We came as a large group for lunch. The waitstaff were very attentive.
I thought the mains were reasonably priced, especially given the quality.
The dessert menu had about six options, all of which looked amazing. Unfortunately too full to have one.
I agree with the previous reviewer who noted the lack of atmosphere. Some background music would go a long way.
Aside from that I really enjoyed the Tinakori Bistro. Will definitely go back.

Having dined at Tinakori Bistro many times, I was very disappointed when we visited last week. My family and I went to celebrate my daughters exam results. We booked in early and when arrived there was a table already on mains. Drinks orders were taken and took forever to come. The cokes were flat – which he replaced. The waiter did not explain the express menu option and when we ordered – which took forever for him to come and take our order, he snapped and said everyone had to have the express menu even when I tried to explain my 12 year old was not interested in having a mains only fries – so it was not an option. To make matters worse he came back later after he had taken our order and asked again who was having the express menu – by this time I was getting really annoyed as and told him he said it was not an option because everyone at the table was not having it.
The meal arrived but we were not enjoying it due to the incredibly rude service we received. I was so incensed that we did not have dessert or coffee – usually one of my favourite I have when I go out for dinner. To top things off they charged us for 2 breads which we only ordered for one – never did he ask if it was bread for the table to share or bread for one – he just assumed. Dont think we’ll be going back in a hurry.

Just the two of us went here on Friday night. We had a booking but there was plenty of space for people walking in off the street.

We both looooooved the food. We had entrees, mains and shared dessert. I ate the best venison I’ve ever had.

The service was also excellent. We never waited long to be spoken to, or for our food to arrive. The staff were friendly and polite.

However, the atmosphere was cold. They don’t need to do much: a paint wouldn’t hurt, or even a couple more pictures. It seems a little run down. Also the toilets (and the dirty curtain separating them from the dining room) could do with an upgrade.

But one thing would really help: you guys need some music! It was so quiet…

We had a lovely night though. The food was excellent!

Always seem to be good service and food. The Calamari rings are amazing!!!

Great mains too, never tried the dessert as I’m always too full by the end of the night

service has been great every time we’ve gone there. food has also been good.

Brilliant evening. We were a party of 18 and in hte back room upstairs. The service was very attentive, with one waitress assigned to us part-time. she was busy, but nobody waited a long time for anything.
We all chose from the full menu and the staff handled that perfectly, with all meals being delivered one after the other without pauses.

Everybody in the party spoke highly of the food and the service.

What was even better was that the total bill was not exorbitant.

Would I recommend it to anybody else? Of course I would.

Peter

This was the first time I’ve ever walked out of a restaurant.

I can’t comment on the food, as we did not order. It looked good on the menu.

We were seated then ignored for 20 minutes. We would have liked to have been told the specials, had some wine while we waited, perhaps been offered some bread, but this was not to be. I don’t mind if a restaurant is busy and there’s a long wait for food provided the staff communicate. It didn’t seem busy but there may have been a function upstairs. Nevertheless… others were being waited on in our room, but not us. I didn’t think it should be necessary to ‘grab’ the staff to hear about the specials so didn’t – I expected them to visit our table within about 5 mins of being seated.

The atmosphere in our half-full dining room seemed a little stilted – perhaps others were experiencing the same thing.

We abondoned ship and went to Charlie Bill, a small bistro along Tinakori Road, which was superb – warm, welcoming, great service, delicious food.

We won’t be returning to the Tinakori Bistro, or recommending it to our friends.

I have been here twice in the past two months, both times with large groups. The food is generally excellent, although portion sizes tend to vary greatly between dishes. I give the bitter chocolate cake with orange anglaise and raspberry sorbet 10/10 every time – truly food from the gods. The upstairs room gets incredibly noisy with a large group and, with a 90 minute wait between ordering and receiving food, I came away quite exhausted after trying to keep up with shouting through the ‘dinner conversation’. Overall, good waiting service and delicious food.

Being wellingtonions this is one of our favourites. consistently great, and BYO means we can bring our own choice of great wines.

I hadn’t heard of the Tinakori Bistro before we booked a work Christmas function there.

In the interim I heard some good word-of-mouth about it.

By the end of our meal we were all raving about how good it was. The food was cooked to perfection – creative recipes, great mixtures of flavours; tender, melt-in-your-mouth steaks etc. Presentation and service were both excellent.

There were three separate large groups in at the time and I never heard a single complaint. There was no delay in getting the large number of meals out, and they were all perfectly prepared. Everyone seemed to have a great time.

I highly recommend this place.