Went to the Wild Hog for lunch and dinner February 5th, and have been quite a few times before. Love the location and the atmosphere. Have always enjoyed our meals. We are locals in Whitianga, and feel for the staff when our lovely town goes from quiet to crazy, it must put every one under a lot of extra stress. I say good on you everyone at Wild Hog, keep up the good work.

My partner and I went while on holiday on 16 January. We had a table close to the kitchen and enjoyed watching the chef at work – very professional. Apparently he’s just come over from UK. Our meals were absolutely fine. We had a lovely time and even went back the next night for drinks!
VJ

We came to this restaurant over Christmas because the location is good for us with the playground over the road for the kids. The service is very slow, the staff seem more concerned about chatting amongst themselves than serving customers. We turned up at 5pm and were told that they had run out of fish for the fish and chips. Run out of fish at 5pm! So I ordered the pasta of the day which was so bad I sent it back. It was smothered in cheese, watery and had no taste. My daughter ordered a cheese burger off the kids menu it looked like it had been re heated and was very unappetising. The prices are expensive for really bad food, we will never never go back!

Service really slow – waitres told us we wld be an hour wait for lunch today. I guess at least we were told but why have 3 people behind the bar and two waitresses? The barstaff seemed more interested in chatting with each other and their mates drinking at the bar. Despite all the barstaff, they still managed to screw up the drink orders. Waitress was embarrassed but it wasn’t her fault. Then when we are leaving and trying to pay the guy behind the bar took ages to sort us out. Food was good when it arrived,We had steak and stuffed chicken breast, the kids had pizza, all good.

Went to wild hogs tonight for a “special birthday treat” to celebrate mine and my daughters birthdays. They told us when we arrived they were busy but mains would be ready in under an hour. Kids went with my husband to park to play, 1 hour later no kids meals no entrees even. After I complained 3 times finally kids meals came 1:15 after we Arrived. Our garlic pizza bread turned up 5 minutes later disguised as kids pizza , so sent that back, 10 minutes later our garlic pizza bread came ( which was quite nice) then our entrees 1/2 dz oysters and pate both of which were okay. Took kids for another walk 25 minutes later got call to say mains were ready. Huge disappointment! My $30 scotch fillet steak was a flat, grissly, overcooked tough horrible piece meat, my husbands fish was dry, tough and also overcooked. We were so disgusted at the complete lack customer service and terrible food we sent it back and refused to pay for it. Word to the wise wild hogs is not worth the wait, effort or money. Bring back the fireplace!

Just called in for dessert and drinks but the price of desserts was prohibitive so we decided to just have a drink!
Two Baileys and 2 beers was $47, we nearly fell over. the Baileys were apparently double shots @$8.50 per shot…sorry but we were not buying the bottle. Outrageous prices. Worst rip off on our whole NZ holiday!

I have been going to wild hogs last 3 years once a month with traveling in past no problems but recently service had to wait while waitresses talk , when finished meal plate wisked away no asking if you want desert or drink also no asking if you enjoyed the meal

After visiting and enjoying evenings at The Fireplace over many years, this is the first time i’d returned to the venue after the ownership and name change to “Wild Hogs”. Well the name says it all. What a shame that such a wonderful venue has gone down hill so terribly. No fireplaces were lit (on a winters night)…example of the substandard and less than middle of the road experience. The bar was full of low life characters who must of been getting cheap drinks from their mates behind the bar. The food was covered in supermarket bought sauces. Salad out of a bag and the most memorable part was seeing the kitchen floor littered with food scraps. I took offense when i saw this and brought it up with staff…then was curtly told that the ‘cool store’ was being cleaned out. Yeah right. Disgusting. Will be reporting this to the Health Authority.

dined here for late lunch- bar menu chicken burger was yum and fairly priced.
loved the location. awesome veiws.
however dissapointed by service, considering it wasnt very busy, my drinks order was forgotten, and still tried to charge me for it.

We visited there recently, someone had the fish and commented on how plain and tasteless the fish was. The steaks were nice. Disappointed with the service as it was mid week and not very busy.

Went to the wild hogs for dinner with a friend of mine.thought the place was lovely. We had the beer battered fish with fries and a salad.the food arrived very quickly.the food however was awful.the fish seemed was over cooked and tasteless.the batter had overpowering beer taste.the side salad was old and brown.wouldn’t recommend the fish to anyone.

Went here for dinner over the summer period.
Excellent dining experience. Friendy staff and large tasty meals.
I had a steak which was tasty and massive, my partner had the ribs – also yummy and massive.
Didn’t eat both meals. Standard pricing.

See you next Summer holidays!
PS – Awesome knives and forks

We ate here on the 1 January, it was busy like everywhere else so we were happy to enjoy our drinks while waiting for our meals. This place has a great outdoor area, really nice atmosphere and suitable for children. Unfortunately we didn’t enjoy our meals, my partner had the ribs which were tasteless, and quite a small serving. I had a chicken burger, which had a small thin piece of chicken, 1 slice of tomato, 1 small piece of lettuce and aoili. My daughter had a beef burger, which she thought was ok, but we were disappointed with the size and quality of the meals. We like this place, so hope the food improves before we are back next summer.

We went there on a Friday night for dinner as having arrived from Auckland a little late. It was a bit of a chilly night but we wanted to sit outside to enjoy the ambiance of the open fire. The staff were more than helpful setting us up outside with the roaring fire. The food was superb and I highly recommend the salmon which was melt in your mouth. Excellent service and excellent food that doesn’t break the bank.

As parents of young children it is rare that we head out for dinner, so when we do we at least want it to be great! last Firday we went to Wild Hogs and it was not only Great but Superb. We had the most amazing meal, the starter and mains were second to none, the service was outstanding, thanks to katrina and the Team.

Cheers, Paulette

Had a group booking of 25. Used a set menu, food was well above average & was served to each table without any one having to wait. Helpful staff & handled a reasonable sized group much better than most do.

Nice setting overlooking the wharf. We ordered at the bar as we were eating outside. I had the fish which was fine although just one piece of fish. My husband had the ocean platter which was to have scallops mussels and oysters. There were no oysters so these were replaced with deep fried calamari and the scallops were slivers of scallops most probably imported deep fried. Very poor value.

While in Whitianga on holiday we visited this bar restaurant numerous times as we enjoyed it so much. It has fantastic atmosphere lovely staff who even though they were under huge amounts of pressure still remained happy with loads of smiles.

The food is very affordable and there’s something for every one. I recommend the oysters, big, juicy and with a lovely sauce.

i would recommend this place to any one who wants a relaxing place to go which won’t break the bank, also its very kid friendly

I thought the pub looked great, we sat outside when the fire was going, which was lovely. However we ordered a lamb meal which they said was now off the menu and they said all they had was lamb rack which we agreed to order. This was a big mistake, the lamb was undercooked,bleeding, tough and not edible. We did not eat it. I cook lamb rack often at home so we know how tender it should be. We complained to the waitress, but no one came to apologise or give an excuse. We paid the bill in full and the night after enjoyed a much better meal across the road at the Salt Restaurant.

This use to be the Fireplace and had mixed reviews from different sites i have visited whilst in New Zealand, but we finally find it as The Wild Hogs bar and restaurant.Firstly they had English football on the TV which is always a bonus, but the service the food and the total experience was just brilliant all round with great food and friendly staff.A+ Paul sorry you support Arsenal.

we went to the fire place two weeks ago not as good since Harry Williams left and i don’t think it will ever get that good again. standard food with less than ordinary service.the food took ages ans when it arrived was hastily put down and then the waitress walked away.we were offered no second drink and totally missed desert. will not be returning again and on that note would not recommend until they step it up and do the business!

The night we went we had to wait for a table. The waitress pointed to the bar and said wait over there!. We were not offered drinks. When seated we had to wait forever for service! The meal was not memorable.The couple at the table beside us walked out after waiting forever to order. As we were finishing our mains they started putting chairs on tables and clearing the kitchen.(This was at approx 9.30pm) We were not offered desert or coffee. They seriously need to pick up their level of service.

I also had the chicken drums with the caesar and even though the salad had drums, they were amazing. They smoke them on site which gives the drums such an amazing smokey flavour. A great spot to relax and watch the world go by.

not to bad but very disappointed with the caesar salad which had chicken drumsticks !!! gees guys get it together