firstly i think that Rebbecca just had a bad experience. tuatua is by far the most wonderful restaurant i have eaten at and i love the place. i recommend everybody to try the food. the new wall display is very smart in the courtyard and gives the atmosphere a very tranquil feeling about it. i love tuatua. if i still lived in new Zealand i would continue to eat there all the time. love it! my favorite cocktail is the moulin rouge. its delicious!

We have been living in Whitianga for almost 2 years, and after trying every restaurant in town we always come back to Tuatua, in all our experiences the food has always been freshly prepared and excellent value for money, we dine there regularly, as a couple on date night, or with our young family and have always been very impressed with the quality and amazing food, including our favourite the Calamare,which beats Prego in Auckland by a country (coromandel) mile.


I can’t speak highly enough of Tuatua and it will continue to be our favourite restaurant in town.

5 of us tried to eat here on Sat 3/4/10. We were in a celebratory mood so ordered cocktails. The waitress seemed quite shocked by this and had to have each order repeated to her, it took a lot of effort to make sure she had the order correctly. The cocktails then arrived one at a time, very very slowly, each was worse than the last. Some tasted disgusting, some were totally different to what was on the menu and all were clearly made with cheap ingredients. When we complained (very good naturedly and politely) the waitress said she would speak to the bar, ten minutes later another waitress arrived and demanded to know what was wrong. She was confrontational and eventually admitted that they were very busy (only 2 other tables were being used) and didn’t have the right ingredients to make the cocktails on the list. She suggested that she squeeze more lime into one of the drinks. We asked her to take them away and said that we would order wine. She disappeared with the drinks and appeared extremely pissed off. By now more than half an hour has gone past and we have no drinks and have not been asked if we want to order food. I go up to the bar to order wine and ask to give our food order. Giving the food order to the waitress takes ages, she seems really new and inexperienced and very anxious about serving customers. One persons meal then arrives, there is a 20 minute wait for the rest. When it does arrive it is the rest of the food is distinctly average, the chicken tastes and looks like it has been heated from frozen in the microwave, the pizza is half cold and the spare ribs are just ok. We don’t have enough cutlery on the table, there is no salt and pepper and no-one asks if our food is ok. We all get the feeling that we are not welcome because we have complained about the cocktails.
When we go up to pay I notice that one of our cocktails is still on the bill, I query this but the waitress says that we never complained about that one and the charge still stands. The undrinkable cocktail remains on the table. We pay the $160 bill (3 starters, 5 mains, 1 bottle of wine and 1 cocktail made with the wrong ingredients) for an average meal, with hostile and poor service and leave vowing never to return and feeling we have been had. Sometimes it is hard when you are a group to complain effectively, I wish we had all stood up for ourselves at the time and insisted on a discount at least.
I would never usually write a review like this as I prefer to discuss any issues directly with the establishment as I know every place can have an off night. However, the rude, unprofessional and confrontational waiting staff made the whole evening a disaster.

Delicious wood-fired pizza, great wine and lovely atmosphere. Shame the service is slow, but wouldn’t put me off visiting again.

AWESOME MEALS! Great Atmosphere! I really love your Tapas. Its always hard to beat the Seafood Dishes but!.. my favorite is the Delicious Angus beef steak cooked to perfection every time!
John