i would have given half a star if i could, terrrible service, there was quite a few staff on, talking amongst themselves and we were left sitting and waiting for our food, which took an hour to get to us, and there was only one other table of people in there. food was small for the prices and not very fresh, we would never dine here again,

After reading the reviews here I was relucant to give Toby’s a go. But I was nicely suprised…

The service was great, friendly, attentive and quick. My meal was tasty and well presented. My partner thought his meal to be average.

Arrrggghhh… as a local I want a local restaurant to go to on a regular basis… this place just doesn’t give a duck about its patrons… this attitude is reflected in the poor service and the unimaginative food… it has a confused identity… it’s neither pub nor wine bar, neither classy restaurant or cheap and cheerful…
1) Service. Poor. Waiting staff have no idea what the food on the menu is made from. When we were there the staff were shouting profanities at each other. The manager was on site so why didn’t this lazy man intervene? Cant handle a “crowd” of 10 patrons.
2) Food. Doesn’t seem to be prepared on the day. Tastes like reheated food. How hard can it be to make fresh food to order? Rocket salad is NOT the same as bean sprouts.
3) Drinks. No beers on tap despite this being on the drinks menu.
4) Menu. How many spelling mistakes can you make on a menu? If the owner is so inept that he doesnt know how to use a spell checker before going to print, you really have to wonder. Giving customers stained menus with poor grammar and poor spelling… is just not acceptable.
In summary? Absolute crap. Will we go back? Heck no, not until a new owner takes control. My dollars support the place up the road on scenic drive… where the food is fresh, the service is great and the ambience is to my liking.
This place gives locals the finger. A real shame…
The blurb written by the owner above sounds so enticing doesn’t it? Beware. I think the good reviews below are written by people associated with this business.
Dear Mr Massala (yes Tobys is owned by the same person that owns Massala up the road- remember those fliers going round last year by disgruntled staff and members of the community??)… Titirangi wants you to be awesome…. what you offer is disgraceful. Pull up your socks, offer something decent and we will support your business.
22/05: Just seen the owners comments to my review. I’m soMorerry to inform you that us locals dont rave about your business… we remember how it used to be… noone in Titirangi returns to Tobys after one visit… you havent changed a thing since you have taken ownership of this place… please sell it to someone who cares… and no more fake apologies please…

I like the food, it very nice, very nice staff but inside the restaurant is too dark and the tables have ugly paper just like masala and menu has too much errors but overall everything good very nice Toby’s

Tucked away behind the village the new Toby’s is having to try harder to compete with the main road eateries and to win over the locals. Having had a disappointing experience in the past and with previous reviews, we were reluctant to give it another go. But with the stunning new makeover and new management we booked in for Xmas Day and were pleasantly surprised. The meals were fresh, generous, well presented and the service was good. At first, the music was not to our taste but with a little prompting, they amended this and other guests responded positively. We are keen cafe and restaurant goers, and think that as Tobys has real potential to become a favourite of ours. We are looking forward to checking out their breakfast menu next time.

Service: Inadequate, ill-informed, untrained (one slightly rude)
Menu: Tempting but mis-spelled and strangely phrased
Seating: nice sunny outdoor table
Comfort: Average – windows open into seating area making it difficult to move comfortably if getting up to let someone else sit at the table
Lighting: Great if you are outside – DIM inside. Dark!
Decor: Difficult to see (see note on lighting)
Cleanliness: Cluttered stuff everywhere but cleanish nonetheless
Staff: Young waitress needs more training (trying hard but not clued up on basic service etiquette), older waitress rude and gruff.
Food: Cheap ingredients differing from what was on menu, lacking in flavour, small portion size for an $18 pizza (I had a chicken/basil/lemon pizza half – in half- with a ‘buffalo mozarella’ margherita)
One word to sum up? Dismal.
Advice: Go somewhere else. Anywhere else.

Wow, I’ve not had such a poor dining experience in a long time! Where do I start! Service was shocking, one waitress had absolutely no idea what she was doing, didn’t know the menu or when the specials started or really… anything! She had to go away & ask other staff each time we had a question. Terrible. She didn’t check on us throughout the entire meal, nor did she bother topping up our water or seeing if we wanted more drinks. The other waitress was uncouth to say the least, when our first meal arrived (they all came at different times) she cruised up & stated neanderthalically “who got this?” whilst holding the plate up so we couldn’t actually see what it was to direct her. Unbelievable.
The food was average at best. The pizza I had was described in the menu as having cherry tomatoes & buffalo mozzarella, it had neither. It was run of the mill sliced tomato, & regular pizza style cheese. Disappointing.
Had the restaurant been extremely busy, I could have understood the mis-timed meals & forgiven the waitress for being rushed off her feet but this was not the case. There were 4-5 other people in total & still they took an age to get our food to us & even then it was randomly timed. When we left (which was not long after we’d eaten) we weren’t even thanked for our custom, or wished a good day. Rude & poor customer service.
I most certainly will not be returning there, ever!
The whole experience was dismal. So frustrating when you pay for food & service & don’t get it.
Bad form & simply not good enough. Sort your stuff out Toby’s.

My mother lives in a retirement complex so i thought we would take her to the local restaurant we have family in French Bay and i have often wanted to try Tobys as it has looked inviting. I often thought it looked warm and with a name like Toby expected some hearty succulent tender meat, as well as a family friendly looking restaurant. It was very dark inside and unappealing we sat by the window and it seemed that the staff stood around far table and talked mainly. There were no customers the tables had what i call lazy lazy table cloth which is paper as table cloths. It looked quite run down and the food was not very nice either. The decor really does not to brighten up and proper table cloths..The staff were very polite but seemed bored..I think we will just continue to drive by until it looks like it has captured the charm that it could offer

I’m quite surprised by the earlier reviews. Tim and I visited Toby’s for the first time last month. We were greeted by a friendly young waitress and promptly seated. It was a fairly cold evening, but not inside as the fireplace was roaring.

The menu had a Mediterranean feel to it with tapas, pizzas and paellas on offer. There were also daily specials on the blackboard.

We shared a tapas plate to start, I had the chicken and prawn paella as a main, and Tim tried the chicken special. We ended the evening with an affogato and creme brûlée. All in all it was a good affair. Three courses plus drinks came in under $130 if I remember rightly.

Lovely atmosphere and great location. It is quite rare to find a restaurant setting near Laingholm. Ignore the haters – we’re coming back this month for our 8 year anniversary celebrations.

So I went in here with my girlfriend last Friday. I wanted to treat her with a night out and have some decent converstaion away from the children and in a nice warm atmosphere. I have previously dined at Tobys and found it a nice warm enviroment with hearty rugged meals, full of flavour. This time it was not to be. The place was freezing on arrival, I never got to take my coat off. In the centre of the table was a garish cheap plastic candle run by battery?!? Covering the table cloth was a sheet of white PAPER to avoid spill ( I wanted to ask for my crayons for drawing! The dinner was horrible and over priced, one badly cooked chicken breast for 25 dollars…….The waitress informed me that The place was taken over last year by the same people that run the cheap indian restraunt franchise Masala…………The place that serve food court quality indian food in a restraunt setting!
It was obvious. What a sad sad result. Tobys was a nice option for an evening out in Titirangi! I felt embarased to have taken my Girlfriend here and spent the rest of the night apologising!
Avoid this place……Check out some of the other places available like Takehe, Hardware, elevation etc

We live locally and sometimes, out of desperation and desire to go somewhere with European food to please our kids, we go to Tobys. The way this restaurant is run astonishes me because it is an example of real wasted opportunity. Being in Titirangi, it should attract a local crowd. However, the menu has remained unchanged for years, and even the specials (invariably snapper) are also unchanged. We went on a Sunday night and there were 16 diners the whole evening.
The food is OK for meat eaters (lamb shanks, steak etc – nothing earth-shatteringly original) and dire for vegetarians (I am a veg). No veg choices except ‘vegetarian paella’ – eek !!The dessert menu (also unchanged since 1874 by the look of it) is so pedestrian – mousse, biscotti, ice cream — yawn!!Service is amateurish.
The place needs a re-vamp desperately and needs to lose the ‘Mediterranean’ theme – tired pictures of beaches on the walls and a dull menu. You HAVE to have variety in your menu and you also HAVE to take advantage of seasonal foods! This is 2012!! My suggestion is re-paint, train your staff, have promotional rates for kids eating with parents, change menu and specials regularly and serve fresh seasonal foods.

Toby’s has been around many years with a multitude of owners with varying degrees of success.
The last time we had a meal there it was average but we decided to give it another go Saturday night as had changed hands recently to the owners of Marsala.
The service on the whole was slow to non existent, amateur and uncoordinated. Even if short staffed a little basic organisation would have helped.
We waited 10minutes before we had to beg for a wine list, then 15mins before the wine was brought. Meals arrived in better time and the food was good but a popular dish, squid was finished and then another chosen entree unavailable. The main dining area was draughty but could have been made cosy & welcoming if the main fire was lit. Also paper on the tables is tacky. If Tobys were to lift their game and get organised, they’d be a very popular restaurant. Their setting and locality is perfect. Get organised Tobys, improve your ambiance and service and you’ll win over customers Auckland wide!

We visited Toby’s on a Saturday evening for two special occassions – a 50th family dinner and Farewell. Before I go any further the Food was FANTASTIC – thumbs up to the chef! The rest was a disaster which ruined the evening for most of us. Although the wait staff were pleasant the service was shocking with empty plates and glasses left on the table for some time. 50 minutes after ordering we still had not recieved the entrees. Not everybody had ordered an entree so we questioned how much longer it would take – as that would mean the mains would be even longer and we were hungry!! The entrees finally arrived – and then the mains started arriving right after – so for one diner – he has just put down his knife and fork from his entree and his main was put in front of him! There were about 12 of us so it was a large party – but our mains came out in dribs and drabs…. 3 or 4 of us did not get our mains until the rest had nearly finished or finished – lucky we did not wait for everybody! The last main came out and everybody had finished – some had finished 20 minutes prior – we sent it back!! I think the most annoying part of this was there was a table next to us who had arrived long after we had and they had meals served to them while we still did not have all of our mains!! Although this is nice and local and the food was fabulous – I for one will not be back!!

I went there for my birthday dinner! The food is outstanding!! Loved it very enjoyable BUT! The service was not very welcoming! The Indian lady came over to us and put the menus down in front of us then said “Want drink?” how about a Hi first or even, can I get you anything to drink?. We order a bottle of wine. Drinks were delivered Wine bottle was not opened and just left on the table with 3 glasses, 2 mins later she came and told us the specials, well I think that is what she did anyway! Quote “Fish in Sauce on Marsh” and walked away so quickly questions could not be asked, so guess what we didn’t have the special. I understand that she might be new and not sure about the special but saying “I will check” is fine or even write it down. The food was ready and we could see it sitting at the delivery window waiting to be delivered. The chief rung the bell a few times and she stood there looking at the food!!!!!! She then walked to the bar to get the bar tender who then delivered us all four meals. Weird. Dessert was the same! Is she unable to service food? A lady then came in (maybe the Manager or Owner) and said “Need to speak to you and it will be tomorrow!!” all 7 of us in the whole restaurant went quiet and stunned!! If you are not happy with your staff that’s fine but don’t address it on the restaurant floor! It was all a little uncomfortable. The only reason i gave it 3 stars was the food is wonderful but service needs to be at a higher standard. The prices are reasonable if you had good service! Step it up Tobys!!!!

Went to Toby’s after being unimpressed by what was on offer and another local restaurant. We arrived quite late for dinner (just before 9pm) but thought we’d try our luck, as we’d heard good things about Toby’s since their restaurant makeover show aired last year.

We were quickly greeted at the entrance by a lovely young waitress and given a menu to have a quick look at, after which we decided we’d give it a go and were promptly seated.

After being seated water was quickly brought to the table and our drink orders taken, at which time we also ordered our food.

Entrees arrived after about 15mins and were delicious.

Our plates were quickly cleared and mains soon followed.

The eye fillet was perfectly cooked to our rare taste and came with a very nice salad. The salmon was also cooked to perfection, not too raw but not too dry and had a delicious wasabi sauce (best I’ve tasted).

Dessert was also delicious and beautifully presented.

Needles to say we were pleasantly surprised by our impromptu Toby’s experience. Great menu with wide range of meat, fish and chicken dishes as well as a good selection of salads, and fantastic service to match.

Will definitely be going back in the near future.

Yum! Good food, price good too!

A friend and I used to come here for fries and a coffee on a Friday arvo whenever Hardware was too packed. The service was okay (the guy is a bit of a hottie, so I guess I’m a bit biased), the coffee was only good if you were ordering it in cold form with ice cream. Yet after a few weeks, we were shocked to find that the outside tables were for restaurant customers only? At 3pm in the afternoon when the place is empty?

very nice food a very nice local.

Average quality food, nice venue, pleasant staff. A bit over-priced considering what you get at Tony’s in Henderson, but it’s local.

loved the food

awesome food, but the service kills it

We decided to have a night off so sent the kids to nannas and we popped up to Tobys for the famous Lamb Shanks. What a disappointment. They used to fall off the bone on previous visits.They were tuff as and sitting in some sort of sauce that we werent quite sure what it was, some sort of strange rue. We wont be going back for those anymore. Please please can someone tell them to sort this out and bring back the famour Tobys Lamb Shanks on Kumara Mash with gravy which is its signature dish, its known all over auckland and is a winner.

thanks
chris and marie