I had a great experience here. Beautiful food and the staff were great, friendly and attentive. It has a beautiful, upmarket layout but gets very casually dressed traffic from tourists from the Skycity Grand & Skycity Hotel nearby, so it doesn’t seem like a pretentious atmosphere. I had steak (natch), and it was divine. The duck fat chips are to die for! Also a brilliant wine list. Loved everything – the food, service and atmosphere, highly recommend for special occasions or romantic interludes – I want to get one of the 2 semi-private booth-type alcove seats next time. Great for a date!

Food was excellent, if a bit pricey, but portion sizes were good. Wine was very expensive which pushed the total up considerably. Service didn’t quite match up to the level of the food or prices but was still good. Atmosphere was also good, relaxed but stylish. Would definitely go back again, the eye fillet was delicious!

This is one of those places you go to for a real experience.

They are certainly not cheap, but they delivered us an excellent meal with excellent service.

Our mains were an eye fillet steak and the venison and both were cooked to perfection. The sides were very generous – each side could easily be shared between 2 maybe even 3 people.

For dessert we had the cheesecake (a great ‘upside down’ twist on a normal cheesecake) and the Banana Perdu (not as good as the cheesecake but still great).

The food was $143 all up, but worth every cent. They also have an amazing wine list with some great wines available by the glass.

Recommended for a special night out!

There are some really special dishes at this restaurant. The rib eye on the bone is To Die For and the prawn cocktail from the entrees is fabulous.

Also the cheese cake on the dessert menu is very different from the usual but is really special and the strawberries were a delight (and I dont normally believe that things with fruit even qualify as dessert).

This place was okay. The service was friendly and relaxed, but the food was hit and miss. The people next to us ordered the same entree, and theirs looked really different to ours- and a lot better.

The sauce I had with my nice steak was a bit strange tasting, reminicent of runny ezi cheese.

I dont think we’ll go back, but it was ok.

A really pleasant meal. Good service, however the steaks were smoked and rather overpowering.
The wines were excellent and reasonably priced for the venue.
Worth a return visit

The food was great, the atmosphere was perfect and even the service was great. For Italian cu sine we will definitely go again. The best we have experienced in Auckland.
I will recommend this restaurant to all my friends.

One special night we book a table for 4 at the Grill we didn;t really know nothing more than this restaurant were the new baby for this famous chef call Sean Connolly we hear about the steaks and some other rumours about the investment of all the kitchen, decoration etc. So we were curious about the rest. The place is fancy but I saw a couple of casual and relax customers around so it seem to me that the dress code can be casual as well. Is kind of dark place with black couch and tables, low lights and u can see the kitchen thought the place. We have Line-caught snapper and black Angus steak with a couple or great Sauvignon and Pinot noir wine glasses. The experience was good we believe is a place to go for some serious or special occasions.

Fantastic restaurant! I have visited on three occasions to entertain clients, the food and service was superb. One only down side would be the king crab which lacked taste and appeared to be cooked from frozen with the result being semi-tastless and chewy. Steaks are amazing!

Disappointed despite all the hype. Asked the manager if we could make a subsequent booking for a larger group (corporate group of executives) when we were shown to our seats. She said she would be back to get the details, but never returned – so no future booking.
Messed up the bill and charged it twice and then had to be corrected

My husband and I had the good fortune to be taken out for thank you dinner here recently.
The service was first class from the moment we walked through the door, our table was a private booth which was intimate and gave us the impression of feeling a little bit like a celebrity.
The wait staff were incredibly attentive, knowledgeable and friendly.
One of the highlights of the evening was the steak tartar which is theatrically prepared at the table and just melted in the mouth. It was the first time for me trying this dish and I feel the standard has been set quite high.
We all ordered steak and it all came cooked to our exact specifications. One of our group choose the “study of beef” which is the chefs 3 favourite cuts of meat. It is quite interesting eating each cut and comparing. It is something that a true carnivore should indulge in. This was charged at market price of $120 but would easily feed two people. The wine list was well chosen and in the context of the calibre of restaurant, I thought there was a range of reasonable prices. The sides we ordered were the onion rings, duck fat fries, asparagus and broccolini , which were tasty accompaniments (especially the sauces on the green vegetables). We were too full for each of us to order desserts, but chose a cheesecake for the table to share. It was a delicious creamy mouthful that packed a punch with lemon and raspberry flavour. It was served in a more deconstructed style.
Overall, a really enjoyable experience and would happily head back again in the near future.

We went with high expectations and were not disappointed at all. What sets the scene is the smell of fresh meat when you walk in the door. Just what you want at a grill!

Our starter of Cambridge duck and foie gras pie floater was fantastic and we followed it with the Fiorentina T-Bone to share. The Sommelier’s wine matching was spot on.

Great place for a top-notch night out.

11 Feb 2012

We returned to The Grill with again great expectations. This time it was a bit disappointing. The service and duck and foie gras pie floater were just as good, however the steak was not as good and the pricing has dramatically increased. The steak Fiorentina T-Bone was $115 (listed on the menu as $85) last year and now it is POA ($165). Was a 5 – now a 3 star.

The Grill by Sean Connolly…FINE dining, the emphasis on FINE. FANTASTIC service, AMAZING food, it was a total experience that I would love to do again.

The cost ended up being around $75pp incl tip for 3 of us, we had a main meal with shared sides, a couple of glasses of wine each and a shared dessert, we even met the man himself which was a total treat!

I would totally recommend this restaurant to anyone looking for a great start to a special night out.

We had not been following the TV series that has been running along side the opening of this new restaurant in federal street, my partner and I arranged to go for dinner, and a colleague of hers had recommend we try it.

Perhaps, as we had no expectations, this set us up for a memorable and fantastic evening.

From the moment we stepped into this opulent restaurant we were impressed. I have dined at other restaurants designed by Andrew Lister and this dining room is equally as grand. The front of house team immediately showed us to a table, my partner was delighted as we were seated in one of the banquette tables on the ground floor and had an excellent view of the bustling kitchen.

We started our meal with oysters…mmm a great start to any meal. Following this, we had the Alaskan King crab and snapper ceviche, both of sublime quality. The king crab was served with a garlic parsley sauce, however, was so sweet it needed nothing. The ceviche was well balanced with a citrus salad. We both struggled to choose a main..everything sounded fantastic. Sean Connolly has put together a menu that is wholesome, delightful, basic, and true to its word! everything from double fried duck fat chips to the best mac ‘n’ cheese you will find…REAL FOOD!!!
We settled on the trio of meats..three of the chefs favourite cuts. The meat was cooked to perfection, melt in your mouth, with a smokey-charred exterior. We tried the fries and the mac’n'cheese (yes, we will be running for a week to ever look the same) but worth every calorie.

My partner and I shared a creme caramel for dessert, and this too did not disappoint. Silky smooth and the perfect amount of sweetness.

The service was some of the best we have received in Auckland restaurants, it was attentive, and smooth without feeling like we were being watched. Seamless! It feels like they have thought of everything, the bone napkin holders, sauce jugs shaped like a hollowed out bone, the one-off design steak knives.

I would 100% recommend this restaurant, we have re-booked and are taking some friends next week, some things are too good not to share.

WOW! What a fantastic first impression. Food was outstanding, service was flawless.
Auckland or NZ for that matter has not seen a steak house of this league.
I had such an enjoyable meal, entree of pork spare ribs – fall off the bone, tasty, superb. Main was wagyu scotch, not the cheapest at $95, however this was the most memorable piece of meat I have ever eaten, and worth every penny!!!
We also had several sides between the table and the mac-n-cheese was a winner, the whole table raved about it. I was too full to partake in dessert, but going by all the other murmurs of delight from the rest of the party I guess that was outstanding too.
Amazing team, magnificent dining room and wonderful food. An exciting addition to the Auckland restaurant scene. We will be back.

Had a lovely evening here with my Father. The service was outstanding-we had a lovely french gentleman who was a delight to have around. I had the chicken parfait for entree and it was fantastic – as smooth as butter. The jar had alot in it for the amount of bread given so we asked for more as to not waste even a drop! My father had the rabbit which was ok but not as good as the parfait. We both had steak as a main (how could you not??) which was cooked perfectly. For dessert we shared the chocolate tart which was exquisite but lacked in the orange department. Also a bit of orange rind on top to add to the presentation would have been nice. Overall a lovely experience and we also got to meet Sean which was a highlight!

Had dinner there during its opening week. Very professional service, Our waitress was very knowledgeable about the menu and matching wines. Sean was out in the restaurant talking to patrons and having photos taken and still noticing the finer details that needed to be attended to.

For Entrees I was really looking forward to having the crumbed rabbit however I was a bit disappointed it was deep fried and served as a few nuggets. The duck pie floater was amazing.

For our mains we had the Rib eye fillet which was huge. Great value for money and cooked to perfection. Lamb rack was lovely and our side dishes of duck fat chips and onion rings were great.

Overall great dining experience and getting to meet Sean was a added bonus.

Great wine selection to choose from.

2 entrees and 2 mains and a bottle of wine you are looking around the $200 mark but it is well worth it.