and broyght out water for our table on request quickly and happily.

We will return :)

The cafe itself is cute, but the service was literally the worse i've ever had and so slow. Will never go back there. The staff were openly rude. My mother is vegetarian and they accidentally put a couple bits of bacon in her meal, which was fine - she just picked them out and ate it - but when she mentioned it to the staff they absolutely bit her head off saying she didn't specify that she was vegetarian even though she said 'no bacon' they assumed it was because she just didn't like bacon and it shouldn't matter that a bit was in her meal. It was a joke really. All she wanted was a simply sorry but they started arguing with her, it was so rude and embarrassing. They actually yelled and started getting aggressive. Save your time and money, drive down the road to the railway cafe - much much better!