I went here whilst visiting a friend in Wellington. We had heard positive things about it. Unfortunately our experience was everything but positive. The service was horrendous and the waitress proceeded to tell us how hungover she was. We waited over an hour for our food and when we questioned the waitress about the service and expressed our concerns at the end it was pretty clear they didn’t care. For a fine dining restaurant I was appalled. I will never go back nor recommend to anyone else.

Our experience here did not start out well. We were seated, given our drinks menu and told they would bring over menus in a minute. Our waitress came to take our drink order, but only asked 3 out of our party of 5 and then just left. Our simple drinks took 15-20 mins. I then had to go and ask for a menu.
By this stage we had been there approx 30 mins. We ordered 3 entrees and a main each to then be told as we had order mains and they were ‘busy’ our meal would take a lot longer. This seemed strange considering they weren’t even half full and that is part and parcel of running a restaurant. At this time one of our party ordered a coffee to have before the meal. 20 minutes later our entrees had arrived, he asked as to where the drink was to be told it was being made. 10 minutes later it arrived.
Our mains arrived almost an hour after ordering them. The spaghetti was great, and the fish was good but despite the menu stating it came with chunky fries it came with shoestring fries. The steak was full of tendons and the steak knife provided couldn’t cut the beans let alone the steak. A second knife was asked for and this was just as bad in fact the table knife cut better. When a staff member was approached about this she didn’t really seem to care and just said ‘Oh yea we have ordered some’.
During this time, a couple of tables next to us (who arrived after us) ordered, received their meals and left before us.
When we expressed our disappointment and the reasons the staff did not care at all even telling us that no we were wrong. When the fries were bought up the woman told us no we were wrong that meal came with chunky fries and proceeded to explain the difference. They were incredibly rude throughout the whole meal and what should have been an hour long meal took 2 hours.
It felt like they just could not be bothered with us based on our age (we are in our early 20s). I have been here before and was compleMoretely disgusted with the service and will never be going again.

This is my all time favorite restaurant in Wellington, well…the whole lower north island! These guys make THE best pork belly EVER! We go here often and are always given top service and amazing food. The view is beautiful and we have always been looked after. Bring back the chocolate tart! Another favorite, and was so so sad to see it gone from the menu, seriously..Cobar make the best tarts! Hoping to get there again this weekend..from a big Cobar Fan!!!

We dined at Cobar this evening, the booking promptly taken and advice on when the the best time to dine given and adhered to. once arrived we found the entrance to be a bit confusing as their is a wee coffee out let in the front that looks like an entrance but the restaurant entrance is in fact to the side of the building.

We were seated promptly and brought water and offered drinks, although the waitress telling me to remind her about the red with my meal was a bit unprofessional? it is her job to remember, no? she also could have told us that their was no asparagus being served with our meals, but luckily i over heard her tell the table next to us so already knew.
The entrees were out nice and quick and as far as garlic bread goes, it was fantastic.

Then the 40 minute wait. now i don’t mind waiting for a meal it takes time to serve a meal properly, and at that they they looked fantastic. but tasted…. dull. large lack of seasoning on the lamb and also under cooked. The garnishes were fantastic (peas, beans, polenta and cauliflower puree). How ever, but the main part of the meal was the lamb, so that should have been the stand out?
The pork was quite the opposite, the belly was cooked to PERFECTION melt in your mouth and beautifully seasoned, but the garnishes were all far to sweet (red cabbage, semolina “chips” and parsnip puree) and became over powering. and the aioli with the side of un-salted fries was crap… Far too much Dijon mustard.

I can see these guys know how to cook, and present their meals perfectly! But just some more seasoning please. Or at the very least some salt and pepper on our table would be nice?

The big bonus is the view. wow. gorgeous. Oh and the (I’m guessing) French waitress and I suspect maitre ‘d is absolutely lovely!!

Superb! Outstanding mains, with our 4 diners trying 3 different mains. the desserts were a bit adventurous for us, but all were pleased. Lovely atmosphere and seaside views. A request for window table was met. The inside seating was full, on a week night–must be a good sign. Compliments to the bar from the member of our party ordering a mixed drink: perfect proportions. A great special occasion choice for us.

Went to Cobar for a birthday dinner. Two meals came out hot but the two salmon meals were not hot. We mentioned it to the waitress who offered to heat them up, which we were reluctant to because the salmon was cooked just right. We then had to wait for our veges (which came out about 7-8 mins later) and we said if you heat our food, then our veges will be cold. (Despite this the food was very nice). Disappointed when we were asked if we wanted a dessert menu. The birthday boy wanted a dessert, but the waitress never returned, so we got up to pay the bill. When asked about how our meals were, we again mentioned the two meals that were not heated sufficiently and that the waitress didn’t return to take a dessert order. All of this did not go down very well. She said that the waitress offered to heat your salmon again (by putting it back into the pan) but we explained that it would’ve overcooked it and it should’ve been hot to start with. Her attitude and the way she handled this was very disappointing and unprofessional and she did not hide her attitude. We were let down by this. I asked what she was going to do about it. She reluctantly took off the vegetables. When going to a place like this, it is expected that the service and meal will be very very good. (The place wasn’t even full).

I’ve been to Cobar a couple of times before and again was not disappointed.
Service: Had a great waitress with a good sense of humor. They checked on whether we needed another drink quite promptly. When we phoned we’d indicated that we’d like a table outside, when we got there most of the tables outside had lost the sun, they’d already noticed this themselves and given us a table right by the window with the sun streaming in instead which was really nice.
Food: I had the starter of Barbeque Pork Ribs, they were tasty, I would have preferred them to be a little more tender than they were.
I had the main of Pork Belly (see the theme lol) and my partner had the Beef. Both were very tasty and well presented. We both had the Pistachio Mille Feuille for desert which was again well presented but the Mint Anglaise was a bit overpowering.

Cobar has a great view, good service and good food.

Dinner for two on a Wednesday night.

We could not speak of our experience highly enough. The food (ribs, parma ham special and breads and dips for starters, lamb and beef for main, chocolate mousse and lemon posset for dessert) was absolutely incredible. The staff and service was friendly, knowledgable and perfectly timed.

While the location may be a drive from Wellington City, the view is gorgeous and the entire experience well worth the trip. We will definitely be back.

The staff at Cobar were excellent when we went for a special 50th birthday celebration. Nothing was too much trouble and I felt that they went out of their way to make it a lovely experience for us.

We went to the cobar for our 2nd anniversary and we loved it. The service was excellent and the food superb. The menu wasn’t large but there was a good variety and the wine list was extensive. We both enjoyed our choice of wine. The portions were just right, we left feeling satisfied not stuffed. With the tasteful decor and beautiful views this was a wonderful place to enjoy a lovely meal. We will definitely be returning and bringing our friends too.

Recently enjoyed lunch at Cobar with our overseas guests visiting Wellington on a cruise ship for a day. The meal was excellent, service very friendly, helpful and non-intrusive.
Had been looking for a good restaurant in the Hutt Valley or Eastbourne area and was not disappointed with the choice that was made. Would recommend and be happy to visit again during my next visit to the area.

Have just returned from what was to have been a celebration dinner. Chose Cobar because for many years earlier we had been regulars but with the changes of ownership we were not regulars now. However after having a very enjoyable lunch there recently we decided we would give the dinner menu a go. A bad choice!! One meal was the fish of the day which was very good but the accompanying ??? was burnt!! The other meal was a lovely round piece of salmon,unfortunately well over cooked and the fritter served with it was just that, an over cooked fritter. The waitress was told of the displeasure with the fish and enquired if we wanted something else but by then the meal was half eaten and we declined. The staff were excellent and attentive. When settling the account we noticed that there was no discount for the bad meals and on asking about it we were declined. As we dine out a lot this is one restaurant we would hesitata to recommend. What a pity when it has so much going for it especially the views and easy parking though we did not find pay and display as in their web site. along with its menu it needs updating

Was part of a large birthday party here recently and had a fantastic dinner. Staff were excellent, service spot on, and although we had a set menu, from all accounts, everyone raved about how good their food was. Well done to the new management.

Staying at accommodation in Days Bay we sought advice from locals and dined at the Cobar. The staff were welcoming, the views over the bay were lovely. There was a good selection of locally sourced fish, seafood, meats and vegetarian dishes. There was a suitable selection of both starters and desserts. There was a good choice of wines by the glass and the bottle. The quality and presentation of the food was excellent- I can certainly recommend the pork belly. We enjoyed our first visit so much that we returned – twice.

I throughly enjoyed my dining experience here. It was a cold, wet night and the restaurant was heated perfectly. Enjoyed the food, definately your upper class restaurant. Would definately dine here again.

A must eat – the ‘Banoffe Pie”! yummy!!

Views, ambience, wine list and wait staff I found to be very impressive. The location is magic, especially sitting out on the deck having a drink before our lunch.

With regards to the food, I thought it was good, nothing to rave about though – however, my opinion may be tainted due to the 1 hour and 15 minutes we had to wait for it! In terms of the desserts, the brownie and the apple crumble with ice cream tasted as though they had come from New World (for $16.00 each I would expect a higher quality), the same could not be said for the Banoffe which was amazing.

Overall a good experience but won’t be hurrying back unless I have a minimum of 3 hours available for lunch!

Two visits in the last two weeks.Both visits with out of town friends.So that’s 8 meals, all rated very highly indeed. Perhaps a very slight niggle about the scope of the menu but otherwise service,ambiance and access (ie parking) were all brilliant. We particularly liked the quiet, easy paced feel of the place.

The staff, the food, the atmosphere, the service, the view , the loos, the wine, the tastes were the tops, one of our best dining experiences from anywhere.
thanks to all the staff who made our long relaxing lunch so enjoyable, nothing was too difficult for them. The food was excellent – great combinations of flavour. thanks

Visited today, first time since under new management. Staff were attentive, if a little too annoying. A bit overly happy, fake and ‘camp’. I don’t want my wait staff to be my best buddy, so a little toning down and more respect and formality would be appreciated. Reaching across my face and serving across people isn’t the best.

We all struggled with the menu, it lacked excitement and variety. 2 of us had the bluenose fish, and 1 had the salmon. We all enjoyed it, although not sure about the sweetcorn bed which look like it was from a can and tasted like it had been through a dishwasher first. my friend said the salmon was rich, but probably because she didn’t have the appropriate wine to enhance the flavour.

I’m pretty pedantic and didn’t appreciate the greasy handprints on the walls and dead earwig on the carpet by our table. Most people won’t see those things, but I do.

We will return and if these little things are tweaked then cobar will be fantastic.

We recently had a 60th birthday celebration at the Cobar.
Twenty six guests attended a number of who have responsible positions within hospitality.
Many were found to remark on the facilities being most suitable for the occasion.
The presentation of the selected food from the menu being of a high standard making us eagerly anticipate what was to come.
We were not disappointed.
If asked we would highly recommend the Cobar for any occasion
We still speak of it long after the event
“Well done” Cobar

Went with family for lunch, good service, friendly staff, food was great.
Will definitely be going again.