Very nice setting, comfortable surrounds and helpful staff. But for a mains price of $36 plus $6 for sides, the servings are just way too small, even if they are nicely presented. If you are hungry, tell them in advance and ask for decent-sized mains, or you’ll go out hungry! Other top restaurants also come at this trick, perhaps to encourage you to have entrees and desserts.

Food is alright, but I guess most people really go for the drinks/location anyway

Went to St Johns for a business lunch. This place is the bomb!! We sat outside in the sun (yes, this is Wellington), and had a few wines from the extensive wine list. Lunch was fantastic and super fast coming out. Could have quite happily parked up for the day on one of their bean bags, but alas, had to go back to work!!! Cheers, and we will be back

We stopped in for a quick business lunch between meetings. The bar service is very quick, however we found the table service a bit slow.
The three of us had the large Hot Mixed Platter which was not really big enough for three large blokes.

A nice bar but nothing special.

My husband and I went for dinner on a Saturday night a few weeks ago. Having read the reviews here I wasn’t too sure what to expect and was pleasantly surprised.

Entrees – garlic ciabatta and buffalo mozarella arancini. The garlic ciabatta was disappointing and in fact wasn’t even ciabatta. However, the arancini was delicious.

For the mains my husband had steak and I had pork belly. Both were lovely and my husband’s steak so tender that it just melted in your mouth.

On the waitresses recommendation we both had the chocolate fondant for dessert. While delicious it wasn’t a fondant – a fondant should ooze liquid chocolate from the centre and this had the consistency of a chocolate mud cake. So while it was tasty, I’d recommend the chef head to the Tasting Room to see what the real thing should be like.

The service was pretty much faultless. All in all a lovely evening.

Had the tempura oysters and duck in pancake with hoisin sauce entrees. Oysters were nice, but the duck pancake was nothing exciting. Mains were a major disappointment. The Bouillabaisse was acceptable, although there was only one of each shellfish and fish. The Wagyu beef must have sat around for sometime after being cooked as it was not even warm. It did not go with the salty fishy wakame warm salad and the tempura veggies accompaniment were really tough to chew! The beef was bland and although it was pink it was not tender. The Crayfish medallion, Scallops and Crispy Skin Snapper looked good on the plate although a mean portion, but was equally bland and dry. The Lamb trio (Lamb cutlets) looked pink but was also not warm when it arrived, and the jus lacked flavour. I made a point to inform the waiter of our disappointment with the mains.
The Frenchman waiter was wonderful, he was very helpful, friendly and obliging. We were hesitant to order dessert after being let down by the mains. However, the waiter managed to cajole us to order a trifle and tiramisu. The desserts were nice, the Tiramisu was especially yummy and saved the evening for us. As it was my birthday the waiter arranged for a candle on the Tiramisu – a nice special touch. The Mojito drink I ordered was average – I have had better tasting ones elsewhere.
Overall, It is a pity that such a nice location and ambiance is let down by the quality of the mains.

My family and I recently dined at this restaurant to celebrate my son’s graduation. I have dined there before and had an exquisite meal, but unfortunately for Wellington diners the restaurant food has declined significantly in the last two years.
The olive gnocchi was stodgey, very non olive in flavour,and the portion mean for $29, not that I would want any more.
The fish of the day was described to me by a fellow diner as not fresh and overcooked, mean portion again.
The most expensive meal at $39 was a trio of crayfish scallops and fish, all overcooked, actually chewy, again a mean portion.
The other two diners had the lamb racks, ok I’m told.
I would like to say the wine list and the garlic bread were very good, well done.
The restaurant was very busy, but on reflection this restaurant is marketing itself as fine dining, the prices reflected this but the standard wasn’t met.
I believe I could produce better myself and I am not a trained chef. So disappointing, we will not return.

Went to St John’s for lunch. Received a Brunch Menu at 1pm. Place was quiet. Ordered pancakes. Waited over 50minutes, without being warned there would be a wait, for the pancakes to arrive without bacon.

Was slightly miffed to be told we had to wait in the Bar area before we were able to get a table in the restaurant after walking in and seeing half the tables were empty. Finally, we were attended to and dinner was able to commence. Good food & reasonable service however it seemed the staff were focused on what was happening in the bar area. May return

A great afternoon with friends was had at St Johns – as they weren’t busy we received table service. I found staff were knowledgeable and friendly – would recommend based on my experience.

We went there for lunch today. The restauran had no customers, but still they managed to make us wait more than 40 minutes to bring a plate of bruschetta ( which really would take no more than 2 minutes to prepare ) !! and on top of this, they completely forget my lunch special order.
I went there several other times but I am really frustrated by the bad service. Mac’s brewery is just around the corner and is worthed 10 times better than the “posh” wanna be St. Johns Heineken bar.

We have an awesome local brewery around the corner, why would anybody want to pay twice to drink a beer which had to travel across the entire world to make some already rich multinational businessman from the other side of the planet even more rich ?

This place has surprisingly good food for such a busy bar, good menu, pretty good service, and would definitely go again.