Hydro Eatery

We found this place on our way from Rotorua to Tongariro. It was pouring rain so we decided to stop for food. The food really good, the place was packed.
Service was quite fast. Mit was a good place to stop

We found this place on our way from Rotorua to Tongariro. It was pouring rain so we decided to stop for food. The food really good, the place was packed.
Service was quite fast. It was a good place to stop

Nice Cafe, close to the entrance to the Turangi township (from the Taupo side).

Great selection of food, catering for all dietary requirements and changing menu (at 11am).

I had the Hydro breakfast. Was filling and yummy. The bacon was good quality (ie not thin and watery) and the mushrooms were delicious. The sausages were dry and had obviously been on the grill for a while, but they were still flavoursome.

Coffee was great and quick despite it being busy. Will come again.

Great food, great staff superfreindly even when it was busy, meals came out in a good time and the kids were super happy with the hot choclates and waffles, 1 child rekons best hot chocolate ever, would 100% return,

Coffee, Chai and Hot Chocolate were amazing. Food was delicious too! Will definitely make this a permanent stop when passing through

Busy little cafe to enjoy in this city.
Received warm greetings as soon as you enter. There is breakfast and all day menu to order. Tried their Egg Benedict breakfast set with pork belly top up. Love the meat! Crispy crust and no strong pork smell. Would be great to have more Hollandaise sauce though. Slightly expensive on the sets but worth to try.

Been there twice - on both occasions the food was lovely: the atmosphere was friendly and this cafe have the happiest staff I've ever encountered.

Would go back in just for the service alone! Staff were so friendly and lovely:) Coffee was great and the muffins looked so good we bought 2 for later.

A shame there was no spicy chai on offer and coffee was just average. Good opportunity to recharge laptop as quite a few plugs available

Not the first time we have been here - and we weren't disappointed
The food was excellent and the staff very friendly and helpful
Would have no hesitation in recommending this cafe to all
Thank you

What an outstanding place. They advised us short staffed and could be a little delay, little it was and the food was excellent. Very popular venue, well done to all the staff who were working today, many thanks from our group of 5.

Hydro has an airy elevated position which gives it as good an aspect as you can get in this town. There’s a big inside room and a bigger terrace with some awnings, so all weather bases are covered. Not a benefit for us, but there’s a well-equipped baby change/toilet.
Though short-handed the staff there were positive, friendly, and efficient. Cafe latte was excellent and we bought two raspberry, apple, and passionfruit muffins for our picnic which turned out to be delicious!

Excellent breakfasts.coffee strength though was very weak. Would come back but grab a coffee elsewhere.

Sadly this cafe is not able to cater for coeliacs. I visited on a busy day and had quite a curt and rude response to asking whether a dish marked GF on their menu was coeliac safe. I said I would be happy with anything but was told none of the options were suitable for coeliacs so we had to leave.

On one hand its good they have an understanding of gluten cross-contamination and were honest, but it's frustrating and unusual they were not able to make anything (albeit of course in a mixed kitchen there is always some risk).

Just wanted to post this as some of the other reviews here and their menu list GF options available.

Extremely friendly staff. Good vegetarian options. We enjoyed everything we tried! Coffee was a very smooth blend.

Super friendly staff and fast service! The most amazing breakfast ever. We’re visiting from Auckland and blew us out of the water. My partner rated his creamy mushrooms the best ever and left us both very satisfied. An absolute gem.

Heading towards Turangi/National Park and needed some lunch. Checked on hours and saw that Hydro was open until 3 pm. Perfect! It was 1.30 so knew we had time. Drove back from the National Park turnoff, saw the Open sign on the cafe, so parked our car. Approached the lady at the front counter. No smile. No greeting. "Kitchen is closed" and as we started looking at the cabinet food, we were advised "And we are closing now too". There was no apology, nothing. If you are going to close early, at least have the decency to offer an apology, and perhaps remove the Open sign from the door. We won't go back.

It has the potential to be decent, however the staff were disorganised and made so many simple mistakes (eg people getting something other than what they ordered). The staff didn't look very happy which I would think contributed to the mistakes. Cofee was good. Has potential, but wouldn't go back.

Excellent service for our large group.
Friendly and quick service while not a busy time for them.
Comfortable and open with sunny location.

Good cabinet food. Great fast service especially when ur driving through. Definitely recommend:)