We have been here several times before sampling breakfasts, lunches and dinners. Yesterday we sat outside at lunchtime on a very sunny day at St Clair. For two we shared Brushetta and then had a small pizza each – small ones have eight slices and the big ones twelve. Both food and service was outstanding.

The food is great, and the location is good. The service on the other hand, is inconsistent. The first time I came here was with more than 10 people, and we were treated well. The next time, with a smaller group of friends, nobody came to pass us our menus, take our orders, ask if we wanted drinks etc. After asking for the menus and receiving acknowledgement but no response, we had to walk to the counter to get some – and the same thing happened when we wanted to order. Bad service, rude waiters, but otherwise good food.

Nice atmosphere, great location, waitstaff friendly.

Since the Esplanade restaurant is located near a beach, we thought they would have a range of cold drinks and desserts.

We had some trouble finding a drink that suited us as they did not serve iced chocolates or chai lattes.

We ordered two desserts, the menu was limited and one dessert we ordered was uneatable.

We wouldn’t recommend the Esplanade for dessert.

I love this restaurant and usually I leave extremely satisfied after having good food, good wine and good company. Tonight however I left grouchy and unsatisfied. I ate here last week and ordered the 1/2 cannelloni with mushrooms, spinach, ricotta and walnuts. It was to die for!! Tonight, after having not eaten all day I returned and ordered the same meal. This time however, I had only one cannelloni tube, making my meal 1/2 the size of the one I ordered the week before. The sauce was nowhere near as flavorsome and I found all of three pieces of walnut, much less than last week. When I politely questioned the waitress about the portion size, stating that I was merely curious rather than unhappy (although honestly I was unhappy because I was so hungry after not eating all day), I received no apology, which would have been appreciated, but a rather rude “well that’ll be the kitchens mistake last week”. Over all the experience has been the worst I’ve had at The Esplanade to date. Sad to say that tonight I am very disappointed.

my daughter decided to shout me lunch and had had a really nice risotto here before. No risotto on menu, so we decided to share a pizza. At no time were we asked if we would like a drink, and when pizza arrived. I asked for some iced water. The quite rude guy aknowledged this but we never got it. Quite expensive and quite honestly, I had cooked a much more tasty pizza for dinner myself the night before. Will I be back? I dont think so

My husband and I went the other night here and were immediately greeted by a very friendly waitress and asked to sit where we liked. She was quick to come and see if we were ready to order and was very helpful with advice on the menu. My hubby had the lasagne which he loved and said was better than my own lasagne which is world famous. I had the vegetarian pizza, not because I am a vegetarian but because I am pregnant and choose to avoid certain foods. It was yummy! Highly recommend – great location, great food and great service.

I was at the Esplanade Today with a Group of 21! I had asked for a Set of tables to Be placed together in Front of the Window – and that’s what I got The Service was excellent and the all the Food was fantastic – as we’ll As Promt. The Location of course is wonderful. I fully recommend this restaurant and will Be coming again.

Family outing for my nine year olds birthday tonight. Meal was beyond stunning, most of us had pizzas and this dude knows his italian foods as the flavours were devine. I had Spaghetti Algiosi(?) which was superb. Well done team, the food was great, service from our waiter (sorry mate did not get your name)was very friendly and natural. Get that chef to post that spag dish on “ask a chef” on the ODT!! -

Have been here several times for a drink and pizza and have found it adequate until today. Went for a beer with my father (I am aged 21- a third year student at Otago Uni) and after waiting for about 4 minutes to be served a particularly nasty and rude waitress greeted me by DEMANDING to see my ID. I explained that I had none on me but as I was with my father I was within the law to drink alcohol! She was too ignorant to realise this and therefore accosted me rudely, as if she were a disgruntled mother reprimanding her son. As I was her customer I found this unacceptable behaviour, though I was told this behaviour is not out of character for this particular host. WILL NOT RETURN AND WILL TELL ALL OTHERS TO AVOID!!

This Restaurant has an absolutely gorgeous location…but unfortunately this is the only thing they have going for it.

The first time we went was a week night evening and halfway through our meal a live band came on. The music wasn’t too bad but it was far too noisy. I got a headache from the loud music, cooking sounds, the coffee machine cranking up and having to yell to hear our waitress. The amount of noise was offensive and considering it was mostly older people dining there, I have no idea why the music had to be so loud. I for one, most certainly didn’t want a concert or a dance party with my meal.
We went back again on a lovely sunny afternoon. It took a good five minutes to be greeted and another five to be seated, despite the fact that the place was only half full. There were three staff members having a conversation in the kitchen and another two chatting at the coffee machine. We were not the only ones waiting, there were three other parties waiting to pay.
This is a strange complaint to make, but the chairs are very uncomfortable and not the right height for the table. The tables are low and the the chairs are high by comparison, and it is very awkward having to slouch or bend right down for the entire meal. Restaurant seats are a bit of a science – you want your customers to be comfortable enough that they will stay seated for the optimum amount of time and keep ordering wine and food!! (or so you would think!) However, I could not wait to leave because it was just so uncomfortable. Once again the music was loud and the acoustics were poor, so much so that I could hardly hear the person speaking next to me. When we asked our waitress for another 2minutes to deliberate on what we would like to order she couldn’t even hear us and took out her pen and pad and asked us what we wanted. We asked again and she shot back “what?!” so we ended up ordering in a hurry because it was a downright pain in the neck to have to keep repeating ourselves.

I was also appalled at how a younger couple were treated. Maybe because they were students? But they were ignored for about 5 minutes and then two other (older) parties were served before they could even pay. There is no excuse for this.

Two thumbs down, Esplanade!

I have been here a number of times and everytime the service has been terrible. The last time my main arrived with everyone elses dessert and no apology was offered. They also tried to charge for another table entirely when we left. The food is average but it’s the setting that makes the place so special. It’s also very loud in there when busy, with no soft furnishings to absorb any noise.

We attempted to dine at this restaurant today where we encountered a very rude waitress. Despite there only being a few people in the restaurant we could not choose our table “in case a big group came in” They were not child friendly and made us feel most unwelcome to the point we left without eating. We will not be returning!

Fabulous location, and generally nice food (from past experiences). But our last 2 visits have been ruined by poor service. When we visited for lunch in mid-January, 20 mins after being seated no one had offered us so much as a glass of water, let alone take our order. We walked out without complaining, but in retrospect should have complained. The service was also slow and poor the time before, so we won’t be going back.

I have to say that my first experience at this restaurant was good. I got the tuna and my partner got a pasta dish which were both very tasty, service was average.. nothing that “wowed” us.

The second time was not so good for us.
I ordered a prawn dish and was surprised to see that the prawns were still shelled. By the time I had finished peeling all of the shells off a good five minutes had gone by and my hands were coated with the herbs/spices/gooey prawn juice. They didn’t give me a finger bowl or any extra napkins. I ended up eating plain, tastless prawn meat and green leaves with a few bits of carrots.. something I could have purchased at the supermarket for way less.
I don’t know if we will be back or not. Very dissapointing.

Been here recently for dinner with a friend she had the cabonara while i had a pizza. The small pizza is about $21 and is more than enough for one person…i was full after eating noly half of it!! the pasta was a decent size and a really good price too. Friendly service and nice place to dine in. Will be back!

Great setting, yummy pizzas. I’ll keep going back.

I want to give four stars for their food and setting . . . but only 3 stars for the service. Some of the staff can be really rude – which I think is an attitude handed down by some of the people in charge! But not all of them are like that . . .
Sitting opposite the crashing ocean waves across the road from this restaurant, and surrounded by garlic-infused-aromas, the positives outway the negatives.
The only food not-so-good is the seafood chowder which has been really bland on several occasions.