Live on the Shore, so so so bad this restaurant, so looking forward to having something good in the hood, in the week it’s full of depressed wait staff, the food is dull and undercooked, when you try and nicely say the calamari is a bit pale, after you haven’t eaten any they say nothing and charge you, toilets are so rank, and in the weekend it’s like cob and co used to be full of babies and kids, yay, not

We have been a couple of times with Grabone Vouchers, and were not disappointed. The food was great and the service was OK.

Four of us used our ‘Grab One’ vouchers last night & we all had an excellent meal & delicious desert & waitresses were very friendly & attentive. Certainly great value & being St Patrick’s eve, it was incredibly busy, though we weren’t kept waiting at all! Thanks

Had an amazing meal tonight on “date night” it was a “when Harry met Sally” moment ….delicious… Nice and quiet mid week, service great, friendly and helpful .. Would definitely go again! Eye fillet delicious, snapper amazing, garlic/salt pizza bread mouth watering… Chicken crouqets yum! Yum!

As a local, have been here many time and had varying experiences but would not recommend as a restaurant.

The good. If you’re winding down after work and not worried about when your finger food arrives, and order your drinks at the bar, it’s a fun place to go.

The bad. Twice I’ve been there for sit down meals – a dinner and a lunch – and wouldn’t bother again. If you’re looking for somewhere to go for a meal – there are plenty of better restaurants in Takapuna. Service attrocious – given we were there for a work lunch birthday – many were under time constraints. Food was very mediocre.

I went to Mac’s Brew Bar with my parents on 14 Jan 2012, and we were lucky enough to have a pleasant experience. The food was tasty, the service was pretty good (one waitress in particular – Maria, was extremely helpful) and we had no problems redeeming our GrabOne vouchers. True, we had to wait a little while for our food and the bill, but as we weren’t in a hurry it didn’t really matter to us.

Had lunch here on Sunday. My husband ordered the steak which was lovely. However, I ordered the Burger and the meat patty was RAW!! I tried sending it back due to the dislike of eating raw minced meat but the chef said “That’s how we cook them here, medium rare!” Firstly, it doesn’t say anywhere that it’s going to be medium rare, Secondly, it was raw not rare and finally, who serves rare minced meat without it being specifically ordered that way.
Even my husband who orders medium rare steak wouldn’t eat it.
Shocking.

GOSH!!!! You lot must have picked a bad hair day. We as a couple and family group have been coming here with our vouchers many times. Mostly go for lunch as I find dinner too busy. This place hums at night. Only once did I not enjoy my salad (oversalted) but once mentioned the waitress in charge on the day was very apologetic and kindly gave us a free one next time. One of the best Chicken Cesears around and I highly recommend it. Pizzas are good too. The occasional change in the menu offerings would be good (just dont take away the salad :)
They do special deals during the week which I find most reasonable.
Have never had a problem with Dean or any of the staff. They are always super friendly, talkative, and attentive.
So I feel sorry for those of you who have caught them on a bad day. Thankfully we never have and will continue to come here for the good food and excellent service.
(And NO! incase any of you think I work or know them personally, I do not. Just give credit where it it due)
Thanks heaps guys for an always great experience.

Just came back from having lunch at Mac’s Brew Bar in Takapuna. The service is shocking. Our starter arrived quickly and the waitress only cleared our table when our mains arrive. Even then she left some dirty side plates on the table which she didn’t bother to remove. Finished our mains and the waitresses just ignored us and once again didn’t remove our plates. We waited to see if someone would come but they would walk past us quickly and could see us but couldn’t care less. It was not full inside at all so could not use busy as an excuse. I walked up to the bar and asked to speak to the manager and only then did a waitress decide to go and clear it. He had a no care attitude and shrugged his shoulders as if to say “so what” so you can obviously see where the staff are getting their nonchalant attitude from. He proceeded to ignore me and say something to another staff member who clearly looked as if I was stupid and had no grounds for complaint. Even though the food was good, I definitely will not be going back and will let all my friends know!!!

22.01.2012 – WOW Dean!!! As the manager is that the best response you can give? After speaking to a few people, this is not an isolated incident but quite a common occurrence so I’m not too sure what bubble you are living in. Just google the reviews on Mac’s Brew Bar and you can see for yourself…I rest my case!!!

Went along with our GrabOne vouchers last night and, after reading all the other reviews, were expecting the worst! However, we were very very pleasently suprised – food was excellent (and there was plenty of it), the service was great (although a little slow at times but it was very busy there) and there was no quibble at all when we went to pay with our vouchers (maybe they now have a new manager??!!??). All of us had a great value-for-money meal. Am going back on Friday for more!

If you have a family with children under 18 years of age I would not recommend dining here. I agree with other comments made on this establishment, purchased Grabone vouchers and when presented them this evening for my family they would not accept them for my children although this was not stated on the vouchers (the new grabone vouchers actually state R18 but not the older ones I had purchased didn’t). The Manger (Dean) was very aggressive and advised that to order a meal the patron must be atleast 18 years of age, I can’t work out why they have a childrens menu! Food was average but entree never even made it to the table. Stay clear!!!!!!

Very slow service – restaurant not very busy when we arrived, but waited nearly 30 minutes for drinks. Food took ages to arrive. Manager wouldn’t honour recently purchased Grabone vouchers – nasty and unreasonable attitude, created all sorts of new conditions not printed on vouchers. Food reasonable, desserts disappointing. Won’t be back.

Popped in for Lunch on Monday for a group of five.
Agree with the other comments. Service still very slow for a pub that wasn’t even that busy for a lunch service. Won’t be back in a hurry.

My wife and I poped in for a drink and late lunch today about 2.30pm RWC Day.
My wife had some very nice crockets and I ordered the upside down pie. This had to have the worst quality meats in it that I have ever eaten.. time the chef tried what he cooks. I felt like he had taken the string off a rolled roast and cooked them up by themselves.. so stringy and chewy. At RWC time this shoud be a top meal.. infact at any time. I think even my cat would have turned his nose up.
You have the ability.. get it right… so important tonight. Presented well but worst beef in the world.
I would never ever serve such rubbish up to anyone let alone in a restaurant,
GO THE AB’S !!!

The service at lunchtime was so slow and it took 20 minutes just to get menus and a beer ordered. There would have been a total of 20 people sitting outside and there was nobody inside. It was becoming embarrassing and we almost left.

What saved the day was the pizza’s and burger’s on the $12 lunch menu. They were all very good.

But again, the next round of beer took forever.

If you are old and do not have long to live, give this place a miss.

yum food but service could be better