I’ve dined at the Tasting Room 4-5 times for dinner and it’s been unfailingly good.

If you’re a beef eater you can’t go wrong with the Beef Wellington – after trying it on his first visit my husband has never ventured any further. I’ve worked my way through the menu and have always had good meals – though the gnocchi is overpriced at $27 for what is effectively some pasta with some tomato sauce and ricotta.

The hands down winner on the dessert front is the chocolate fondant which is cooked to order and absolutely divine. Someone from The Cornerstore in Brooklyn should visit for a lesson in what a fondant is supposed to be! However the creme brulee and apple tart tatin are also scrumptious.

As someone else has mentioned – if you want to hear the person you’re with ask for the a table on the left hand side. On my last visit we got seated on right (same side as the bar) and it was so insanely loud we literally had to yell and each other to be heard.

The service every time I’ve been there has always been efficient and friendly.

*****

My husband and I returned recently again for a meal. Having recently had a baby, our nights out are few a far between and we knew the Tasting Room would be a sure bet.

Cheese fondue to start, you just know your arteries are dying inside but it’s too good to stop. He, as always, had the Beef Wellington, which was as usual incredible. I had the Venison, which was also gorgeous.

The service was attentive, until dessert. When my chocolate fondant landed in front of me, I knew with a glance it was overcooked. With the speed the waitress left, I wasn’t the only one. Sure enough, not even a glimmer of the usual gooey chocolate goodness. Oh well, even warm chocolate mudcake is okay, unfortunately it had travelled way past that. It was dry, tough, chewy and inedible. I tried to flag our waitress down a number of times, but she was studiously avoiding our table. MoreAfter 20 minutes we gave up and went to pay.

At the til the guy asked how I meals were. After complimenting the mains I said that my fondant wasn’t up to its usual greatness and way over cooked. He shrugged his shoulders and said it was a busy night. Up until that point I was feeling pretty c’est la vie about it, but honestly, if you don’t want to know how someone’s meal is, don’t ask.

Having said that, it’s still a great place for dinner. And in the two years we’ve been eating there, that’s the first time I’ve been really disappointed.

I came here with my partner last night –
We both had the Beef Wellington and it was really delicious.
The sauce was awesome and the onion and potato on the side were really nice. We also had a side dish of garlicy green beans and they were delicious. The only 2 minor faults were: some of the beans had those stringy bits on them and my partners beef was not as rare as mine – but they were very minor things.
Service was awesome – very attentive and there are lots of botique beers to choose from. Ordering a jug is reasonably cheap and if you are there between 7-9pm even cheaper.
We used an entertainment card which I always feel embarassed to use but this has to be the first time we were treated equally and not made to feel stink when using it.
Also have to mention the atmosphere of the place is really nice to.
Would definitely go back.

I had an amazing experience there last night which showed what customer service is all about. There was a large number of people there and our order got delayed by quite a while. When the discovered this, they got our meal out with a glass of a very nice pinot to say sorry…

The food was excellent and you got the feeling they wanted to make things right not so that I would complain, but that it’s what you should always do for your customers.

We had the lamb rump and beef wellington. Both were cooked well and were very succulent cuts. The side vegetables were green beans and were nice and firm, not soggy.

The dessert was superb..the chocolate mousse was rich without being over the top. All-in-all, one of the best overall dining experiences I have had in Wellington.

My experience was similar to that of Kara I. The previous two times I’ve been here, the quality of the food was surprisingly good and it turned out to be an enjoyable evening. Most recently, we went in on a Sunday night with two other friends for dinner.

What first brought us in was the menu outside, particularly for my fiancee who does not eat much red meat. However, the chicken dish on the display menu was different in the menus we were given. So one disappointment and minus one star already (although to be fair the dish did turn out to be tasty). For us three, we were keen to take up on the Sunday roast offer. Surprised that it was $35 each (much pricier than others around town), but this seemed fair enough when it was Chateaubriand.

So we ordered our drinks…and waited…and waited. It got to the point where it was 45 minutes before our food got to the table and I was having no luck getting staff’s attention – our waitress almost seemed to be studiously avoiding us. When the Chateaubriand did arrive, what do you know? One of them was well done. It was bad enough having to wait this long, but when it’s then over-cooked this is not acceptable. The waitress did come to ask how the meals were and I pointed out that we weren’t happy about the wait, the meat and the decidedly middling (and not cheap) Syrah I’d drunk. She did apologise and then come back saying our glasses of wine were complimentary.

I appreciate that they did acknowledge this was not up to standard and did do something to rectify it. Heck, we were even able to use our Entertainment card which made for a cheap night out in the end. However, when the maitre d’ at the end said “I hope you’ll be brave enough (??) to come back again” then I’m thinking that we won’t.

Went to the Tasting Room tonight, and ordered the platter. It was nice, but at $45, incredibly over priced. It comprised 12 small tasting dishes – five of which contained very cheap options like: relish (honestly, a dish full of shop bought relish does not constitute a food group), tomato and onion ‘salsa’ (literally tomato and onion chopped in dish – no flavour), chick peas (very nice, but only a heaped desert-spoon full), a dish of about 8 olives (straight out of a jar I think), and another with four small cubes of feta (I’m not exaggerating). The other dishes were interesting, and included a delicious squid dish, Welsh rarebit (nice, but meh – fancy cheese on two quarter triangles of toast), fish goujons (three or four small pieces), a deep fried nugget of something – ? cut in half to make two pieces (on a bed of more relish!), steak tartare (tasty but not authentic), and, bizarrely, there was an asparagus and salmon roll – like you’d find at a high tea! It sounds like a lot of food, I know, but the dishes were tiny. Yes, it was a tasting platter, so you should only expect to get a ‘taste’ – which would be fine if the dishes had a higher value. But they didn’t, so not only did you get very little per dish, at least half of what you did get you could pick up in a deli for less than $1 a dish. I’m honestly not joking. In it’s favour the service was fast and friendly, the wine lovely, and there was plenty of toasted bread and a very nice cheese fondue dip. But, honestly, we felt the platter was very overpriced at $45.

Went here for dinner with family last night – when we first arrived we saw our family/friends were already seated so went straight over to the table, to which the waitress glared at us as if we should have asked her first if we can sit down?? Once we all ordered it was disappointing that the mains took almost an hour to come out – but there were 13 of us so this could explain the delay. The real let down however was the service – no apologies from the waitress who didn’t have the best customer service skills and wasn’t very friendly. It would have been nice if when she brought the meals over she had simply said “sorry about the wait”. Also many of our table ordered beers and being Thursday night the deal was free wings with beer but hardly any came out. Other tables were turning them away and she would take them back into the kitchen – it would of been nice if she offered them to us as we were such a large group and were waiting so long. I have rated this restaurant 3 stars (rather than 1) as the meals were enjoyable and the Beef Wellington for $36 had an array of tantalising flavours and was cooked beautifully. Compliments to the chef After the meal our plates sat there for 15 – 20 mins before finally being cleared. Restaurant was very noisy and hard to hear but this is unavoidable being a bar & restaurant. Will not be in a hurry to return. Good food but average to poor service which makes all the difference.

My husband and I recently tried The Tasting Room out as we had heard great things about the food. We both had the beef wellington and it was very nice I wasn’t a big fan of the potatoes under the wellington they were just baby potatoes chopped up my husband requested mashed potatoes and I wish I did too as they were alot better/ nicer also way too much onion on our plates!

The service was fantastic we were seated and ordered really fast and they checked regularly on how we were

Would definitely go back but think there could be some improvement with the wellington

My sister and I dined here on Saturday night at Easter weekend. We arrived just after 6pm and were seated in the bar area (on quite high seats, but still comfortable). We shared the halloumi dish as a starter which was nice but nothing too spectacular.

I was having trouble deciding on my main, to the waiter suggested he take the menus away while we had the starter, and would bring them back afterwards. However the starter plate was cleared and no menus were returned, I had to go and ask for them.

My sister absolutely loved the pork dish and was still talking about it the next day. I had the Beef Wellington and asked if they would swap the potatoes for the vegetable of the day (beans and broccoli). They did this at no extra charge. However the serving of broccoli was one piece. The dish included a large pile of confit onions – tasty but too much. The Wellington was really really good, the beef was flavoursome and tender. The waitress said it would come out medium and it was.

Overall an enjoyable dining experience but perhaps a little too noisy, as we seemed to be seated in the bar area. I will return.

Ok went here on a friday nite and wanted to start our meal of with a drink on we have had before and was impressed manuka mule – received the drink which looked like it had the entire mint bush shoved at the bottom not to mention it tasted terrible decided to leave then and there. Just walkin out the waitress firstly asks us if we have paid for drink we reply yes but advise its terrible and she goes onto say it mite be because it was made in the wrong glass!! Never going bk there again.

Not bad, slightly expensive for the food available. But atmosphere is good

3.5 stars
Took the partner here for his birthday, nice atmosphere. He got the pork belly and I got the calamari to start with – they were nicely cooked, but we both felt they could have been seasoned more. I had the beef wellington for my main, the pastry and gravy were delicious, however the beef was a little overcooked for my taste and abit dry. Desserts were fantastic. Great service, and a good all round experience.

It is one of my favourite places to dine in Wellington. On this occasion, in August, we started with a tasting plate of braised pork belly, then had the filet mignon and the venison with potato, rocket, mushroom and blue cheese, and finished with the chocolate fondant. On this occasion the pork belly was let down as it was dry- something which is quite hard to achieve with pork belly due to lots of fat! Also we thought that the size to price ratio is not quite right- not the best value. The mains and dessert were yum! The Tasting Room is popular and the atmosphere finished off on this night with being served by a fantastic waitress.

I visited recently with an Entertainment Book voucher – the meal was therefore quite cheap and i’m pleased to say delicious! I will return and happily pay full price.

I had the Beef Wellington and my partner had Venison – both were good sized portions and tasted amazing.

The waiting staff were very pleasant and the whole experience was an enjoyable one.

Good style venue with a pleasant Front of House team.

Food was quite pricey for quality & substance. After reviewing others comments went for the Beef, it was cooked but not to the degree requested. Good flavours though.
Good range of Beverage available. Quite noisy with drinkers getting a lot louder the more they imbibed (Newtons law I suppose;-)

We both had Beef Wellington which was yummy. The wine list is pretty good. We went on a week night and sat on the left hand side which was quieter and we could easily chat. The outside space is great too, although it’s quite a thoroughfare being on Courtenay Place. The waitresses were attentive but not overly friendly or warm – but that’s ok as long as they are responsive and quick which they were.

this was my first time in the tasting room I ordered the beef wellington which was Divine my partner got the wagoo burger he absolutely loved it and now him and his Friends go for the burger all the time overall great service and great food thanks guys

I went there with my mum and my cousin and we sat down for a nice meal.

My mum and cousin ordered steak meals which they thoroughly enjoyed – so yes, if you’re a meat eater, it’s a good place to go for a $35 steak meal. However, their seafood chowder was the worst I’ve ever had in my life. The fish was strong smelling, and yet very bland. I couldn’t even finish the small bowl of chowder because the smell of the fish was so overwhelming. For a restaurant that gets supposedly good reviews, I was highly disappointed they could get such an easy dish (that my mum can make perfectly with her eyes shut) so horribly wrong.

We booked the private dining area for a group to kick off my hens party. I ordered the Duck Confit & it was divine. Everyone enjoyed their meals but agreed that the lighting was a little on the dim side. Overall it was a lovely dinner and reasonably priced too.

Tasting room has been around for ages, its a busy place and well located. The wine and Food menu could do with an overhaul. We enjoyed some starters, fish, bread, chips and a bottle of wine and it was suited to that sort of nibbles and drinks. I have previously eaten there – it would pay to book, there is a slightly quieter side on the left when you walk in or more of a bar on the right which is noticeably noisier on busy nights.