We came out on a winters Sunday as we had heard and read so much about the tavern.
We came by the Red Boats – which was just a fantastic trip and well worth it!
We got told on the boat to get your orders in early as they do get very busy and the boat leaves at 3pm sharp.
We did not realise you had to book the restaurant – its a pity they don’t tell you that as you book the boat trip…
so upon arrival we got shunted out into the boat shed…after finally getting to the bar was very disappointed with the choice on the menu…. it is very very basic!!
The place was absolutely heaving and on this wet cold day the only option left was to sit outside in the wet paddock. Partner finally found a table up in the outside bar area that at least was firm under foot and had umbrellas open -so we took the kids and went up there.
Chaos then ensued. Because we had ordered our meals in the downstairs bar area – we had now committed the cardinal sin of moving to a new zone.
Meals took over an hour to come. They were very disappointing upon arrival.
Its the little things that stand out- no butter on the burger or even mayonnaise, no tomato sauce on the kids hot dogs, very bland boring food. paper plates for serving.
Not quite what i had been expecting.
The boat trip is well worth it – but don’t have high expectations for the food when you get there.
They would be better off having a fantastic carvery on a Sunday where at least you could get a delicious hot roast dinner – have more time for another drink and even dessert – enjoy the music without having to be pinned to your seat waiting for food. Good luck it is a fantastic venue.

I cannot rave enough about the friendly staff, the excellent service and the amazing food at The Landing. We went on a very busy Saturday for a family lunch, 10 of us ranging in age from 21 to 90 and everyone totally enjoyed the experience. Satisfied the vegetarians in the group too. Perfect setting for a perfect day! Well done, love you and we’ll be back.

Great food, pub like atmosphere. Great views of the river and lovely garden area and walk to the river. It’s a great day out to get away from the city.

2 weeks ago 5 of my mates and I came to your tavern via boat. After a fantastic journey up the river, we tied up to the jetty and made our way to the restaurant. Had fantastic seating outside along with fantastic views and lighting. Then followed up by amazing mouth watering food. The waiter and waitress were very laid back which was great. I thought the lighting throughout the whole restaurant was incredible. We then made our way back down the jetty on to the boat and then back home. All of my mates and I were very impressed. Keep up the great job. We will be back. My wife is in the process of organizing a hens brunch in the next two weeks. I’m sure it will be a success!!

I’ve been here a couple of times as it’s local and the setting is great overlooking the water and very pretty in summer, the previous times were OK really only good enough to be my last choice in local dining, but it was booked by someone else for a group of 15 of us as a nice finale for a 3 day clinic we had attended with the trainer flying in from Aussie. They would not accommodate all of us at one table saying the largest group they could serve at one time was 12 people, I tried arguing this as we really didn’t care if we were served together, just wanted to sit together as one group, but they would not relent. They were out of maybe 4 – 5 of the mains @ 7ish on a Sunday and they forgot a number of ordered dishes and drinks, 3 of us sitting together ordered a steak each requiring a different finish, 1 rare, 1 med rare and myself med but they all arrived the same about med rare, I think everyone was disappointed with the service and the food appalling that they couldn’t seat us together, I suppose if they had at least informed the person who booked we could have gone elsewhere.

We went here for lunch after betting that The Riverhead has become a lot closer to the Auckland CBD in the thirty years we’ve been away. It has. This is a restaurant in a wonderful setting on a polysyllabic tidal river at the top end of the Waitemata harbour. It could be rated higher if the food was any good, but it’s a curate’s egg – some of it is excellent, but a lot of it isn’t. The size of the menu gives it away: there are far, far too many dishes on it for them to be cooked and delivered to a high standard. My lamb rump was OK and presented well, and the accompanying spinach very good; but the scalloped potatoes were a microwaved disaster.

Service was slow at times, and rapid service was usually the harbinger of nuked food. Table staff didn’t seem to be happy in their work.

This could be an excellent restaurant. It’s attractive, but the food needs work. All that being said, we’ll go back – it is a “find” as a place to take visitors.

Having been to The Riverhead a few times and eaten well, I was looking forward to my recent visit.
I opted for the halloumi salad which was disappointing – very basic, just three strips of halloumi placed onto three slices of tomato, then onto a few lettuce leaves and some dressing, very bland and at $15 made me feel quite sad. Sorry it could have been made heaps better.

A beautiful experience on the North Shore.
It’s taken us a while to find a restaurant with a combination of tasty food, great atmosphere and efficient service. The Riverhead has it all. Their extremely welcoming staff and talented chefs made our night out a true pleasure. They have an awesome menu, with many of our favourites listed. We had a thoroughly wonderful family night out in comfortable surroundings and will definitely be regular visitors in the future.

Disgusted at our treatment

I have given The Landing rave reviews in the past and, on that basis, we decided to celebrate my wife and eldest son’s birthdays at the Landing on 13 January 2013.

My daughter made the booking and was told that they could not book the “outside” tables in case it rained and that they only booked the number of seats that could be accommodated inside the restaurant. She was told that “if you get here early I’m sure we can get you a table on the deck”.

My son arrived early at 11:30 AM and got a great table that would accommodate the expected party of six. Unfortunately three of the party had had to cancel due to illness on the day, so the three of us placed our orders for drinks, starters and mains with our very pleasant waiter.

The drinks arrived and we were thinking to order another bottle when the mains and starters arrived at the same time carried by three waiters.

It seemed a little strange to receive mains and starters at the same time.

We decided to eat the starters and mains together. The pizza and the steak were good, but the fish was dark and dry. When we finished, our waiter cleared the plates away.

The waiter offered us the Dessert menu, but we declined at that time having just finished our starters and mains.

Imagine our surprise when a blonde lady, clutching her spectacles, arrived at our table and, in a loud voice, told us that we had to move inside as she had a booking for our table at 1:00 PM ! (Remember – we had been told that they could NOT book the “outside tables.) When we pointed this out to the blonde lady, she, again in her strident voice, told us that she couldn’t have three people occupying an eight-seat table.

We were humiliated and embarrassed at this rude and abusive treatment, especially as we had been refused the opportunity to “BOOK” the table ourselves.

We advised the person at the cash-desk of this humiliation andMore embarrassment, but this lady tried to say that she had put the wrong BOOKING on the table. (This is on a table that cannot be BOOKED ??)

I had been recommending The Landing to my friends and acquaintances as THE PLACE to go, but I will advise them to be cautious as it seems that on the whim of the blonde lady you could be told to move off your table. I will give the Landing a miss for a while.

I have been to The Riverhead twice now and the atmosphere, service and food has been great.

I recently went with a large group of friends on a Saturday night for my birthday. The service was excellent and our meals had arrived within 15 minutes of them being ordered. not only that but they were amazing and well worth the money. everyone was raving about how awesome their meals were. I thought this was fantastic especially considering they were packed when we arrived and we had expected our meals to take ages.

Highly recommended. We will definitely be back.

Thank you so much ‘The Riverhead’ !

Superb location and attractive redesign of the indoor/outdoor spaces. We only come here for lunch (about 10 times or so in the last year) and our experiences have been positive. In particular the food quality has, in our experience, improved considerably in the last few months. Only niggle is – why not more local wines by the glass on the menu?

Highly recommend this place.

As a first time visitor, loved the place and staff were great but breakfast this morning was really disappointing. Bubble & Squeak was oily, mushy and tasteless. Mushrooms cold and also tasteless and bacon and sausages oily.

We wont be put off and will try a lunch or dinner someday.

Our group recently had dinner at The Riverhead. The fish of the day was dry. They forgot to bring out my dessert. We have dined at the Riverhead over a dozen times now and really it feels like it is heading to a “more bums on seats = more revenue” approach which is a shame for such a unique location. The meals are priced the same as one would expect to pay in the city but unique location and venue will only last so long against quality and service

We’ve tried the Riverhead about 5 times because it is in such a beautiful location but we’ve been dissatisfied with our meals every time.
Breakfast was better than lunch or dinner but not really up to scratch for the prices.
Would have a drink there but it’s a no for the food unfortunately.

We have dined at The Riverhead severl times lately and think you have done a great job with the refurbishment. The food is great with a nice selection – The pulled pork sandwich is awesome.
The staff seem friendly and we love the snuggly blankets for outside. Best of luck and we will be back!!

We booked via email on Monday for an Anzac afternoon lunch, and I had to ring 24 hours later to see if my booking had been received and confirmed. With this sort of service we should have stayed home. Service was slow with both taking our drinks orders and, food orders. After well over 1 hour of being at our table we were advised that they had “lost” our order but several seconds later advised “we have found it”. After waiting another 30 minutes it arrived – we were underwhelmed – the pizza’s lacked any flavour and tasted like cardboard, and the chefs pie resembled more like soup in pastry.
Both alcohol and food prices are on a level with the viaduct but the service and quality/presentation of the food was well below what one expects from an eating establishment nowadays.
In summary – over-priced and average food.

After being told about the Riverhead by friends, my partner and I visited the Tavern for the first time on a Saturday lunchtime. From the time we walked in the front door to the time we left we were impressed with the atmosphere and the friendly staff. Eating a nice meal on the outside deck while enjoying the water and rural views is an extremely pleasant and relaxing experience.

Had lunch here and was so impressed. We started with breads and dips and then all 5 of us had a different main. All presented so beautifully and all delicious. Meals were a really good size – was disappointed I couldnt fit dessert in !!There were a good selection of those. Overall – food amazing, service amazing and the location is outright stunning. Just wished I lived in Auckland so I could go back.

I am really disappointed with The Riverhead. We eat out often and were hoping for a local where we could get a reasonably priced meal, reasonably priced drinks, great service and a place we wanted to visit regularly. (Like a couple of times a week) But this didn’t happen. The meals are expensive for what they are, the staff are inconsistent and badly trained, the place seems really disorganised and the drinks are Auckland City prices in the middle of nowhere. I think they have tried to take Hallertau on but don’t measure up and we don’t need two. What we need is a great family restaurant where we can take the children.

We visited The Landing on Saturday night to celebrate my Mother’s 60th birthday. After hearing so many great comments about this place we thought it would be perfect. My parents had been here just before Xmas and said it was fabulous. I had also looked at the reviews on this page and was confident we had made a good decision.

We ended up extremely disappointed with how our evening turned out. My partner’s beer on tap tasted a little weird so he ordered a cider, he had to wait well over 20 minutes for it, despite asking 3 times. When it arrived it was a pear cider – not what he wanted, but after waiting so long he decided to drink it. We had to ask twice for the bottle of red wine which was then plonked unceremoniously down on the table. We did tell the waitress not to pour it, but we did not expect it to hit the table with a thud. The entrees were good – although the sauce on the prawn cocktail was in the bottom of the glass, meaning you had to eat prawns and lettuce before you got to the sauce. The kumara chips were absolutely cremated and black. My partner and sister’s calamari and Dad’s mussels were good as was my ostrich. However the mains were terrible – my father’s fish came with broccoli instead of salad as our waitress had told us, my mother’s lamb was a little overcooked, my partner’s burger was very plain. My sister’s vegetarian lasagne was 10 minutes later than the other mains. The worst however was my fillet steak – I asked for it medium and at $36 you would expect that it would come as I asked. It was cooked completely through and didn’t even look like fillet. I returned it and was then brought another meal well over 20 minutes later– by this stage the others had finished their mains. The second on was exactly the same. At that point we’d had enough. The chef obviously has no idea how to cook a steak and to repeat the same mistake again is ridiculous. Not only customer service, but what a wMoreaste of ingredients! I am certainly hoping for their sake as a business they do something about the chef and the waitress.
Although I will say the restaurant was apologetic and generously did not charge us for our food but money aside my mother’s special birthday dinner was ruined. We will be having another dinner out – just definitely not there! The best thing about the whole evening was the amazing view and great hand basins in the ladies toilets!

Our social club had a great night at the Riverhead pub before Xmas. Everyone of our group had wonder full time. So in January I took my family for brunch. It was Great we had good breakfast. No one cooks eggs like the dad in our house but the chef at Riverhead. It was cooked just like my family likes it soft and runny. The coffee was the best I’ve had so far in Auckland. We had a cafe girl with us and she was totally satisfied and happy. The staff friendly and service was good as well as value for money. We will be back when the weather allows us to have a summer.

What a fantastic place The Riverhead is! We have just had another fantastic experience there – great atmosphere, friendly and helpful staff, food to die for and what has to be one of the most picturesque places to dine. Each time we have been there the experience has wonderfully consistent. Loving it more each time – we will be back!

Dreadful. Which was such a shame as we had heard good things about the place.

We took a family member for lunch as a treat and were embarrassed. From trying to get water for the table, salt and pepper to paying our bill – we felt invisible. The waiting staff seemed confused about which tables they were working.

The three of us all ordered the same main – fish of the day(hapuka) and they were all dry and one plate had enough sauce for three meals, the other two had hardly any.

A lovely venue with such promise but we will not risk it a second time.

Had a lovely dinner there. Pork belly entree was on the small size for the price of it but made up for by the size of the seafood chowder entree. Mains reasonably priced, atmosphere great & the attendant was very good (she even took our order sooner so that we could get in front of the big group about to order). Would recommend. View over the river mouth is amazing.

I have just been blown away by this place. The river view is so relaxing I could sit there all day. I have tried the entire menu on my visits and every one has been perfect. My favorite is the steak on kumara mash a close second would be the crispy fish and chips. The staff are friendly and attentive and there is a neat ambiance which is why I keep going back. We sometimes do brunches on Sundays followed by perfect coffee. Yum looking forward to going back soon.

We went recently for diner after a busy day and found the staff super-friendly and the atmosphere warm and relaxing. Loved out door area.The meals were delicious and service was great. Will definitely visit again soon.

Dined last night. Packed restaurant, surprising as rugby was on……. server attentive but not intrusive, a little stressed but forgiven as very busy. Food fantastic. Myself having lamb shank with mash awesome, beautiful french style braising falling off the bone and heavenly tasting. Amazing venue, especially the outdoor decked area. Very impressed although dubious at first due to other reviews. Obviously taken all feedback on board and moving in the right direction! Great job guys, will be back to check out live music on the 30th, will bring a crew to show you off, can’t wait.

We’ve tried The Riverhead a couple of times. We have young kids and to be honest, the food has taken way too long and they get really restless. Would be great if things could speed up a little on the service front – we waited over 20 minutes for our first drink to arrive and there were three people behind the bar!