My boyfriend and I popped in for a bite to eat and had a fantastic time. The service was efficient, friendly yet not overbearing and the food was delicious. We had a pizza to share plus various tapas and all were really good. I’ve decided to organise a birthday dinner here because it delivered on all levels, well done!

Went to find a dinner place around New Market, saw Lumsden right at the corner went in for a try. Didn’t realise it was a pub as the Entertainment book says it is a tasting room.We ordered Wedges and squid for ta pa and try both of the desert cakes after. It is really hard to see as the inside room is really dark, I have to use the fake candle to read the menu. Service is good though, but food is really average. The chocolate cake is dry and the cheesecake is not as good as the one I made at home.

The Lumsden has a great atmostphere and a great group of staff.

The food is typical pub food but the pizza’s are the great! A thin crispy case with yummy toppings.

I am new to NZ and to this site and have decided to write a few reviews about my most recent experiences out there in the NZ dining world.
I popped into The Lumsden on the weekend and have to say…I am very surprised at some of the reviews this place has gotten. I don’t know if people don’t understand the ‘rating’ system or if they don’t take 5 seconds to actually think about their experience. Some of the reviews have given 1 star because it was too dark? The manager was a di#k? Etc… not exactly a fair assessment of the place and what it offers. Here’s what I found:
It’s a pub. Simple….nothing about the place says it’s a fine dining establishment. It plays sports and has occasional live music. I sure wouldn’t expect a fine dining experience. That being said…I ordered the fish and chips and loved it. The fish was excellent although if I had to be picky, the fries were a tad over-cooked. The portion was very generous. Almost too large. My partner had the burger and he too thought it was very good. Again…almost too big but that didn’t stop him eating the whole thing. We had started with the salt and pepper squid which was very tasty but i wish i hadn’t because i was stuffed after that and a beer and a main meal. Top reviews on food.
Ambiance: it was dark but I personally like it like that. I love shadows and it adds a sort of mysterious quality to your night. In any bar.
The ‘sports bar’ next door: How cool is that? You go through a sliding door to find another bar entirely! All one place but two completely different styles. This one has a pool table and the volume of the sports on loud. After eating we decided on heading in there for a drink or three and playing some pool. I loved being able to be in two places under one roof.
Staff: Good. It’s not ‘white tablecloth’ serving but it’s fun. The guys were attentive and looked to be having a good time. The meals came out in good time and the drinks were strong (started on a beer then moved to CC and dry). I don’t understand why others think they need to be seated in a pub…seat yourself. I did love this place and I will be going back…this time for the chicken wings which the bartender has told us are authentic American style. Can’t wait.
Why haven’t I given it 5 stars? Because unless you are eating in a ‘michelene’ star restaurant, no one deserves a 5 star. That being said…no one deserves a 1 star. I don’t trust any reviews that give either. This place is good. Simple. I don’t expect a masterchef experience, but that’s not why I am out. I am out to have a good time, eat good food at a good price and meet good people. I got all of that at The Lumsden (hard name to spell….where did they come up with that?).

My wife and I just returned from a meal at The Lumsden and would not recommend it if you want any kind of restaurant experience. Essentially, The Lumsden is little more than a pub with a kitchen.

Point 1. Unacceptable time before being acknowledged by the staff and shown to our seats. It seemed that there was only one staff member who was also working behind the bar. This was a Saturday night and simply too busy for one staff member to handle effectively. Let’s just say we weren’t made to feel welcome. Honestly, it felt like we walked into the entrance of a pub and were standing there expecting the barman to come and show us to our seats … which he actually eventually did …

Point 2. Ambience. The room was relatively dark, and I noted that there was a candle holder on the table. I asked the waiter if we could have a candle, and he replied something like “no, sorry you can’t”, in a tone which I felt was actually offensive in context, and then when he realised I wasn’t impressed, tried to make light of it. Unacceptable. If we hadn’t already paid by online coupon I would have walked out. He ended up suggesting an electronic candle – I thought he was joking again, but he actually brought one out – tacky, white electric fake candle, which had the opposite effect than would a real one, proceeding to set these up in all the empty candle holders on the other tables. The flickering candle is what it’s all about, and I wonder whether the people running The Lumsden have ever heard the common term ‘candle-lit dinner’ – sorry, but a fake candle doesn’t cut it. I know this may seem a small thing to gripe about, but it’s actually hugely important – symbolic of the dining experience as a whole. If you don’t have real candles, don’t put candle holders on the table.

Point 3. Food quality – tasted OK, but as one other reviewer pointed out, strange processed cubed chicken and burnt pizza base (unacceptable for a ‘tasting room’ serving gourmet pizzas). And let’s be honest it was always going to be a tall order considering the way our experience started.

I feel that The Lumsden should consider changing it’s marketing and be honest – it’s not a ‘tasting room’ at all, and barely comes under the category of ‘restaurant’. It is a pub. If they marketed it as such, my review would be totally different – in fact I’d probably give it 4 stars if I was looking for a pub experience.

With much trepidation after reading the many unfavourable reviews but having already bought the grab one vouchers we booked and dined on Saturday night. Have never written a review before but had to give credit where it’s due. Steaks were huge, pizza never seen bigger (biggest in NZ according to the menu)and when pasta dish was going to be 10 mins late coming out – a free round of drinks. All staff were friendly and eager to please. All made for a good value, fabulous night out. Thank you Lumsden.

If I could give this place zero stars I would. Appalling. Went there on Saturday night and it was by far the worst restaurant experience either of us have had.

Stood around for 5 minutes waiting to be acknowledged in the restaurant, while staff members walked past us – they weren’t rushing around, it was hardly busy, they just didn’t notice us or bother to ask if we would like to be seated… We had made a reservation.

We were pointed to our table (not shown, just pointed toward – “that is your table over there”) and sat for a good ten minutes without menus or drinks, just twiddling our thumbs.

Ordered a steak medium rare and it was served practically raw – I’m usually very tolerant and can eat rare steak but this was bad. I sent it back and was offered a free dessert or drink – considering I hadn’t actually been able to eat a meal this was quite odd. The pizza was also bad – burnt on the bottom and made of awful processed cubed chicken. Just bad and cheap looking, cheap tasting.

Interestingly, the head chef came around all the tables and asked what everyone thought of the service. We decided to leave our complaint to the end of our night.

Unfortunately we had a pre-paid voucher for the Lumsden – if I hadn’t already paid I would not have paid, in fact I wouldn’t even have got as far as sitting at the table because we were ignored for so long I would have walked straight back out.

This is the first time I have ever written a review about anything but since it was just SO bad I had to. We told the head chef about our experience afterwards and he was very apologetic (“don’t worry about it guys” – I’m not worried, it’s you that should be worried about the state of your restaurant) and offered us free stuff at Sugar bar. There’s no way I would go back to the Lumsden even if he offered us a night on the house.

Went to this place for lunch, me and friend ordered the salad- i order chicken mandarin salad and the chicken was incredibly dry and tasteless, the salad has no sauce what so ever and my friends beef salad is on the salty side.

A nice place to have a drink but would not recommend the food.

One interesting observation, most of the 5 stars reviewers also review the sugar bar with 5 stars…

Used our Grab-a-deal coupon to visit. Nice friendly staff. And that’s about where it ends. A little on the dark side for eating and no candles in any of the candle holders to help with the ambience.
Ordered the Angus steak with blue cheese and mushroom on parmesan mash potato. All quite ordinary. Meat done as requested but a bit on the chewy side. Mash had the consitancy of yesterdays. Chef came out to have a word with us and took our comments very gracefully so full point to him in that regard.
Ladies loos out of order and Men’s was tiny and didn’t give a clean impression. Just overall not good enough to recommend.

Was not happy with this dining experience at all. Order drinks didn’t get them order entrees didn’t get them after an hour of waiting got our main meals the chicken was nice but the cooked veggies they came with was cold. Would not recommend

It was a nice evening on valentines day!
Enjoyed the date!!Guys at Lumsden were excellent….Specially on a busy evening like V.Day Awesome job…Well done and keep it !

Not impressed at all. This is the third time I have been here and like some other reviews I find the manager rude. I was in the middle of ordering drinks when he turned around to take another patrons order and never came back to me. I was served by another staff member to find out that the wine I requested was not available. The wine I was served instead was warm and not nice, and the two soft drinks ordered were flat. After waiting at the table to be severed for over 25 mins with no attention, we decided to leave and have dinner somewhere else. Would NOT recommended. Good location, but terrible service.

We ordered 4 different Lunch Menu meals and every single one of them was well presented and very tasty. The portions were large too (esp for newmarket)

So why not excellent, this because it took some time for the food to arrive.

Would recommend to friends for sure

Stopped in to The Lumsden yesterday for a cheeky glass of chard and a steak sandwich, have to say the sandwich was off the hook! Yummiest sauce and just the right amount of food…lovely service from a very sweet guy I haven’t seen there before…
I’ll be going back, especially as now that the weather’s getting better – great outdoor seating right out onto the park.

We had a couple of tapas. Very average. Had the squid which came out and was so bad we could not eat even one piece. the staff asked how the meal was and we told them re the squid and they could not have cared less. It was obviously old and had the stench of something that had been sitting in the fridge for the last week. He told us with a smirk on his face that its that way it was supposed to taste and then argued the point with us. Would not go back on staff rudeness alone.

We recently visited The Lumsden on Mothers Day. We had booked earlier in the week and found our reserved table for 10 waiting for us on arrival. The waiting staff were helpful and friendly but not over bearing.
The set menu for the day was a great idea and the food was well presented and tasty.
All in all a very enjoyable experience and we will be going back.

Went to Lumsden last Friday with work colleagues for lunch. They were heaving! Apparently the new place to be in Newmarket. $10 Lunch menu on offer, so we pigged out. The wait staff were awesome, and very good looking. Wine came out fast and cold and the food was delivered shortly after and was piping hot. Awesome service despite the fact that they were so busy. Best pizza ever… and everyone else’s food looked pretty amazing too. Looking forward to the next time!

WOW! Lumsden just gets better and better.
Flickering candles,gorgeous couches and wing back chairs perfect for curling up in to sip a chocolate chip ice cream martini while people watching (and let’s face it who doesn’t look better by candle light?!) Oops I went straight to dessert. The pan seared fish and chips was fantastic and boy (looking fine in the sexy candle light) had the butter chicken – yum yum. The scene was set for a romantic rendezvous in the Heart of Newmarket. A gorgeous evening