The Old Mill serves good food but I didn’t experience very good service on a take away order. They brought the order out in two lots so by the time we had it all the first half had gone cold.

We only order sandwiches and a fritter but when we got back they hadn’t put all the ingredients in the sandwich. I took the order back and rather than make a fresh one, they added and reheated resulting in a soggy sandwich with chewy cheese, at $12 each I was less than impressed.

Great location, friendly service, relaxed dining. We have eaten there 3 times now when passing through Tairua and are continually impressed by their interesting and delicious food.

We came in as a table of six and spent the next two hours thoroughly enjoying ourselves. We ordered two bottles of the house pinot gris, with the table split between the Salmon with Nicoise salad (always a fav!) and the battered fish, which was gurnard on the night. The carrot cake was a nice way to finish my meal too.

The thing that sets the Old Mill apart from a city restaurant is it’s ambience. Our table enjoyed ourselves so much as we understand that a seaside town restaurant will take a different approach to a big city restaurant, and I really enjoyed the experience.

I would recommend this great little restaurant to anyone going out for dinner in Tairua, for the food and also the good times that seem to flow from a place in such an amazing position.

I was at the Old Mill on the same evening as the ‘David S’ review posted on the 26th September. I do not usually write reviews as I feel people with a chip on their shoulder can do much damage without any justification. As a professional chef, culinary tutor and food writer I see enough of this petty banter.

Learning that The Old Mill was now under new management we decided to try out their dinner menu with a couple of friends this Saturday evening. We arrived on time for our 7pm table reservation and stood waiting for ten minutes in front of the reception desk without being acknowledged while the Front of House person processed other patron’s payments and the Wait Staff ignored us. Then it was some time before our booking could be found (on one of many scraps of paper on the desk) and we were eventually told to sit on some comfy chairs and look at the wine list while they prepared our table. Although the place was not full and there were other tables available which we could have been offered, we weren’t given a choice.

Having waited in the comfy chairs for further 15 minutes without being asked if we would like to order a drink, we were then told our table was ready. So a total of 30 minutes passed between arrival and being seated .

I ordered a bottle of wine but was then told unfortunately they had run out of that one. Okay, how about another one? No, that had run out of that as well. Perhaps you could tell us which wines you do have? We were told the rest were available except apparently the next wine I asked for! A more expensive variety of the second wine I’d requested IS available but there was no suggestion that they’d charge us the price of the equivalent on the wine list as compensation for it. We decided we should persevere and looked at the limited menu. Sorry, we were told, we only have two portions of the fish left. And the first dish we ordered wasn’t actually available either!

We waited another ten minutes for the wine to arrive before deciding we had had enough and unanimously decided to leave.

As others have said, the view during the day is good and the comfy chairs are comfy so I’m happy to give them one star. But we’ll never set foot in The Old Mill again, day or evening, until it is under new and professional management.

Fantastic coffee and great food. We always head for The Old Mill when in Tairua,its consistently very good, got loads of character and handy to the awesome Tairua Ocean beach.

Fantastic location. Exceptionally clean comfortable and Friendly. Food and coffee consistently good. the staff and owners always friendly even when run of there feet. Lovely little boutique shop. Could chill out on the comfy sofa all day given the chance.