Love the fact that SPQR is open so late and you cant beat one of their crispy based pizzas with a good glass of wine after a show. The caprese salad features a beautiful whole ball of mozzarella which you can spread across your prosciutto, dreaming of being in Italy (albeit with pretty camp and fabulous waiters around you!). Very dim lighting makes the long wine list hard to read but maybe helps us look better late at night so never mind! Good choice of wines by the glass and if you can nab a table outside you will not be short of entertainment with the great ponsonby road people watching!

My five stars are for the amazing clam linguine that I enjoyed last week. I loved it. Incredible flavours, and I enjoyed the freshness of those myriad wee clams. Also liked the scollop entree, and thought it was excellent value when it all came to $35 incl a wine. (Was on an ‘Express Lunch’ menu card.)

One comment for potential improvement would be to find a way to streamline the multitude of menus, specials-cards and other options, which made it a little mind-boggling to navigate . . . but, am I really going to complain about too many options and too many special-deals?! I don’t think so!

Staff were also excellent. I liked the rustic atmosphere. Best seats would be in the front window-area if you can book a table in there where the natural light flows in even on a grey day.

A great place for a business lunch.

Very friendly service, the cocktails are so yum! Would have given 5 stars but the pasta dish I had was not too great. Overall a great experience!

We had heard good things about SPQR and their creme brulee, so we decided to go there for dessert on a stormy Friday.

The restaurant was very busy and we waited for our table at the bar for 20 minutes. The cocktails were quite good.

It was more of a bar atmosphere than a dining one as the restaurant was very echoey. The waiters were super-friendly and pretty chilled out.

So overall, up to this point, it wasn’t a bad experience…just that the creme brulee didn’t wow us like it did others. Little did we know that lining up to pay would take another 15-20 minutes (when only 3-4 people were in front of us)…and we soon found out why! When it was finally our turn to pay, we encountered a what seemed to be quite a nice, friendly girl…until she failed at finding our bill. She was then stressed and frustrated – almost taking it out on us. BUT. She got it in the end – on the 5th try!

This place looks the goods but how disappointing. We were told a 30 min wait for a table, so happy to have a drink while waiting. After 50 mins and a couple of quiet reminders to the ‘way to busy’ front man, he proudly declared a table had been organised. He was happy to seat our party of 4 on a small round table suitable for 2! A bit of a slap after waiting 50 mins for a table. The impending circus of getting 4 plates and 8 glasses plus extras unfolded as any waiter with half a brain should have been able to foresee.To get a second bottle of wine we had to ask 3 times, then it was bought from the bar without cork and poured directly into a glass still containing the previous wine. No tasting, no new glasses. Lift your game if you want to class yourself as decent establishment.Unless you are part of the Ponsonby ‘In Crowd’ most of the staff are too self important to give you more than a sideways glance. The food was decent but they could net even get the 2 steaks we ordered to the correct person. If you want to be classed as a good restaurant then get the basics down first please! Will not be returning or recommending to others.

Took my mother, brother and his girlfriend to SPQR today, we arrived there at 12 as they dont take bookings for less than 6 people.The waitress seemed friendly, and we ordered a platter to share which arrived very promptly. We ordered our lunch and were waiting and waiting..30 minutes passed and we noticed people that had arrived after us were recieving meals before us. We asked where our food was and the waitress said ten minutes away. 45 minutes later we ended up walking out.. I read about this in the Metro Mag..supose to be in the top 50 restaurants..When you pay top dollar u expect top service!..The waitress and staff were very non sympathetic about our dining experience. Wont be going back there !

I had the steak meal. Was yum, even the vegetables! Quite a busy place

We came here to see what all the fuss was about. All we found was a haughty wait staff who seem to believe their own hype. The food was average, service average, but the tables, floors, chairs, etc. were really dirty.

Always a pleasure eating here, try the Payaya, perfect for two, staff are fanciful, and very entertaining and make you feel looked after, in a great atmosphere.

Overpriced and overrated. I’ve been here many times because so many of my friends want to try it out and I’m always left nonplussed. However, the last time was especially disturbing because of the outrageous aggression from the nasty little bartender who didn’t like the fact that I pointed out to the waiter that my wine glass was poured about half shy. The bartender served a topped off glass in person and gave me such a mad dog evil look that my first reaction was to kick him but after I got past that I thought, maybe I’ll just have him neutered.

great dining experiance delicious pizza, good steak too. Really enjoyed their good desserts. The Creme brulee was the most intense, good serving size too as expected by the prices really quite good dining. Just needa turn the music down a touch to you can talk to each other.

classy
very attentive service – genuine, friendly staff
excellent food
thumbs up