I have been in Wellington for a month on business and dine out each evening, and on the whole the experience has been positive. And that came to a almighty halt last night when I dined at the over priced and underwhelming Fork & Brewer.

For a start Menu Mania state the menu range is $18-$28 for a main. Wrong. $18 -$36 and they serve slops at the lower price range. I ordered a carbonara which came out with raw onions, a skiff of bacon, no discernible Parmesan whilst swimming in cream.

I ordered a glass of wine from an over priced wine list stocked with only the cheapest of wines. My glass of Trinity Hill Merlot was $16! for what we all know is very average wine. I don’t mine buying plonk if it is priced correctly.

The feeling I had was the owners of this establishment had expense stripped everything, denying the chef the ability to use decent, or in fact any ingredients. Maybe he can go back to driving trucks as he’d make more money – as they won’t be paying him anything given their standards – which is where his skills potentially lie.

I have dinned in restaurants like this around the world who dish up the worst meals and go, ‘oh well passing trade, as long as we fleece them on the first time through, who cares there will be more’. Wellingtonians be warned, you’d have more fun throwing your $40 in the harbour!

My first time at Fork and Brewer was a dream. Great service and the Lamb Chilli was so amazing I raved to my friends and insisted we return. My second visit, however, left little to be desired. The Chicken Burger I ordered was tiny – in fact, it was so small it would be better described as a slider. The meal delivered was 80% fries – to the point where I had to go to the bar to request a side of aioli, which never arrived. No waitstaff checked if our meals were OK – I never had an opportunity to raise my concerns. The service this time was fine but certainly not up to the standard of my first visit. I won’t be returning.

Ordered the mushroom risotto which was divine, lovely strong mushroom flavours and just the right amount in the serving. My husband’s steak sandwhich was also good. Only comment would be suspect the risotto was re heated rather than made fresh as it came iut 15 minutes after ordering.

We went here for the Monteith’s Wild Food and Beer Challenge. We both had the featured dish and the beer match. Once the dish arrived it looked great and was a big enough portion. Unfortunately, the plates and the food were only luke warm. The waiter quickly checked on us and we sent our food back to the kitchen. He disappeared with our plates and was not seen for ages. After a while he came back with our food which had obviously been re-plated. However, the only hot item on the plate was the mashed potatoes but nothing else; the sauce was not even warm. Overall the food tasted nice, but we were disappointed that, despite sending our food back, it was still only luke warm. We were the only table in the restaurant so we don’t understand why this problem occurred twice. The food and beer match and the presentation were both good, so if they can improve on the execution it would be worth while coming back.

The guys went crazy over the beer options…not to mention the beer taster trays on offer. The four of us loved our meals…all having something different. Even our German guest loved the German dish, he wanted to thank the chef. Can’t wait til my next visit when the kids are with the grandparents.

lovely place, amazing food and great service, great place to take your man for a feed as he will be lost in the menu of beers