The 11 best cheap eats in Timaru

The food was good, however I would recommend on a slight improvement when it comes to having someone service the registers. Even with the electronic ordering some people still like to interact with the staff to order and it took what felt like 15mins before someone came to serve us. Other than that delay in service everything else was good and the food was fast to come out and the staff were nice.

The chicken is smaller than the spoon 🍗and can't change for me👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻bad service

I have always been on the fence about timaru kfc but today when me and the boys ordered our food and the bro was super friendly, even when we asked for the pleaseburger cheese he found quite humorous. When we arrived to the second window we were welcomed with kindness by the people. So what i have to say about the service was it was fantastic.

Bought the Hot and Spicy lunch pack. Marissa at the check out counter is very lovely. We didn’t have to wait long for our order and our food is freshly cooked! Thank you!

The receptionist were very polite and friendly and the food tasty however, the next day was spent going to and from the toilet with a case of agonizing diarrhea... undeniably tormenting

The worst KFC I have experienced, visiting Timaru from O/seas, the staff were children, could not remember one order from the other, chips seemed like they were cooked the day before, slider was a nonevent, they forgot to put the coldslaw in the bag, only found out when i got back to my Motel, give up, close down, if that's the best you can do I say!!!

Never ceases to amaze how bad this store is, instead of upgrading your premises you should have spent the money on upgrading your team. Foolishly attempted to place a large order tonight through online pick up only for it to be given to someone else. Then when we get it home these are the $6 popcorn chicken snack boxes, What a joke

I ordered crispy chicken regular, and ended up with a crispy chicken almighty. I didn't realize until it was opened up that it was the wrong one - but it was definitely our order as my hubby had a mcwrap. We asked specifically for no mayonnaise in the wrap. When he got to the end of the wrap there was mayonnaise loaded at the bottom. We are unimpressed. We did not return the items because too much is wasted already from the company, but I feel very ripped off because of the cost of the chicken almighty burger. Can't be bothered with this kind of behaviour - it has happened before . We used the counter to order because of the specificity of the mayonnaise - waste of time.

The place was so dirty all tables had food or drink all over them. Food and rubbish around the tables even though there was empty ones! Was very gross. This was wensday this week. Had to leave and the kids didn't get to play on the playground because of this! The food was warm and thrown together roughly

I would’ve given a minus star if there is an option. Brought my family here tonight as my cousin wanted that coke cup. There was a young blonde girl had her hair braided, looks like 19ish or early 20s served at the counter, shouted out the order number at us. When I walked up, she even gave me a roll-eye!! And my large frozen coke was just 2/3 filled. That was just too BAD!!

Went this morning and gave a breakfast order. The young girl asked me to pull into the carpark, so they could complete my drinks order, which I half expected. After 10 minutes I saw a car they must have asked to pull over as well, and they recieved their Cafe drink before my order, I enquired where my 4 drinks were the girl said she would find out. The drinks eventually arrive 15 minutes after I had ordered them, and to my suprise there is an extra drink, I realised I had paid for. As I had been waiting a long time I decided to just cop the extra expense, without going n in and complaining to manager. Got home and food was now cold, and the cappuccino I had ordered with less froth, just seem to come with less coffee, which had been my experience over my last 3 morning coffees. We are visiting from Australia and we are visiting family in Timaru and McDonalds seems to one of the few coffee places that do an actual large coffee. This would not be tolerated in McDonalds at home, and reading reviews on this thread means I probably won't be returning there!!

I went through the drive-thru and ordered two meal combos. When a young girl handed me the drinks, I asked which one was Coke and which one was Coke Zero. She replied, "I don’t know." I insisted on asking again if there was a way to distinguish between the two cups, and she said, "I don’t know. I’m just here to hand them to you; no one told me." I eventually gave up and left. I've heard that McDonald's has a comprehensive training system, but I’m starting to question that. Some people refer to working at McDonald's as "McJobs," and I can definitely relate to that sentiment tonight!!!!!!

Terrible, when the order was ready the girl at the front counter was yelling like a crazy person. First was missing a drink with the happy meal, had to go back and ask, second was missing the Chicken McChesse burger.. went back to ask. This is what I got.. not fresh it looked terrible like they took it out of a rubbish bin. So I threw it away.. Chips were cold, just not nice at all. Poor front of house girl doing the tables she was nice, shame the rest of the staff are not like her!

I was made to wait while 2 people arrived at the adjacent speaker box after me, ordered and proceeded on before I was even addressed, at which time I was asked to wait longer. Surely this isn't how a 'fast food' restaurant should be operating?

Hands down the best kebab I have had in the whole of New Zealand. I travel the country for work and I eat a kebab in every city I go to. The flavour profile and the freshness of this kebab was above and beyond. The service was lovely as well. I ordered a combo and wasn't keen on a dizzy drink, so I asked if I could please have more chips instead. The owner had absolutely no issue with this, and gave me such a generous portion of chips on top. If you ever stop for food in timaru, I would recommend this shop over anywhere else. The price is amazing and the food is even better. Thank you so much for a great experience guys!

delicious food, good sized portions, friendly attentive service, great dining in experience thank you😀

Lovely, friendly staff with welcoming atmosphere. Fast service and absolutely delicious food!

The O.G of turkish food in timaru, mile's ahead of the rest, many great times spent waiting for a kebab at 3am. The same great guy running it after all these years. The kebabs are great and the zucchini fritter is incredible

Super friendly owner, delicious vegetarian kebab, huge portions! Thank you!

Absolutely amazing food, great quality and worth every cent and absolutely amazing service the people there are just wonderful

I really enjoyed the fresh and flavorful kebabs, and the atmosphere was excellent!

Quick and friendly staff, easy to read menu. Delicious authentic Turkish food, large portions.

Quaint little kebab spot in Timaru that really surprised us! We had the kebab on rice with mixed meat — the chicken was good, but the lamb was absolutely delicious. So good we had to grab a lamb kebab to takeaway! Friendly service and generous portions too. Definitely worth a stop if you’re in town.

I took 2 of my elderly friends to this restaurant Wednesday evening. We all enjoyed our meal: Lamb Kebabs on rice and Chicken Kebabs on rice. Very tasty and friendly service. Although they have a quite pleasant space for dining, all the people who came in that night between 6-6:50pm were for takeaways. It seemed a very popular place for takeaways. I wanted to try their Baklava but there was none available. Maybe next time. :)

Absolutely outstanding Turkish kitchen. Can fault to food it's Absolutely delicious. Definitely recommending this place to family and friends. Ordered a chicken salad and coke 10/10 Thankyou

The food was average. We felt the rice was very mushy and all the other small additions such as couscous and hummus was a bit average too. Chilli and garlic sauce was really good. However, the service was really excellent, and food was prepared quickly. Very cute place too.. fees like I am in turkey! There is no free parking, but paid street parking on the side street.. cheap parking.

$19 doner kebab, it was wrapped in a “supermarket” wrap, probably from the on special bin. Meat was was hidden in the thin tasteless wrap, the rice salad did a great job of hiding it, then again you could hide the Americas top ten most wanted in that rice salad. Service was good, was honest and open about a 10 to 15 minute wait for fresh chicken to be cooked, which was fine and actually appreciated the honesty.

We had lamb kebab on rice, mix grilled meat and chicken salad. All dishes were all yummy meat was tinder, salads were fresh, even my 2 aged parents enjoyed them very much! The lady even gave us fries on the house due to the long wait which wasn’t really long. And the fries were so delicious!!

Did a phone order, was told 20 minutes, however my order took 50 minutes to receive. No seats to sit on as so was standing waiting for half an hour, food was cold when I got it despite it being "fresh"

Ordered fisherman basket and blue cod. Not the best I had in NZ but pricing is reasonable.

This place has been my go-to spot for years. They serve generous scoops, delicious fish, and tasty hot dogs. Plus, there's a lovely park next door where you can enjoy a game of footy or Frisbee with the family.

Great quick service crispy chips and tender Fish very nice thanks team

Always yummy food. And really well priced.

Pretty good crumbed blue cod and the burger as good as any other takeaway shop, buttttt the soggiest greasiest garlic chips would stay far away from those bad bois.

The best fish and chip shop in Timaru since I been here. Wish there was more snapper on the menus down in Southland. Love my snapper, still these guys dont overcook or undercook, just right every time. 5 stars

Very very grumpy women behind the counter. Charges $4.00 for a fish that is tiny as hell $4.00 for a scoop of chips that were over cooked and tasted burnt. Has to be in my opinion the worst fish and chips in timaru. Her meat patties tasted the worst oh my God don't waste your money seriously. There are other better fish and chips in timaru. She needs to pick up her game and be polite to more people and for God sake change your oil or very soon she will be out of business. I cannot recommend and I would not waste your money there. $4.00 a fish what a joke more like fish bites

Seriously the best fish and chips I have had in years, couldn't fault them at all, awesome crunchy batter, fish was lovely and loads of chips and crunchy chippies.

Local long term owners (40 years). Very nice food and good quality.

Good value and good quality, 4 Fish, 3 Hot Dogs, Curry Roll, Steak and Onion Roll and 2 Scoops. All smashed with no left overs for the first time in a while. Will be back as everyone enjoyed the meal.

Favourite chip shop. Have visited many times and have no complaints

Great place for the entire blood line just 👌

Great feed well priced friendly staff meat patties and hotdogs havent changed from old owners still just as good as ever!