The Reef is close to my work and has a fairly uncomplicated menu so I’ve been there for work dinners quite often. Usually the food is quite good, just don’t expect fine dining. The service is also usually pretty good apart from one time when they completely forgot our order, and after 45mins without starters we had to ask what was happening only for them to have no idea what we had ordered. To their credit, in that instance they gave us the starters and drinks for free and only charged us for the mains.

Our all steak were burnt, horrible bitter taste and no seasoning at all. 1/10. It was our fault coz ordered steak at seafood restaurant???? Honestly they DO NOT know how to cook meat. They don’t have any idea what is medium or medium-rare. Cooking seafood may be OK, I hope. They full charged us for burnt wood. Seriously headache for 2days by too much charcoal.

Seafood chowder- great start. Looking forward to garlic prawns- disappointed as very overcooked and trust me I know my prawns! More than average price for seven prawns, a bit of rocket salad and chips although must say the chips were good. Great wait service and apologised for the prawns but wont be hurrying back anytime soon.

Fantastic food, fantastic service & price and we will be back. The chef really knows how to cook seafood, waitress and waiters knew what foods I needed to avoid being dairy free. Would recommend to others who love seafood like us

I have been a regular at the reef for a few years now. My favourite menu item is the platter. Has a but of everything. The platter changed a little and I emailed my thoughts and got very pleasant explanation back. I had ordered seafood platters in Sydney and Samoa and The Reef is the best I have tasted withe a great balance. The desserts are good now too since Rob took over.

Decent enough seafood spot. Not amazing but good enough & it doesn’t cost a whole lot. Ive usually been pretty happy with the meals I have received here.

Funny thing I’m reading in these reviews is from people who went to the Sea Food restaurant and ordered a steak!

There are certainly better places to get a steak, but its not bad for sea food!

The waitresses were very helpful and lovely. The meal was a complete let down. I asked for a “medium-rare” steak and my steak came out so raw it was essentially a blue steak, briefly seared. For the price I wouldn’t go back. Seems to be overrated. If it wasn’t for the good service from the waitresses it would of been a complete flop. The waitress didn’t charge me for my drinks because of the steak which was a bonus I guess.

We went here on Saturday 24th March, our teenage children booked this restaurant for our daughters 18th Birthday. After reading the reviews I was a little nervous and thought about cancelling as there was nothing positive. How ever we decided to go with it and try it anyway. We are very pleased to say that our meals were great, we all had seafood and were all happy with the way it was cooked and presented, the service was excellent. If I had to be picky I would say a slightly larger table for the 4 of us would have been nicer. We will return here.

What a disappointing experience! Extremely slow service, wobbly table (and when we asked for it to be changed nothing was done, so we swapped it with a table nearby only to be told that that table had been booked so they couldn’t change ours – tough we had already done it!). The food was bland and my husband and son ordered medium steaks only to have them come out raw!! They were returned, supposedly the reason was that the chef had read it wrong on the docket, two more steak meals arrived and this time the steaks were beyond well done!! The waitress was lovely but we decided enough, paid for the meals we did eat and left. We did a a free glass of wine after the first steaks were returned but all in all the night was totally spoilt. Would not go back and would definitely never recommend anyone dine here.

FOOD QUALITY: 4/5
PORTION SIZE: 5/5
SERVICE & AMBIENT: 5/5
VALUE FOR MONEY: 4/5
OVERALL: 4/5

I’m not a seafood lover so I only tried Battered Sole, Calamari and Mini Spring Rolls and Samosas so far (and Smoked Salmon Salad which I didn’t like as it was just a cold fish slice on salad). The first three meals listed were delicious, came with fries and a salad.
I like the fact that you get a bottle of tap water although my partner says it has a distinct taste.

Portions are very reasonably sized, although I do need to eat again in 3 hours or so after this meal.

Staff is VERY friendly and attentive, ambient is great, usually the place is quite empty and pleasant around lunchtime. The decoration is appealing – at least the place doesn’t look as empty or boring.

Overall, for a $10 lunch I’ve been pretty satisfied so far, although after one’s been there a few times the food starts being too repetitive. I’d say it’s worth a visit every couple of months.

Although it says it is a seafood restaurant the chefs have no idea how to cook seafood. Have been there twice and the food is always overcooked- particularly the prawns (always chewy and floury). Very overpriced too. DO NOT VISIT THIS RESTAURANT!!!

Would not be returning. Visited the restaurant with my mother who enjoys seafood. For a non-seafood eater there is one choice only which is the tbone steak. I enjoy steak so that was fine but the variety is not good for non-seafood eaters. I enjoyed the steak however it was overcooked. I ordered medium-rare and the steak was well done but flavourful. The salad was plain and dry and the chips were bad tasting and full of oil. There was no dressing with the salad and chips covered in tomato sauce when I dislike tomato sauce. The seafood dishes all though look big are mainly salad. The menu items which are described are also explained unappealingly and it is hard to choose as the dishes are often too complicated.

Would like more variety and the salad and chips and too tasteless and unappealing. Will not be my choice of restaurant again

We went there on Monday night as we had been there a number of times before. We ordered the plata for two and were extremely disappointed. It consisted mainly of mussels and calamari. This appeared to us to be done on the cheep. The crumbed sole was very dry and cardboard like. There were less than one persons serving of chips on the plate that had the mussels and calamari covering it. The mussels and the calamari had no flavours to them – this might be done on purpose but we thought there was chefs cooking the meal. The paddle crabs were OK but the tomato sauce that was over it could have been made by a 12 year old. The prawns had no flavours added – not even garlic. What was tasty was the smoked salmon. We were initially given just one little serve of tar tare and sweet chili sauce with four slices of lemon for the whole meal. We asked for more sauce and it wasn’t a problem – in fact the waitresses were very good for Dunedin – but average for what is really expected when you go into a shop to spend over $100 (including drinks) For the $85 that it cost we were disappointed with the content and the flavours as well as the presentation. We might be fussy but it is another nail in the coffin for dining out in Dunedin except for pub meals where the expectations are not set so high and the price is reasonable for what one gets.

Friendly service and received a window seat. Food was good though I think they mixed up the T Bone steaks. Mine was Turf & Surf blue to rare. My daughter ordered the plain T bone medium. I’m sure she got the blue one but she ate it without complaint as she didn’t want mine.

My husband and I visited Reef on Valentine’s day and it was good experience. Had a wonderful time.
Ambiance in the resraurent was good. Staff was very friendly. I ordered Smoked Salmon which was very delicious. B ordered Surf And Turf T-Bone, it was nicely grilled and was very tasty. Quantity was very good. Even thought restaurant was full, Service was fast. Good value for the money.
Overall all the experience was very good. Surly on ourlist to visit again.

We tried this restaurant for a birthday and came away very confused by the experience. One of the party had the speciality crab in chilli sauce and one had the (expensive) seafood platter. We expected the crab to be a filled shell of crab meat and a dish of chilli sauce to dip it in. Not so. It wasn’t a traditional crab, but more of a spider crab which resembled the creature that Sigourney Weaver pulled off John Hurt’s face in Alien. This resemblance wasn’t helped by the fact that it was in a bowl drenched with red sauce with its legs all hanging out the side. The person who’d ordered it nobly attacked it with the cracker tool, but the shell was squishy and wouldn’t crack. So in the end he had to plunge his hands into the sauce and try to suck something out of the spidery legs. The crab meat actually tasted a bit funny and he wasn’t 100% well the following day.
The seafood platter wasn’t as expected either. It was a mix of cold seafood such as prawns in shells and mussels and hot fish like a piece of breaded plaice (or something white). It was okay, but not really worth the $44 paid for it.
We ordered some drinks – the soft ones were fine but tiny, but the Bacardi and coke tasted just like coke. If there was Bacardi in it, it was the tiniest quantity possible to add.
So, all in all the experience was disappointing. And this is confusing when the restaurant was clearly very busy and some of the reviews on here were very good. Maybe we were just unlucky. We won’t be going back to see if this was the case though.
I do have to say that the waitress was superb and very friendly.

My partner and I recently ordered the shrimp platter for 2… my gosh it was a feast!
It included: a garlic bread each, salad each, fries and over a kilo of shrimp (lemon slices and chilli dipping sauce on the side). We were both incredibly full after this meal. The shrimp was cooked well and the sauce was tasty. Efficient service, meal arrived quickly and interior was quirky and fitted the under the sea theme. Great place to come for a fun relaxed low key meal with family or friends.
The only down side was I ate so much shrimp I was put off for eating it for a while

Eating here was recommended on our recent tour of the South Island – what a gastronomic delight – from the garlic roll, through to the blue cod & bluff oysters, not to be disappointed by the pound cake/marscapone dessert!!!
Service was friendly and efficient as well. Thanks guys!! Wish you were in Auckland!!!!!!

Tony, Lorraine, Frank & Thelma

We went to The Reef for the first time last week and it was fabulous. The service was spot on and the food was cooked beautifully.
We had the Blue Cod and the Salmon which were both delicious and the Mussels as our entree were the best I’ve had. You can order the mussels as a main but the entree was over a dozen mussels so the main must be huge!!

We were 4 on a driving holiday from Australia. The location is very convenient. The food, generous and the service friedly. I left my scarf on the back of my chair and on request they mailed it back to me in Sydney proptly.
Thank you
David Pannell

Fantastic meal! Great for children. Very good value. Service excellent. Super place to eat!

8/10 for decor.
8/10 for service
4/10 for meal.
We were recommended this restaurant by another chief as having the best seafood ever. Paid $85-00 for Seafood Basket for two served on bed of rice. Metal tray served on meant food went cold and fatty quickly. Squid rings were like rubber bands and left feeling very hungry. Not big meal. Mainly squid rings and rice. Very dissapointed.

Truly one of the best restaurants in New Zealand, the

complete dining experience, service was impeccable,

asked to have the entree’s and the mains bought at

the same time, and it was! and cooked to perfection,

i had a mixture of their finest fish dish’s and

meats, a wonderful treat for the taste buds. I have

eaten throughout New Zealand and Australian

Restaurants and if you really do want to experience

the flavour of New Zealand seafood then i fully

recommend eating at the Reef. 2 thumbs up.. !!

Been here a few times for lunch, they have a nice $10 lunch menu. Food is always really nice and the theme is suited well to the restaurant!

This is absolutly one of my fav restaurents in dunedin .. if you are celebrating your birthday dont go to anywhere else !! they have the yummiest seafood eva !! the stuff are excellent and they take orders very fast ! I really love this place it takes you to another world !!

rec food:
chicken breast
salmon fillet
prawns =D the chips and wedges are yuuummm try it !! U HAVE TO

When we first entered The Reef we noticed the beautiful ambience the place had. The decorations were well suited to the seafood theme and I got a ‘under the sea’ kind of vibe. The staff were very helpul and prompt and left me feeling well served. The food was delicious! Different flavours complimented each other very well and my salmon fillet was a delight to eat. My date happened to get the tiger prawns which proved to be quite an entertaining site. I thoroughly enjoyed this restaurant and would recommend it to anyone in the future.

Was recommended to us from a friend. Thought good nice fresh seafood. Ordered the mussels & then the Tuna. Expensive compared to Nth Island pricing. Tuna was over cooked & I’d say had been frozen. Not impressed. Staff were nice & friendly.

Very, very nice food. The blue cod is a must as is the salmon steak. Very friendly staff and always willing to assist. I left a big tip which would mean I was either drunk or well impressed. Safe to say that it was the latter! Go have a visit.