This was just the loveliest night away from home we have had for ages, and it was to celebrate a special birthday. The hotel is spotless and our room had everything we needed – and everything worked perfectly. The staff was excellent from the person who took the booking (and then happily dealt with a change of date when we had to request it), to the welcoming manager, and the waiters in the dining room. We enjoyed a delicious meal -each course was attractively presented and the flavours were crisp and clean. It is a lovely dining room and we were made to feel special.
We are already looking forward to a return visit and would have no hesitation whatsoever in recommending this delightful place.

Where do you begin in describing the perfect night away? Well, I blindfolded my wife (in Wellington) and took her on a secret Valentines Day mini-trip out of town. She had no clue where we were going. After an hour and a half of anticipation, I took the blindfold off for her to discover herself in the beautiful, clean (in the design aesthetic sense), light-filled White Room at the White Swan Hotel (www.thewhiteswan.co.nz/accommodation/the-white-suite). She loved it, a lot – and so did I. We settled in, booked our reservation for dinner downstairs at the Dining Room, then went for a lovely evening stroll in the warming Greytown country evening air.

At 6:30pm we begun the perfect dinner. The waitress was ever so helpful – able to answer our queries about the dishes on the menu, quick to ask the chef if small changes could be made to suit our dietary requirements, but never overbearing with her pervasive presence…as can be the case in some establishments. The menu was incredibly varied (www.thewhiteswan.co.nz/the-dining-room/evening-menu). We really wanted to try everything! We begun with the Rare Thai Beef and Bocconcini & Baby Beets. We were a little embarrassed in ourselves when discovering that ‘Rare’ was referring to ‘not cooked’ opposed to ‘not common’ – perhaps we are the common ones – but nevertheless it was a flavoursome, enjoyable dish! Quite the highlight actually.

After tasting the White Swan Ale, a beer made specifically for this establishment, we moved onto our mains. Oh, and by the way, the Ale is good – quite sweet on the palette, it reminded me more of a weissbier. We shared two mains, wanting to both try the goodness that the chef had to offer. We had the Chicken Breast (stuffed with spinach, pine nuts, and feta on a base of thyme and port wine glaze, accompanied with kumara). Holy smokes, it was sumptuous! Nuff said. Try it! We also had the Fish of the Day and were quite lucky that we came on the ‘Salmon’ day. We love Salmon. And the chef cooked it to perfection…it melted in our mouths.

To top it all off, we requested that we retire to our room upstairs and receive our dessert there (so we could eat it in the bath like Kings and Queens). They more than happily obliged! So half an hour later we were relaxing in the bath eating Triple Chocolate Fudge Baileys Ice-Cream Torte (5 stars) and White/Dark Chocolate Cheesecake (3.5 stars relative to the 5 star torte which was incredible). That’s the life eh!

A slightly later checkout time in the morning topped the whole experience off. From start to finish, for a short time, we took a break from our hectic lives, in paradise. The service was exceptional, the food was fine dining at its finest, and the themed rooms/design aesthetic has been pulled off to a high standard!

We have absolutely no reason not to recommend that anyone spend the night upstairs and downstairs at the White Swan Hotel, Greytown.

A gem in crown of Greytown. Great food at a reasonable price. The setting is really casual and relaxing. The staff were all really friendly and seemed to know a fair bit about wine and didn’t mind sharing their knowledge.
Recommended!

Four of us ate there on Jan 4th. Ordered steak sandwiches and were told we could only have them well done (too hard for cook to do different I guess.) Paid $20.00 for the worse burger ever. Dry and burnt pattie hardly any salad. Told couldnt add an egg to my burger. Didnt have mayonaise as an alternative to ketchup. Wont ever go back there again.

A new winter menu is as great as the old summer menu.Great staff, helpful and knowledgeable except i have to say for the Mexican? waiter , his English and attitude need looking at!!. That aside the place is fresh and clean good size menu and the food arrived in good time , hot and tasty.My husband had the lamb shank and i had the fish and chips, both excellent dishes and value for money.Just wish we had more time to spend in grey town the accommodation we were shown by a very polite waitress called Rebbecca looked lovely. Next time we know where we are staying and eating. Thank you white swan