We had very good experiences here in the past, and have even been for work lunches when everybody was happy, but this time was an utter disappointment.

We decided to treat ourselves to a rare lunch outing.
Arrived without having booked ahead and got a table outside right away, which was nice, but then the wait started: we had to wait for the waitress to bring the menus, then had to wait for someone to come take our orders (only happened after alerting one of the regularly passing by wait persons, who don’t seem to be very onto it and showed neither interest nor initiative), then we had to wait a long long time for our food to arrive. It came eventually, after we had gone in to ask about it.

I didn’t check the time but the entire meal experience took well over 1 hour, too long in my view, esp. at lunch time. My dining partner commented that they did it on purpose to give people time to catch up and chat…

We decided not to have coffees or desserts (although they looked very good on the menu) simply because we ran out of time. Would have rather chatted some more over pudding

Food was average to ok, nothing to write home about and certainly not worth the price.

Definitely won’t be back in a while.

Today my Husband,Mother and family member went to have lunch, booked in advance as previously friends had been turned away just for coffee???

Our booking was for 1pm we turned up 10mins early, this wasnt a problem as we were seated strait away.
Garlic bread was ordered for entree. This came with drinks after 15 mins or so.

Meals were another story and hour and ten mins we had to wait, Connor our waiter approached us after 40mins to say our meal wouldn’t be long, but took another half hour!! The number of times staff walked past us without a word was frustrating, I had to ask in the end.
Waitress came back and said not long, then three of the meals appeared then mine took a little longer, 1 x Steak Sammie for the hubby, 2 x Salmon fishcakes for Mother and other and I waited for the Chicken Club Sandwich, when this was finally bought out to me the waitress made a comment, but I was so hungry I couldn’t be bothered listening.
I did make a comment that the food had better be worth the wait for over an hour.

Others seemed happy with meal apart from the salads that looked like they had just been chucked on the plates and was from yesterday and the overcooked chips, were dry. The bread for the Club sandwich was hard and dry.
Frustrating part was other guests that were arriving quiet a time after us and were getting meals before us with a number of staff walking past our table and looking at us.

We were never asked if we would like dessert or coffee, but were then bought the bill like they were ready for us to move on.
At the bar when we went in to Pay Connor apolgiesd and said the kitchen lost the meal docket.
He could have told us this earlier and maybe offered a free drink or something.
This was my first time here and after hearing all about it, don’t see what all the talk is about, nice setting, menu sounds nice but disappointed with the taste, presentation and let down in service.

Staff seemed very young who just seemed to be walking around all the time, no leadership in front of house, who was the maitred d?

Don’t know if ill be back wont be in a hurry anyway. Maybe they were too busy to cope but lots of empty seats and turning people away????
Thank you Connor, this is no reflection of your service.
B

This place is alright, I wouldn’t hurry back unless I couldn’t get in anywhere else.

BUT as a bar I think it is excellent! Inviting, relaxing and not like an old man’s pub. Gorgeous setting, lovely gardens. Actually I would go back for a wine on a summers day.

Service was friendly but a bit all over the place, both times I went recently there were not enough front of house staff on. They really did their best in a tough situation and were friendly and kept their cool (just not there much). If they had more staff on they would make more sales by checking up on drinks, desserts, starters etc.

Food is average on the whole. Brought in hollandaise, cold hashbrown, greasy nasi goreng. Under seasoned. Could have been worse, could have been better.

26/11/11
Today we decided to lunch again at the vicarage.
We live locally and in the past I have to say that the food here has always been a bit of a disappointment, so much so that we were reluctant to come back.
Well this time we noticed some changes the ambiance was superb and the wait staff attentive.
The improvements made where great.
However the food was again a real let down, it was such a shame!
My husband & I decided to have a main each which cost in the $20-$30 range and a medium priced Sav Blanc $ $20-$30
I ordered the Chili & Lime prawns with salad & my Husband had Blue Cod & chips with salad.
The prawns were tasty enough but the salad looked like it had been made yesterday and refrigerated, it was over dressed and wilted and the avocado was browning and very cold to taste. It also had corn chips broken and sprinkled over the top of the salad… (What were they thinking?)
My Husbands meal was very tasty the Cod was delicious but again the side salad was taken from the same bin in the fridge as mine!
We did mention our concerns to the waitress when she returned to ask us how our meals were.
She said that she would pass our comments on to the chef.
Please let it be known that we are uncomfortable with complaining but we also expect value for $ spent.
In total we spent approx. $80.00 on lunch and when you consider we spent the same last week at Edessa there is just no comparison. How hard is it to make a fresh salad?
Please, please get your act together regarding your chef…have some pride in what you present to you customers.
I have the the sad feeling that it’s all about the profit with the Vicarage, and not about the food & food presentation, do you want to be a bistro or a restaurant?
You have such potential but your food is letting you down, the menu is fine but quite frankly I could produce your menu to a better standard from my home.
Regards Heather Nielsen.

We have eaten at this restaurant on a number of occasions, but today will cast doubt over whether I will return. Waiting staff were great. We started with the garlic bread which was nice, my partner had the pasta which he said was tasty. I have had this dish before and it was lovely but decided to try something different. I had the Falafel Burger, the falafel was extremely dry and so crumbly I could hardly keep it on my fork, it was served with aioli, lettuce, tomato on a caibbata bun, there was a side salad with no dressing and a pile of seasoned wedges the seasoning looked and tasted like chicken stock. The burger may have been improved with some chutney or relish

Eight people really disappointed with our meal – chicken was dry; duck was dry; steaks tough and inedible; veges obviously reheated in microwave. Eton Mess wasn’t an eton mess and brulee was runny. Service was poor and clumsy. Never again. About 8 yrs ago it was good – but no longer.

I have been to the Old Vicarage at least 8 times,and each time it has been getting worse, the last time was today with my husband and I for lunch, and the time before that there were 8 of us for dinner. We were all disappointed with our meal at dinner and our lunch today. Martin had the seafood chowder which did not look great. We have been to other restaurants where the chowders have been visibly appealing, eg the mussels etc are in their shells. This looked like very runny mashed potatoes. It tasted of fish, but not appetising to look at. It didn’t come with any bread etc. I had the goats cheese won-tons, with chilli sauce. The won-tons were over cooked, ( too brown), but tasty because of the chilli sauce. For our main meal Martin had the chicken and mushroom filo pasty, with salad. I didn’t taste it but he said it was OK, he had tasted better. I had the the Chicken open sandwich with chutney, cheese, bacon, tomato and barbeque sauce, on fochia bread, with fries and salad. The open sandwich was dry, with a tiny bit of chutney, the cheese hadn’t melted and the bread was very chewy. Didn’t see any barbeque sauce. There were hardly any fries and the salad was just green leaves, no other vegetables were in the salad to add colour or flavour. I didn’t taste any dressing either. We get the entertainment book and we noted they weren’t in it. The waitress said that the restaurant was so popular that they didn’t need to put themselves in it this year. Come on Christchurch this restaurant can do much better, the atmosphere is good, but they need to do better with their food. It is my local and I have given them a lot of chances, I will not be going back.

service was excellent, food delicious and fantastic wine. we had the lamb and beef for mains and garlic bread to start – all were perfectly cooked and delicious. we will be back

Since the extensions it is unclear what the Old Vicarage is, perhaps a cafe, bar or a la carte dining. The menu was unclear and it was difficult to know whether it was necessary to order the side dishes or not Most diners will need to have a dish from all 3 courses. I am not a big eater but came away hungry.Due to the changes give it a miss if you are a family with teenage or young children.
This seems to have only changed just since the refurbishment and I hope they can bring it back to the previous standard.

Don’t go to this restaurant unless you have a lot of free time. We have eaten there twice and found the long waiting time unjustifiable.

The excellent food was let down by cold atmosphere,place needs to be warmed in advance. A lot of your diners will be elderly and need a warm environ.I also suggest the music level is set to the customers requirements not what the staff want.Music should be background not dominating.

Held a group dinner for 20 people. Good staff meant the service was excellent.A great selection of dishes cooked to perfection and good wine selection made this an occasion that will be remembered for years to come.
We know you will enjoy this as much as us.

Myself and 4 other friends had lunch at the Vicarage on Saturday and thoroughly enjoyed it. The service was the best we have had anywhere for a very long time. The meal was lovely and the dessert divine. We will definitely be back.