Met with some friends yesterday for lunch. I picked it because it is in Merival and always seems busy and has a great outside area. The weather and company was fantastic, unfortunatley the food was not! The lunch menu is very average with a small selection. I obviously chose the wrong choice as I had the chicken tenderloin burger and fries. It was terrible. The fries were really greasy and cold and the burger was not great. Really disappointed as I thought we would have had a great meal. Nevermind there are others in Christchurch that will deliver a better meal thank what I are there.

I have a hard time relating to the negative reviews of Aikmans. Without fail every time I have eaten here I have had a fantastic experience. The staff are friendly, professional and helpful. The meal has hit the spot every time; with fresh, quality ingredients and been served in impressive time. My hotcake brunch this afternoon made it out to me before my coffee, which was barely enough time to check the news and look through my emails. I’m consistently impressed, even opting to come here today after having been ignored by three people over 5 minutes at my original venue choice which I selected by menu surfing this site whilst in my car. I will probably forgo other places in the area in future as Aikmans is great value for money by comparison also. In the time I’ve been writing this, the menu has rolled over and my appetite has returned; calamari here I come!

Just back from a delicious meal at Aikmans on a busy Saturday night.

Food:
Prawn Cutlets/Chicken liver parfait
Southland Hereford Eye Fillet/Venison Leg (sides of beer battered onion rings and thyme roast potatoes)
Affogato with Drambuie/Lemongrass, Ginger and Coconut Creme Brulee
3 rounds of drinks for 2
Total cost:$189

Absolutely delicious. I am incredibly picky about my steak, and tend to shy away from them on the menu for fear of disappointment – no such concerns tonight. Steak was tender, delicious, and exactly as I requested it (Well Done, no pink whatsoever).

Service, even on a busy Saturday night, was attentive and impeccably polite, An absolutely brilliant experience – kudos to the new management (last visit around 2 years ago, not sure when the management changed).

Went there the other day for some after work drinks on Friday had some drinks at the bar. I decided to order crumbed squid from the snack bar menu. I was giving a number stand to take with me back to the table. After waiting 30 mins, I flagged down a waiter who went to check on the order, only to find the plate of squid had been sitting there unattended for 15 mins! I was given the plate of crumbed squid which was now only warm. The waiter quickly walked away and failed to give me any serviettes and a knife and fork to eat it with. I had to flag another waiter down to ask me for these extra items. He came back with a knife and fork, but no serviettes, and quickly walked away before I could even say anything. By this stage, I had enough. I quickly ate the squid and walked out, and will never be back again. Basically, the staff don’t care and are too busy to notice the finer details which converts to non-existant customer service.

Love Aikmans! Have been there a few times for dinner, drinks, dessert. Great atmosphere, delicious food (I enjoyed the lamb and a crumble for dessert). Very satisfied. Looking forward to going again!

I have just had a quick read of the below reviews and I just wanted to let everyone know that when I ate at Aikmans last (about 2 or 3 months ago) the food was delicious! I had the Salmon with gnocchi and my friend the vegetarian risotto.

They were both delicious.

We also had dessert. The Crem brule (excuse spelling) was a bit weird, not traditional…. But the cake was devine.

The service was a little slow, but not horrible.

After 4 very disappointing meals at Aitkmans my husband decided on trying it again seeing it was the least crowded of the Merivale restaurant at lunch… This time the meal took 40 mins to be served (two eggs benedict) and arrived cold and with one wrong order. The Maitre d’ told us that she would not make us pay the extra cost for the meal we HAD NOT ordered (very generous!)- we ate quickly as we were now running late and hungry and commented to the Maitre d’ about the coldness of our meal : she explained us that it is normal that it is not warm etc… as it was the first time we were having this meal in our life and could not understand what it was about… Then she walked away from us without any apologies and when we went to pay she threw at us that we did not have to pay for the meal and without even walk away from us without even listening to what we had to say! WAOU! that was the most irritating and despising behaviour ever experienced in Chch so far! So if you like to be treated like cattle and eat cold meal late after you have ordered it : you will love the place. For us that was our last try for sure!

Disappointed with the customer service. 2 shots and 2 beers cost me $40, extortionate prices! Should have said something at the time, but felt the bar staff were run of their feet. I found the Customer service poor and unfriendly. The most frustrating thing about Akimans are the bouncers. Stuck up guys who think they are running the most lucrative bar in Christchurch. As for dress code, you advertise smart/causal but it seems these rules don’t always apply! dont recommend !

Whole family dining out for son’s graduation found food of poor quality, inadequate quantity and very highly priced. All of us resolved never to go back. None of us would ever recommend to a friend.