I had the pleasure of dining at Imbibe on a Friday afternoon for lunch and loved the experience. The waitress was really helpful and the food was delicious. I ordered the steak sandwich and my Mum ordered the chicken burger. The only critique I have is that it would have been great to have someone come over and ask if we would like additional drinks. When Mum went up to the bar though, they said they would bring them to the table. I will definitely be back.

Everything was perfect, apart from not answering your phones, as we couldn’t get through to make a reservation for the restaurant, and had to accept a seat at the bar to dine, but apart from that, well done.

I love Imbibe, especially for breakfast/brunch. The staff are always friendly and attentive. The food in consistently good, which is why we have gone back many time after first trying it using a voucher deal. They always serve lots of bacon with the breakfast which is why I recommend it. I like that it wasn’t great and lots of food one time and then not the next. Delicious. However would be cool if they opened before 11am

Came here with a group of 11 on New Years Day and was greeted by a lovely waitress. However we were handed over to another brunette waitress whose service was below par which definitely impacted on the mood of our dinner. She made an inappropriate joke to one of our friends and didn’t exactly know what the house beer was (and made no attempt to confirm what she ‘thought’ it was). Poor service from her behalf.

In regards to the food, cheesy garlic bread is delicious as well as the ribs. The Chicken Supreme which is supposedly ‘stuffed’ with camembert, is actually just a melted slice of camembert cheese on chicken. My friend’s mushroom risotto was tasteless and the other dishes were just given averages.

One star goes to the initial friendly waitress and the other for the cheesy garlic bread. Such a shame that one person can make such a negative impact on our time at Imbibe.

Have to say we have always enjoyed our meals at Imbibe and this visit was no exception, the food was great it was just the music was soooo loud and started at 8 pm which seemed way too early for the crowd that was there. Talking to each became impossible so we didn’t even stay for dessert, so I guess I must be getting old and now i know if i want a meal to be in and out before 8pm.

Fish of the day meal and Roast of the day meal….both cooked to perfection and tasted delicious. it was served quite quickly and with good customer service…i had a close interest on that lemon butter sauce also =)

One thing that i thought could have used for improvement was the salad…its taste a little plain and dry….but all other things were very good.

=)

Doesn’t even deserve one star!!!

Absolutely disgusted and appalled with the lunch service today 15/7/12.
Waitress (Erin – what the receipt said) was total bad, no hospitality or customer service skills.

We were in group of 5 people.
Looking at the menu I asked her “what is chicken parfait?” was her reply was “I don’t know, I have no idea” she made no attempt of asking another staff member or even try to find out.

Another diner in the group ordered wedges and asked the waiter for some tomato sauce…. geeezzz by her reaction seemed like we had asked her to move a mountain her sour face then returned with a ridiculous pottle of sauce…. low and behold on the bill $1 charge….seriously!!!!

Ordered the chicken supreme was lovely until I reached the grossly burnt bottom took a photo of it and I wish I could upload it. I left it turned up to show the waitress when she collected the empty plates, not even a sorry madam I’ll let the chef know… just a simple “ok” was all I could muster from her.

Slowly roasted pepper and mushroom risotto was so bland no amount of salt and pepper could revive it.

Overall was a horrible birthday experience will never be returning to Imbibe again…!!!

We went for dinner and the service was ok but not great, our starters had arrived before our drinks. My friend had the Prawn and Scallop salad, unfortunately she spent the majority of the night afterwards on the toilet.

There was a band playing, so after our meal we ordered another drink at our table and as we were the only ones left in the dining area we moved to another table so we could see the band, within 2 minutes of moving we were given our bill by the barman. We hadn’t asked for the bill, and we certainly weren’t finished for the night! This was very rude and felt that we were more or less being pushed out. We were not impressed, therefore we left.

I used to be a regular at imbibe, however over the past year or so I have seen a difference, as its local this is very handy for us, however I am not sure we will be eating there again. I think imbibe needs a makeover, get rid of the ripped stool / booth covers, clean up the toilets, give the staff a lesson in attitude and customer service. Plus the bouncers need to realise that they are not working in a nightclub in the city.

The only good thing about Imbibe at the moment are the free drinks on the back of the supermarket receipts.

Have eaten at imbibe on a number of occasions. Service is usually pretty good and so is the food. Would recommend the Lamb rack. The mussels and the bread platter are decent portions and great value for money. They also have on the back of the receipts at the local supermarkets two for one main meals occasionally, which is a great deal so check the back of your dockets.

Have eaten at Imbibe many times. We have always found the food good and the staff very helpful.

Have been to Imbibe a couple of times of dinner – both times the meals and service were really good and tasty. The only thing is that the music is so LOUD! The last time we were there, there was 3 of us, and we couldn’t even have a proper conversation. If you are wanting a nice, quite meal, I would suggest that you go a bit earlier in the night rather than the 7.30pm time we went – that way you will be able to talk!

Our family of four had a meal here. My husband and I had stone grill, which was the first time both of us had ever had one. Iy was really yummy. The kids loved watching it cook on the stone. Our boys also loved their meals too. Great relaxing atmosphere and friendly staff.

The food and service is always excellent, and the atmosphere is lovely, especially down the end behind the bar where it’s quiet and private. I think they got a new chef about a year ago though, because all of a sudden the food was not quite as amazing as it once was. Still lovely though.

I had the Sirloin Steak, it was so good I had to go back 2 nights later for another one. The tap beer is beautiful. The service was very friendly and prompt.

Had dinner there recently with 12 others. Very busy at the time but were impressed with the service and speed of our meals. Everyone seemed pleased with their meals. The only fault was the menu on this site is not the one at the restaurant. Good on the new owners.

One of the worst overall meals ever and totally dis-interested manager (Jonathan) when we complained about it. Soup was initially served lukewarm and bread was either days old or heated to the consistency of a rock. The kid’s chicken meals were deep fried for so long they looked almost black and were as tough as old shoe leather (how hard is it to deep fry frozen chicken pieces?). The scallops served were very iffy and our salads came out without any dressing. The waitress was the one redeeming feature of the whole episode and was very apologetic (unlike “couldn’t care less” Jonathon!). Do not recommend this place to anyone, we will never go back.

I always have great dining experiences at Imbibe, if you want to try something new, the stone grills are always fun and delicious. Two for one on Tuesdays even better! The boss Graham will always go the extra mile for you, and is very friendly and professional. You’ve got an awesome bar and restaurant guys, good stuff!

My partner and I went there for the 2 for 1 stonegrill meals. Don’t like how they put all their guests at the back of the bar. Don’t like how the staff are pretty much useless…why does it take half an hour for our meals to come out, not like their cooking the meat! Also didn’t appreciate the female waitresses staring at us, then when we made eye contact for some tomato sauce suddenly we’re invisible!? The sauce was pathetic too, we needed three of their little pottles. Very stingy. There’s grapefruit juice on the menu but they don’t have that! Apart from that, our meals were good cos we cooked them ourselves (and one was free), and our heineken on tap was the only thing that will make us go back.

Will not be back!!!

My husband was called 3 weeks ago to say he won the business card $50 bar tab. Fantastic we thought we’ll use that after the Xmas madness.We went to Imbibe tonight to use the bar tab and have a meal. We were told however we could not use the bar tab as you have to use it within a week of being called. 1) This was never mentioned in the ph call to my husband. So we told the bar staff this and they spoke to the manager & they would not honour the bar tab. So we had one drink and left and had 2 main meals and 2 deserts at Cornerstone Tauranga & the meal & service was superb!! Shame on you Imbibe. Customer service goes along way!!

what a joke ! Do not currently recommend !!!!!!
Arrived 6.50 pm ordered drinks at bar
6.55 pm Place order at bar for entrees & mains
7.30 enquired at bar where entrees were, told they would check, but they did not.
7.35 found another staff member to check where entrees were, received more of a response
7.45 entrees served….. (no aplogies for delay)
7.55 mains served… uh ok, allow us time to finish the entrees even tho we are famished here
8.10 ordered desert
8.30 order more drinks
8.43 enquire where desert is, advised “it will be with you immediately”
8.56 ask another staff member where desert is, advised its on its way and they would comp the desert. Asked what happened to our drink order “uh um I’ll check” – really ?
9.00 pay bill and leave “so did you have a lovely evening” – uh really ? are you joking ?

Service was well below any comprehendable expected standard. Food was most definately not worth waiting or for that matter, the price paid. You comp’d deserts – big freaking wopee after over two hours.
Only one staff member seemed to be concerned ove the entire situation !
Work on it.
NO will not be returning in the future.