We had a party of 18 for a family celebration, food was very disappointing service also poor. A Waitress dropped a tray of 6 glasses over me. This was cleaned up promptly and we felt sorry for the waitress as she appeared very concerned. However one of our group then heard her laughing about it with another staff member later in the evening so we were not impressed.
Menu is over priced for the quality of food. Food very slow to come out. One of our group sent her steak back twice as she prefers her steak well done each time it came back the same as when we sent it back we were later told that she needs to learn how to eat steak!!!! Eeek how rude why ask how would you like your steak cooked in the frist place!!
Will never dine here again. Was very dissapointed as this was an important family celebration.

Well I dont know what to make of all the bad ass reviews, We have been dining at this wonderful restaurant for over 2years now and have never been dissappointed with either the food or service and the ambience is wonderful, staff are helpful in explaining dishes and wines which may compliment and go the extra mile to make the visit a pleasurable and memorable experience. I have no hesitation in recommending Tahuna reef to anyone, Keep up the good work. we foodies love you.

Having read the reviews below I am shocked by such poor service! I have not had a similar experience with the waiting staff, who were not brilliant but adequate. However I did find the place over priced, with very small portions of mediocre food/ drink and lacking in atmosphere. The stars above are for the location. I would not go there to eat again but I would pay the extra for a glass of wine to simply sit and look at the view.

This evening My mum (whangarei) and I (Wgtn) dined at Tahuna Reef. Earlier today I reviewed the Whangarei restuarnt guide and although there were some quite stinging reviews about Tahuna Reef, (which in a way made us want to try it out), I’ve long admired the exterior and decided we would take a punt. I’m glad we did, the ambience, food and service was great. Timely tasty meals and friendly service on a cute balcony in the cool of a very humid evening. Well done Tahuna.

I recently dined at Tahuna Reef for our staff Christmas party. All of the staff were extremely accommodating to all of our needs for the evening. The service was bang-on. We were a party of 12 and each course came out together, on time.
The food was sensational. The veal on it’s own was cooked to perfection but when accompanied with the eggplant and capsicum it unlocked incredible flavours. A fantastic dining experience, classy service topped off with the balcony setting made for the perfect night. I have absolutely no reservations about recommending Tahuna Reef to anyone for any occasion

Unless you like sauces that come out of a can and service that includes abuse, steer clear of Tahuna Reef, in my opinion it’s Whangarei’s version of Fawlty Towers. Tahuna Reef is ideally located. It has a fantastic location by the water and beautiful views from the veranda however the food and service let it down. Initially the service was pleasant but it soon went downhill. Tahuna Reef is priced at the top end of the scale but the food and service doesn’t match. The Rocket salad was fine but you really can’t go wrong with rocket leaves, slices of slightly bruised pear and blue cheese. The main was extremely disappointing. The seafood platter was served on too small a dish and it was had to eat the seafood. In my opinion the scallops didn’t taste fresh, and tasted like they had been pre-frozen. The selection of dips was unimaginative and the 2 dips (hardly a selection) both tasted like they were out of a bottle. The French bread was over-toasted and difficult to eat. The seafood didn’t match what was on the menu and the squid and mussels were both overcooked. The waiting staff serve your food and disappear. Noone comes back to check on your meal. If you express any dissatisfaction they abuse you and say “you ate it”. if you point out that you only tasted everything they start getting very argumentative. They refuse to credit or replace dishes that are unsatisfactory and at best offer a 50% discount. Despite the fact that 2 of the wait staff are the children of the owner they can’t describe what is in the dishes (even though they later admit to having eaten them all). the owner abused us and told us to F*** off but not before insisting that we pay for the shoddy food service. The staff are unable to accept any criticism or feedback. If you don’t like food you’re accused of having bad taste or abused because you ate any of it. I dine out frequently and this is without a doubt the worst experience I’ve had at any eatery. It’s clear from other reviews and talking to other people in Whangarei that this sort of abuse is a frequent occurrence. Save your money, there are much better places to eat in Whangarei.

Had a dining experience at Tahuna Reef last night. And an “experience” it was. Please diners do not complain or even make an offhand comment about your meal as you will be met by the tongue of the owner/manager.
Threatened, manhandled and abused.
I had ordered what sounded like the perfect dessert only to be brought out something that looked and tasted like – well I am actually lost for words to describe it. When I commented on the fact that it wasn’t what I had ordered I was told that they didn’t make it now as they had had too many complaints about it. When asked why I hadn’t been told that I wouldn’t be getting what I ordered I was met with blank stares from the waiting staff. When paying I was told I had no Taste if I didn’t like the dessert. That was when the lady manager stepped in and started hurling abuse, even following us out the door still abusing my friend.
After reading other reviews about this restaurant, the abuse from the owner seems to be an ongoing thing. Maybe she is trying to make a name for herself this way, as she certainly wont be making a name for herself with her restaurant.

We are STUNNED to read the negative reviews on Tahuna Reef – this would have to be one of the best experiences we’ve had eating out ….. and we do it regularly.

We had a bizaare large group of primary school teachers there near us the night we went, who arrived over a 2 hour period and apparently got upset they couldn’t all have their meals served at the same time, without anyone waiting??? Am so over people who can’t see the logistics of running a restaurant kitchen.

The 3 staff who served us (including the owner) were fantastic. We were pampered. The food was divine, the seafood platter was a bit skimpy, and yes, the bread slices were dry, but everything else more than made up for it. The marinated fish was sharp & delicous. My husband’s carpet-bag steak perfect. The baked cheesecake & sorbet that we shared for dessert were, literally, mouth droppingly deluxe. The wine was brilliant ……. I could drivel on, but seriously, yes, everyone has different expectations but our service & food were AWESOME so I can only say, if you are reading these reviews trying to decide whether to go or not, GO AND MAKE UP YOUR OWN MINDS. We are talking about making this trip bi-monthly, we enjoyed this restaurant THAT much.

absolutely appalling – service and food!
get rid of the ‘attitude’ and if you are going to call your seafood platter your signature dish then stop changing it and don’t deep fry your prawns with the shells still on – I had to give my husband half of my meal – and that was AFTER complaining about the quality of the seafood platter – the waitress never came back!! and we still had to pay the exorbitant price of $137.00 for bread and dips (sliced bread dried out and mediocre dips,) two mains and a bottle of wine! NEVER AGAIN!!! and I will be telling everyone who wants to know – where NOT to eat! Clare

Loved it!!I went there for a christmas lunch for work and it was AMAZING!!! the entree was delivered as soon as we got there as we had pre ordered, our main was to die for soo soo good! drinks and the staff were friendly and good service. Had a great fun lunch and would go back a lot more! i loved how we got seating outside on the deck with views of the town basin. was such a lovely day and recommend it highly. Good work guys

Worst restaurant service ever – Will never go back!!
We went in as a group of 14 people on a 90th birthday and 1 main meal was missed. This was the start.
Although the waitress told us initially that the main was missed because there were 2 new asain chefs and they didn’t communicate well.
Now after over 1 hour waiting for the last main to arrive we went to investigate and cancel this order and the waitress told us that we didn’t order the main when we clearly did. This involved the extremely rude manager who had no problem in telling us that we were at fault for not receiving our missing main.
This caused a major argument with the whole table and the manager.
We were all ready to leave without paying as the manager was being so rude to us all but we didn’t. After trying to give her some suggestions on how to deal with unhappy customers she threatened us that we would be removed, I would have left extremely fast if I didn’t feel I should pay for my bill.
The others dining in the restaurant were all watching in amazement with what was unfolding.
To note that the restaurant was only 1/4 full if that on Saturday night between 7pm-9pm which tells a story of it’s own.
Missing meal aside, We all will never again go to this restaurant again basically due to the rudeness of the manager of whom we were dealing with. The food was average and the decor was good but the service was the worst I have ever experienced in my life.

I had a work function at Tahuna Reef for lunch. I was not impressed at all. The place was mainly empty, and I never like dining in a nearly empty restuarant. I think having photocopied menus is terribly shoddy – how hard would it be to run off some colour copies and get them laminated at least? Our food took a long time to arrive and our waitress was very inexperienced, and when she was bringing our food to us she had her thumbs hanging over the edges of the plates, nearly in the food itself. I won’t be coming back because, at the price they charge, the overall dining experience should be pleasant and not so… amateur. Whoever bought this place and changed it from Gybe should have perhaps bought a cafe, not a ‘fine dining’ restuarant.

Can not understand Robyn’s comments, clearly she had something to do with gybe! Food and service at Tahuna were both excellent.Robyn has done all the nasty reviews under different names as you can see by the style. Just because gybe stuffed things up she does not have to be nasty and make up malicious stories to try and hurt tahuna. Lucily the people, like yourself, who generally use these type of sites are complainers, well at last study 76/100 are!. I have been in this industy for years and the only two things that tahuna do wrong are: 1. To use paper copies as menus?? that is not a good look. 2. Did not call the police and have Robyn arrested for trying to get off paying for good food and service, unfortunately there are still people like Robyn that want to rip people off and it needs to stop.

Just incredibly terrible – the class it had when it was Gybe has been completely destroyed by the new owners. Decor, table settings and ambiancehave gone downhill, it’s now more like a diner but with Auckland restaurant prices. Previous atmosphere of professional, well-trained and friendly waiters and customer service orientated management have been replaced by untrained cafeteria style waiting staff and the management/owners are the worst I have experienced not only in New Zeland but anywhere in the world. Not only are they unprofessional (coming out to the table with hands just out of the dishwater still drying stemware) but the aggressive behaviour and foul language used towards clientele are something that needs to be heard to be believed. This site would not be the place to quote in full. The expensive menu lacks any creativity and all speaks of “I am out of a jar.” What a great waste of one of Whangarei’s best locations. Hope it won’t last long.

Barbara