We were staying in Lake Tekapo for a night to split up a trip to Central Otago. We decided to try Pepe’s for something different from what we usually do whenever we’re in Tekapo – FAIL!

Pepe’s looks like one of those rustic country looking pizza places, it’s not huge on the inside but comfortable enough. It has large bay windows so one thing to be wary of on warm days is smokers outside the windows.

Onto the food … Pepe’s, like most things in Tekapo is generally expensive when compared to other places with similar food in other parts of the country – but generally I don’t have an issue paying for quality food. But you don’t really expect to get something that resembles one of those packaged Leaning Tower Pizzas from Countdown with some additional toppings to disguise the fact that this is some cheap knock off. Flavour was lacking, quality was lacking … it was just pretty mundane to be honest.

Despite this we ordered dessert and I ordered an Apple Crumble – I received a huge serving, but I could immediately tell just from looking at the crumble that it wasn’t cooked. When I actually tried a spoonful of it, I copped the taste of flour … not only was it not cooked, it wasn’t particularly well made crumble either. It was in no uncertain terms, disgusting.

Suffice to say when I complained to staff, we didn’t have to pay for it, but to have kitchen staff send out food like that just goes to show the lack of attention to detail … and that scares me when it comes to food. The front staff were friendly and helpful, so they earned the second star because otherwise this place would have only garnered a single star. Will not be returning however.

I’ve dined at the Red Bowl a few times and it can be a bit hit and miss, fortunately most of the occasions I’ve ventured over there it’s been okay.

The Red Bowl is a pretty big place and in the evening it can be incredibly busy so booking is probably a good idea.

The setting is fairly cliche for a Chinese Restaurant, the usual lazy susans, chinese lamps, etc. Staff are usually pretty attentive but there are generally some hiccups that you get from time to time, such as:
* Meals/Entrees arriving in an illogical way i.e. rice for meal arriving before entrees, or having one person receive their main while the other waits a ridiculous amount of time
* We’ve had an item forgotten and have seen this happen with others as well
* Very little time before meals, sometimes meals arriving while you’re still eating entrees

While those are some of the downsides we’ve experienced, the food for the most part has been fantastic. The garlic beans are great and the rest of the fare pretty good, at least the times that I have been there.

Recommended, but best book in advance and go there while they are busy.

Let me start by saying that if you order the coffee in this place, particularly a long black, that the barista here believes that she can instead sneak this wide cupped monstrosity with a tonne of water in front of you and get away with it! It is absolutely dire!

Anyway – onto the food. Prices are pretty reasonable, the coffee should have been the first warning. The prices the next, after all, you get what you pay for don’t you?

The breakfast that came out to me consisted of the usual standard bacon, eggs, sausages, etc … except everything appeared to be of cheaper quality. Bacon for example looked and tasted cheap and nasty, something you would more likely expect to find in a burger at McDs. The sauages were no better and I left, unusually for me, leaving food on my plate and coffee in my cup (which I barely touched at all).

To their credit, the staff, were friendly and attentive but until someone learns how to make a long black at least, I won’t be venturing anywhere near the place on trips through Tima’s.

I’ve given this place an average rating, but in my mind it doesn’t actually meet par for average, but I wouldn’t necessarily consider it poor either.

As far as buffets go, it is poor-average.

It was relatively busy on the evening that we went in. Staff were slow to top up the food from time to time, I was timing my visits to the buffet to ensure that I could find what I wanted to find.

Plain fried rice was somewhat dry but overall the food was just poor to average. Not a huge selection and nothing that stood out as fantastic.

Generally, it would be worth a trip if you want to eat a lot of average food for what is generally an okay price.

So this is the newly relocated Bailies, which is conveniently up the road from me. I can’t remember what the old, pre-quake, Bailies looked like – but this one is no doubt cleaner and newer.

This was a quiet Brunch-time visit, which differs from evening dining in that you’re less likely to be accosted by cigarette smoke during the day. Bailies has it’s smoking/outdoor tables situated right next to the doors which in their defence is almost unavoidable, but does defeat the purpose of separating smokers from non-smokers because EVERYONE has to walk through the wall of smoke to enter.

On this visit the place wasn’t too busy, staff seemed to be in between busy periods as one was dining off to the side – we even got to benefit in her conversation with another staff member that consisted of a lot of “F’ing” related components.

I had a Bailies breakfast, which came out on a small rectangular plate – I know this makes food look pretty, but it didn’t really provide the space needed to move food around as you tried to eat it. Maybe that’s just my thing though.

On the plate was a hash, sausages, bacon, poached eggs, mushrooms and sour dough toast. Mushrooms – impeccable! Unfortunately, that’s pretty much where it stopped. The hash was lukewarm and had a reheated taste to it. The eggs were overcooked and what little sour dough toast there was, was burnt.

Now considering the price which was $23 the food was not up to scratch. I would easily be happy paying prices like that for good quality food and an atmosphere that didn’t consist of staff swearing loudly amongst each other, but in this case, I would put the value of this particular breakfast at the $17 mark compared to what I have experienced elsewhere around the country.

Unlikely to be returning, but I do wish the new Bailies all the best!

I’ve been to Cocopelli a few times and have enjoyed it each time, but it is handy to know and understand a number of things about the place before venturing in.

Cocopelli is situated at the Palms, stuck between One Bar and the Fox and Ferret – so it can be a little inconspicuous, but this also means if you choose to dine outside that you may be subject to venturing smells and smoke from the other bars. This can be worse if you dine later in the evening and they shut the wind breakers. This essentially encloses the smoking area.

In saying this, during the day, it is a fantastic looking and feeling place to eat and the inside of Cocopelli’s is comfortable, roomy and looks fantastic.

My favourite pizza here would have to the Julius Caser, which is essentially the salad on the pizza. What impresses me is that you can tell the chicken isn’t pre-processed, unnaturally cubed pieces of chicken. Whilst the bacon can make it somewhat greasy for a salad … as a pizza, it’s fantastic.

The staff have always been attentive and happy when I’ve popped in so have not experienced what others here have indicated. But then, perhaps different staff were also on.

The last note I would indicate is that there is a DJ widely advertised as playing on Friday and Saturday nights at Cocopelli’s, so I would recommend either dining early, or being prepared to be kept entertained till the wee hours of the morning.

Being such a small town, you don’t get many options in little old Fairlie – some of the diners in the area where you can get food, I would tend to avoid with a barge pole but Eat Deli & Bar can at least offer something many other towns in the South Island (or even many other cafes in Christchurch) cannot offer … well made coffee!

There’s always a mixture of people at Eat, mainly because it is on the main drive South towards , Tekapo/Twizel, Central Otago or Queenstown Lakes.

The inner decor is pretty standard as per a cafe, nothing overly special, although a children’s play area is offered in one corner, which is a nice service to provide.

We ordered a mixture of food, all of which was fairly stock standard. There was a Malaysian dish at our table which smelt amazing, and generally the food was nice. Average fare, above average for South Island townships.

They have a burger on menu, which is stated as coming with potato wedges WITH aioli – only to discover the aioli is INSIDE the burger. This is not what the menu says – the menu says the potato wedges are with aioli. My only other issue is that cutting potatoes into wedge shapes, does make them shaped like wedges – but it doesn’t actually turn them into “WEDGES” as people understand them to be so far as food is concerned. Lacking in a bit of spice and flavouring other than salt, they were in fact wedge shaped potato things with salt.

Otherwise, worth a stop on a long ride if you are in serious need of caffeine.

Not sure if this place really earned 3 stars, but I thought it deserved slightly more than 2. It’s cramped and busy and obviously popular, but we still managed to get a seat without too much trouble. Although the place was very full later on and our large round table soon accommodated an elderly couple who took up seats on the other side.

We were there for Sunday Yum Cha – which we used to love in Wellington – to date however we still haven’t found Yum Cha like we’re accustomed to (where you don’t have to pre-order off a menu).

The food was … well meh. The one good thing with ordered Yum Cha is that you know the food is fresh cooked and hot, the downside is, you don’t get to test your taste-buds on something a bit more unusual or exotic based solely on how it looks as it comes around the room.

In terms of the food, it was okay, but I have had better – in fact some of the food was either bland or too salty. We ended up giving some of our food to the couple across from us.

Would probably go back … but not in any great hurry to.

I’m a huge fan of Italian foods, not so much the pizzas but the pasta dishes.

My wife being a born and bred Cantabrian had fond student memories of this place and so we decided to give it a go. And to be honest I’m always a bit cynical of chains.

For my wife it was a bit dejavu seeing groups of students dining together at the next table.

The place was busy, but we still managed to get a table after waiting just long enough to get it clean, although clean would be interesting when everything is being wiped with he same grotty looking cloth.

The place was busy, a big table of around 16 people ensured the place was never entirely quiet, but wouldnt expect these places to be quiet either. We were seated in a booth seat which was good because it was both comfortable and felt a bit more secluded inside a busy restaurant.

Our table had a mixture of pizzas and pastas and the general verdict about all the food was just kinda ‘meh’. You know the kinda meh I mean … Ok, but had better meh. The food was generally just bland, but edible. Some flavours, such as garlic in the pasta dish stuck out but overall, just wasn’t there for me.

I’m even writing a bland review about what I found to be bland food because it was all just … MEH!

I’ve been meaning to sit down and do a review of this place for some time, it’s now been a few months so I’m hoping I remember all the important details.

The Wrinkly Ram is situated on the main road heading out to Twizel (if driving from Central Otago). As a venue it stands out because of the large sign. We’ve always been curious to stop in on various drives through Omarama?

Inside the place has some sort of sheep/ram theme … And I believe a store, but we didn’t explore that. The restaurant inside has very much an urban cafe feel, while outside are hese great natural looking solid wood tables.

I remember ordering the ribs and cannot remember what my wife had but I do know we were both very impressed with service, quality of the food and the flavours.

We’d definitely dine again if given the chance. We have heard rumor that it may have changed hands since. But our experience was fantastic place.

For some reason I thought for some reason this place had rated higher than it does now, as we check places on Menu Mania to see how they fare before choosing to eat at them.

On the night we visited, there were a few people in there. As we weren’t locals, we tend to trust this as a good sign when travelling – but know it’s not a guarantee.

In brief, the food was okay. Wasn’t brilliant, have had worse, but have also had much better. We had a couple of pizzas and I had a pasta dish myself.

The food was … well … bland. There wasn’t anything overly wrong with the food and the flavours that were there were good, but the food tasted a wee bit diluted.

Anyway … was okay in the scheme of things. The most notable thing we took away was that our clothes smelled of pizza for the remainder of the night.

Despite that, I’d probably go back to see if any of the other dishes were any better.

Mitchell’s is a Tavern, you have to know what a Tavern (or Pub) is before you go there and not expect to find any different. The high ratings are probably because Mitchell’s doesn’t pretend to be anything but what it is. It’s not a pub pretending to be a fancy restaurant and it’s not a fancy restaurant disguised as a pub. For that reason, it’s a great place.

It’s busy and pretty easy to see why. There is a decent selection of food and even a few things you wouldn’t expect to find in a pub (fettucine?). The meals are a good size, and the prices incredibly good. If you are hungry and just want a good meal without spending a fortune then this is worth a visit.

This place isn’t for anyone with high cholesterol, watching their weight, counting WW points or after a green salad. While I have no doubt that they could probably help with something off their menu, to really enjoy the place try the pork chops and grab a beer.

Botswana is an elegant and impressive looking restaurant. The decor is modern with plenty of room inside, seating people both upstairs and down in what looks like a converted large home.

The environment gives you an air of class and expense, but Queenstown being what it is, you could be there just as comfortably in jeans and a hoody as you would in a collared shirt and designer shoes.

The prices are not for the penny-watchers. The menu isn’t huge, but still fairly impressive – apart from the lack of bread. Perhaps we missed it on the menu, but we didn’t see any on the sides or starter menu.

Service was impeccable, and apart from a muddle up with our booking not being found when we first arrived, and being moved seats, we couldn’t fault it.

There is a good selection of wine, including many from local Central Otago wineries.

Our meals were great – but as indicated by an earlier reviewer, you pay extra for the sides. Steak meals and such range in the $30 price range with each additional side approximately $8 each. Which can make your meal about $50pp without drinks added.

Overall we enjoyed the dining experience, but it would be the sort of place that we would recommend if you wanted somewhere to enjoy the service and atmosphere and have a few dollars to splash around.

Before I start my murmurings, let me first say that our waitress was incredibly pleasant and credit to what is a horrible place with abysmal food.

People in wheelchairs can count themselves lucky at least on 1 count, the place is entirely inaccessible from what I could see … but that’s doing you a favour! The decor is dated and odd, it’s like walking into someone’s home – or that pub on Coronation Street. Then you step down into the dining part of it which overlooks the shops opposite and a few carparks. Stunning view!

So I order Ginger Beer … that can’t be too hard to get wrong, you pop open a bottle. Except, it was best before 7 months earlier. A place that doesn’t check the date on their stock … you have to worry about! Especially if it hasn’t been checked in 7 months – or even 1 month!

I ordered the Ribeye steak, which was in the $30 mark. Pricey depending on where you dine, but if I spend that much money, I expect a reasonably healthy looking piece of steak. So my steak arrives and it’s a piddly little thing with a single, small potato underneath it, that has been sliced into 4 or 5 parts to make it look plentiful – epic fail. In a separate bowl was a selection of butter covered veges.

The steak itself was pretty tasteless and considerably smaller to my wife’s cut, although it did come with a side sauce of my choice – in this case, garlic – I didn’t enjoy the sauce either.

Now I can honestly say, that I have NEVER left a restaurant leaving steak on my plate … until now. I found it all so hard to digest that I ended up leaving it on my plate.

I would advise people to dine with caution. Some seem to like it, but some also seem to absolutely loathe the experience!

POST-SCRIPT: In response to the owner’s response – actually I can be pleased and if you look over the number of reviews that I have done, it’s plain to see that I can be. A good start is checking the use by dates on your stock. Not that hard is it? Every person who dines at your establishment should be treated like they are a reviewer. You’re lucky you can see these reviews, it may assist in some form of quality control or improvement in service and food. The reviews of your establishment that were in a book at the hotel however did not paint your establishment in good light – unfortunately, we only saw them AFTER we tried your place out. I would be slightly happy if you even bothered to check the dates on your stock once every month. That’s a stark improvement on not checking them in SEVEN MONTHS!

You’re hard pressed to find anything worthy in terms of food in Cromwell, and many of the vendors seem to have developed a Queenstown attitude towards pricing of food … considering the quality of the food in Cromwell, the prices are horrific!

There are very few decent eat-in or takeaway places in this small junction of a town, but thankfully, Feast does much to dispel my previous misgivings about ever eating in this place.

The decor and furniture is modern and classy. The place is clean and well presented, often with good almost alternative mellow music playing in the background.

Feast has a range of food, with a selection of pizzas and pastas as well. All of which are actually pretty bloody decent … and not just for Cromwell either.

It is one of the few places in Central Otago where I can actually feel like I am back in the North Island and there’s not a single cheese roll in sight! This might not appeal to everyone but those who want a more speights oriented experience can go just about anywhere else. It is nice to have a place that appreciates good food, good dining experience and not too over-burdened prices (although would be expensive by Wellington standards, as would most places here).

Easily recommended as a great place to eat for dinner.

People say you can tell a good Asian restaurant by the number of Asians actually dining there, and considering we were the only non-Asians we took this as a good sign.

Lakeside is typical of Chinese restaurant decor, Asian cheese isn’t on the menu but you certainly see a lot of it decorating the walls – everything from a large framed collection of money from around the world, to an even larger framed collection of money on another wall.

Service was good, the woman behind the counter was incredibly friendly and this always helps. At least she understands the importance of customer service, as opposed to some other supposedly cool and trendy cafes [cough, cough VUDU, cough].

I had the wonton noodle soup for lunch and unfortunately found the noodles to look a bit dry. My guess is that they had been well and truly cooked beforehand and as a result of time, dried out. The soup itself tasted great – and I always enjoy the challenge of chopsticks. It wasn’t overly abundant with vegetables either, a few pieces of broccoli and slices of carrot was about it.

Whilst service was good, and the experience wasn’t torturous, the food on this occasion just wasn’t up to scratch in the scheme of things.

This is actually a review without ever having eaten here, so it’s a review based on 2 attempts at trying to eat at this place, both times unsuccessful.

The first time we arrived to find they had a large group booking for lunch and as a result they were unable to seat any other patrons, the second time we arrived to find it closed despite the clearly displayed opening hours stating that it should in fact be open.

So how does one rate a place that you can’t get into? Typically you would think this was because it was popular but that didn’t seem to be the case at all.

Rated average, despite never having had a single morsel pass between my lips.

Maybe I caught them on a bad day, but we visited the place because it was recommended to us by someone who is also in the cafe industry.

It seems it’s cool and trendy to appear to be a cool and trendy cafe, you know having a range of gluten and dairy free or vegetarian options, using organic ingredients and playing Kora or Shapeshifter in the background.

Queenstown seems to have a lot of bars/cafes with really narrow doorways – some equipped with large doorways but with split doors and 1 door closed creating the facade of a narrow doorway. Inside there’s a couple of “culturally inappropriate” sized booths and the rest of the dining area is made up of fairly standard, albeit slightly uncomfortable wooden chairs and tables.

The coffee in the place wasn’t too bad, I’ve certainly had worse, but being a Wellingtonian I’ve had better as well. But considering where we are in the South Island, it was a pretty decent cup.

We ordered breakfast – I had eggs benedict with a side of mushrooms. Which is kind of where all my problems began. When you order something stated as a side on the menu, you don’t expect it not to be on the side.

Eggs Bene is typically stacked, and I expected a side to be just that … on the side. Instead they had positioned my “SIDE” on the INside, between a couple of pieces of ciabatta. My first issue with this is that typically, freshly cooked mushrooms usually have a lot of juices … and that would have soaked the ciabatta – and it did … a little bit (and if you’ve read previous reviews of mine, you’d see I have an issue with soggy bread/toast).

Fortunately or unfortunately, these weren’t freshly cooked mushrooms. In fact, most of them were still fridge cold (some managing to warm up from toast association).

In the end, my side that wasn’t actually a side because it was inside, never made it to my insides. They instead, sat, ironically, on the side of my plate. When I mentioned the stone cold mushrooms to the person behind the counter, as I was ordering more coffee to takeaway, I got a “sorry about that” and that was it. Nothing more appeared to be done about it – at the very least, nothing was done to make up for the fact that I had spent $4 on a side that was too cold to be eaten.

Will not be returning in any great hurry, even if I don’t find better coffee anywhere else.

Similar to rjade, had decided to try the “legendary” ribs. Brazz is a bit awkwardly place down Athol St where your only escape if you find yourself going down the wrong way is to pop down the KFC drive-through.

It’s set out like many other bistro type bar/restaurants. Looking like an upmarket rustic pub with wine barrel tables and lots of wood.

Staff are friendly and attentive and the place was nice and clean.

The meals themselves weren’t overly impressive, but they weren’t horrible either. The salt and pepper calamari is good, but similar to the rest of the menu pricey for the portion.

I got the sense that the ribs were marinated for long periods so the meat falls of the bone. The 1/2 original rack turned out to be about 4 ribs, which is hardly a big meal and for $28 you could leave feeling a bit ripped off. In saying that, the meal is still a reasonable size with coleslaw and fries on the side.

The ribs are certainly better than you would find in something like Lonestar, although you would get a much larger serving in Lonestar for a similar price. But I wouldn’t necessarily call them legendary.

Would be tempted to go back just to check out the rest of the menu, but the ribs haven’t endeared me at all to try them again.

Wow, talk about violating your senses when you walk in. If you have never known what it is like to have multiple personality disorder then you could give this place a go for something of an idea – music playing in the background was everything from Dylan to some country music, a bit of Acid Jazz and some Latin hip-hop thrown in the mix too. The decor is cluttered and sometimes clumsy. In spite of that, you can sit down and feel “alternative” because you’re dining here.

We just wanted a snack because we were fending off any sense of hunger before a 2hr movie. Ordered the curly fries and the chicken wings – but there was a lot of tempting looking bits and pieces on the menu.

Service was pretty good. The woman behind the counter was pretty attentive and we were seated quickly. Given there wasn’t a huge amount of food ordered, it’s hard to say much about it … but I enjoyed it. The curly fries were … curly and came with a really nice dipping sauce. The chicken wings weren’t overly spicy and they were tasty, but incredibly oily. In fact they came in a plastic bowl thingy with holes, the bottom of which is lined with baking paper. This meant the oil just oozed onto the table, making for a messy experience.

Can’t say the food was absolutely divine, but would happily try it again if only because the rest of the menu looked tempting.

I’ve been to Starfish a couple of times and have generally liked the place and kept meaning to do a review but I’ve been a bit slack since moving to the South Island.

First big point to Starfish is they have Cafe Laffare – my old Wellington haunt. The baristas do a pretty decent job given how much I used to frequent the actual Cafe Laffare in Wellington. It’s fairly small looking downstairs, but if you don’t mind climbing stairs, you’ll find a lot more room to spread out with great great views (if you twist in the right direction).

I’ve had breaky at Starfish a few times but something seems to have changed since those first two visits. I had nothing but good things to say about the place on those visits. On this visit, I ordered the big breakfast.

On THIS visit, the staff were a bit disinterested at first. Seemed more interested in talking to their friends at the counter.

The breakfast itself looked appetizing. The scrambled eggs, bacon, portobello mushroom, thick toast etc were all piled on top of each other in a rather large … bowl. Bowls are great for soups and chowders and from a cafe point of view, if everything is served in a bowl, it certainly cuts down on the amount of space they might take up on a shelf – and less costly to replace because you don’t need to buy sets. It even looks good in a bowl … but presentation doesn’t necessarily equal practicality.

The thing about bowls is that they have less flat space than a plate and its therefore a bit more of a challenge trying to eat so many items in a bowl. Its a bit like one of those puzzle games where you slide tiles to unjumble a picture … you had to slide the food around inside the bowl in order to get to other bits of the breakfast. If the breakfast was meant to be a puzzle, Starfish would get 5 stars!

The breakfast was nice but a tad on the dry side. It needs a relish or sauce of some sort … that is, other than the tomato sauce (which seemed an odd addition).

I’d happily go back to try out Starfish again, just to see whether they may see sense to go back to what they were doing before – but if I see another bowl, I’m walking out … but probably with a takeaway coffee still.

Angus is a trendy looking place with modern decor, dim moody lighting and a wide array of underground music setting the scene. I was happy just chilling to the mixture of acid-jazz and breakbeats playing.

To Angus’s credit they provide a DONENESS guide, as in done a steak is according to the usual descriptors – rare, medium, well done etc etc. It even comes with photos and a percentage as to the amount of pink you should have – all of which is very hard to make out because of the dim moody lighting. BUT at least you have some confidence in knowing that they should at least know how your steak should look.

You expect with a steakhouse that there may be a few more than just 3 steaks and that they might have a few weight varieties too. You get a choice of 3 Angus steaks and they are either 250gm or 300gm. Steak isn’t the only thing on the menu though. BUT you can’t really go to a steakhouse and not order steak. There is a sauce of the day which changes depending on how whoever it is that makes that decision is feeling. On this day it was bacon and herb.

I generally ask for my steaks well done knowing that most places under-cook. I braved my chances and went for medium well. Again because of the dim moody lighting it was hard to tell whether they had managed the ever so slight pink, but it seemed a bit more well done, in saying that, I don’t mind well done.

The meal was accompanied with coleslaw, which you expect to be dry and tasteless as it is in most steakhouses, but this was probably one of the better coleslaw’s.

The place is obviously popular, but at least one staff member could use a few tips in how to sell a meal. People at another table near us asked a waiter to tell them about the steak meals and his response was “We’re a steakhouse, it’s what we do best”. The guy wont ever be a car salesman … “its a car, it goes vrooom” probably wouldn’t net him Sales Person of the Month.

All in all, its a nice place with good food (and good music mostly). Would happily go back.

First thing you notice about Bella Cucina is the doorway entrance which appears to have been specially made for people suffering from stick-figure body disorders. It’s a long narrow restaurant/cafe with tables lined up along the wall. If it seems incredibly hot when you walk in, ask to sit nearer the back. It’s a bit cooler down there.

There’s a board outside which advertises the fact that the menu changes daily, which is something worth keeping in mind when you view the menu on this particular page – that isn’t the menu that we were provided with.

Staff were attentive and there’s no fault with the staff at all. What I did find was that the menu was an odd array of foods. There were 4 main dishes, 1 of which had been crossed out with a pen leaving 2 out of 3 seafood dishes. This didn’t leave a lot of choice given that I had no urge for seafood on this particular night. There’s also a selection of pizzas on the menu as well (3) – but again, the toppings seemed like an odd selection.

If you have kids, unless they are incredibly experimental with palates that are accustomed to trying food on the more gourmet end, then this place is ideal. If however you have kids who are fussy eaters, then this place probably wouldn’t do the trick.

Despite the odd array of food, it actually did leave me feeling like I had really limited choice and in the end, chose nothing.

Thus I have given an average rating, which may seem unfair given that I barely tried it out … but that’s because both my wife and I both found the menu … well, unappealing.

Might be prepared to try it again, but will be inspecting the menu much closer before choosing to dine there.

Can I just say churrr!

Hamills is a bar and restaurant located at Frankton, not far from Queenstown Airport. It has very much a cafe/bistro feel about it but the meals are a small step up from bistro styled fare.

It has a great outdoor seating area which oversees the cars coming into the Frankton shopping centre. Inside, there’s your standard tables and chairs but a few couches and more comfortable booths.

My wife chose to have a pizza, whilst I had the sweet corn and smoked chicken chowder. The food was very good and mine came with a side of bread as well – which isn’t stated on the menu. Unlike some chowders, this one had lots of chunky bits to it and was incredibly thick without being overly sickeningly rich.

The service was pretty good also. The table hadn’t been wiped down from the last lot of people but apart from that, this was a good experience.

In terms of pricing, given how expensive food is in Queenstown Lakes – it was pretty good value as well.

Would recommend the chowder to anyone who is shopping at Frankton and needing somewhere for lunch.

These guys know how to put on a serious buffet meal!

I’ve been back to this place a couple of times at least and it leaves many other places for dust in terms of variety and quality of food.

Food always looks fresh, hot and delectable. Service is always pretty good – although they do leave you to your own devices a bit (which isn’t a bad thing).

The decor itself is nothing to rave about but once you have paid your $26.00 per adult fee – inside you get access to about 3 different types of soup/chowder + breads, lasagne, mac & cheese, chicken wings, BB pork ribs, assorted chinese meals, a plethora of salads, roast pork, roast lamb, salmon, baked fish, sauces and gravies, vegetables and a dessert bar which comes with it’s own snow-cone ice-cream machine along with cheesecake, pavlova, apple pie, lolly cake … you get my drift?

Essentially the place has pretty much something for everyone and in a place that lets you eat whatever you like and however much you like for your one off fee – to truly enjoy the place, it’s best to go in on an empty stomach.

So there’s places like this scattered in various parts of the country – some do it very well, such as the Garden Hotel restaurant in Christchurch which has a huge selection of really good quality good value food … but this isn’t about them.

Keeping in mind that I have probably been spoiled by the fact that I have been up and down the country and seen lots of restaurants get it right and lots get it wrong – in whatever their chosen cuisine style.

Great Taste unfortunately has a really misleading name – and it took me a second time of eating there just to make sure.

Overall the environment is good. Some of the tables however are a bit odd because the chairs don’t quite match up leaving you banging your knees on the underside of the table.

The food selection is severely limited. I have paid similar and eaten in similar places where they have whole roasts out to choose from – or wide selections of seafood. Essentially you get a choice of pasta, a couple of hot Asian dishes, rice and deep fried foods. Dessert is as limited as your mains.

The dishes themselves are a bit … well, ick … that’s about the only way I can describe it. Oil ridden Asian fare – the satay was the most visually interesting because the satay sauce looked more like brown lumpy gravy.

I wont be making my way back to try a third time lucky.

I don’t hand out 5 stars willy nilly and if I could have I would have, but I tend to save those for the really impressive restaurants.

We were greeted by friendly staff (thankfully 1 from the North Island even! she spoke my language!!). Staff were attentive, smiling lots.

The environment was clean and spacious – albeit a bit moody looking, but that could just be because Invers as a whole is rather moody looking. Especially when overcast.

Both my wife and I had steak, each to our own liking. I have to say we were both really impressed. Both cooked almost exactly as we had wanted, although my wife’s seemed to be pushing towards the rarer side. Serving was plentiful and it was delicious as well.

Given the place seemed to have a couple of big touring groups, timing wasn’t a problem and the place was still getting tidied and cleaned rather efficiently by waiting staff.

If we happen to stay at the Ascot again, we’ll definitely be eating at Emberz again.

So this was another pick on the basis of Menu Mania. Which is a pretty handy site when travelling out of your usual area. Most times I have used Menu Mania I haven’t been overly disappointed with the results, but also need to keep in mind that people have different tastes in different areas – which explains why some people listen to Wagon Wheel in these places whilst most of us from Wellington have never heard of it.

The first thing you notice about the place is that it is big. Seemingly impressive in size and looks clean as well. There’s a kids play area down one end, which is conveniently hidden behind a large screen which was playing Juice or similar.

They have some seating which is bench style seating – but with really narrow seats that would be easy to get a butt work out on just from trying to stay on them.

We had a garlic-y, cheese bread to start with which was nice. I then had pasta and my wife had a pizza. She really enjoyed her pizza. The bases on the entree and her pizza were very airy but very nice.

My gripe with the place was the pasta was lukewarm. It didn’t taste like it had actually been heated properly. Overall it was nice, but hard to enjoy when it was lukewarm. The proportion on the other hand was huge and I didn’t manage to finish it but then had no inclination to try given the temperature.

It was a nice place, and I probably would try it again – but I’ll be making sure my food is hot next time.

I don’t normally do reviews of takeaway places, but this one deserves a special mention. Thinly veiled cardboard disguised as Fish and Chips, with tasteless hoki cardboard fish. Mundane at best, avoidance highly recommended.

We stopped in for lunch at the Luggate on the recommendation of other people who have dined there. Located just 10mins outside Wanaka in a small town called … Luggate … it’s a nicely presented, bar style place with a restaurant off to the side.

The girl on the bar was incredibly friendly and I have to say service overall was great, she was a credit to the place. I ordered a burger and my wife ordered a meatlovers pizza which was the most expensive thing on the menu at $25 – so we were expecting something gourmet-ish.

The food unfortunately wasn’t great. The fries were great, I do like them a little bit crunchy. I can’t put my finger on why I didn’t enjoy the burger, something about the flavour just didn’t work for me. The meatlovers pizza was probably closer to a vegetarian pizza, with barely any meat on it at all (see picture).

Overall it was disappointing because the place seemed really nice. In their favour was the fact that the lamb shank ordered by another member of our party actually looked really good – may try that instead next time.

So the Golden Gate is another one of those Bar/Restaurant venues but trading under the name Pisa Café. In terms of eating places, there isn’t a huge selection going on in Cromwell. Golden Gate happens to be one of the larger accommodation venues with one of the more popular bars.

The café is nicely laid out, not at all like an atypical bar/restaurant. Situated right near the entrance to Cromwell Town, it would probably have some stunning views of snow covered mountains during winter. An outdoor dining area possibly ensuring that people have somewhere to sit when the 30 degree plus temperatures make their way to Central Otago – which shouldn’t be too far away.

I ordered a chicken, cranberry and brie pizza. The pizza toppings change daily apparently, so this was the “pizza of the day” – ordered with a side of fries.

Unfortunately for me the pizza, whilst it wasn’t awful, wasn’t great. Very little in the way of cranberry sauce and it was more like a mild cheese pizza with very little in the way of any of the key ingredients you would expect to find in a Chicken, cranberry and brie pizza. It was still very edible though. The fries were really good, better than many other places. For $4.50 they were a great price considering the volume.

Service was great, setting was great – would happily eat there again, but may try something different next time.

Paddock Café is the equivalent of having had your folks (or grand-folks) open up a quaint little café in a small town – in fact, it looked like it was probably their home they opened it up in.

Quaint would almost be an understatement. I’ve had bathrooms bigger than this place, but in saying that, it isn’t the smallest place I have ever dined at – Soprano in Petone takes that prize – but Soprano has quality food on its side.

It was seemingly busy on the day we dined here, obviously a semi-popular place being on the main trunk line heading South, but there also seemed to be a number of local diners there as well. Seating isn’t overly cramped but there isn’t a heap of room either.

As you would expect with a small café, there isn’t a huge amount of food on selection – but there did seem to be some nice looking sausage rolls, pies, cakes, slices, etc on display.

I ordered a toasted sandwich and normally when I order a BLT toasted sandwich from a café and pay $10 for it, I tend to expect something fairly impressive, but much like the motel we had stayed in the night prior, I was fairly underwhelmed. There’s no flashy bread, a bit of rocket, and cold tomato with a drizzle of mayo on top. The food is good enough if you need something from a drive, but don’t expect anything that you couldn’t make yourself in your own kitchen. Maybe I’ve just spent far too much time travelling and eating out in big cities.

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting too much of anything in Picton after a night sleeping in an overpriced and underwhelming motel – but I’ll save that story for when I start reviewing motels/hotels.

Le Café is a quaint but modern looking café which seems to be divided into two very distinct parts – one for more formal dining and the other more casual. We arrived relatively early for breakfast in the more casual end, which has a mish-mash of seating – some more comfortable than others. There’s a computer set up for free net surfing for patrons and seating outside which has great views of the waterfront.

We could see the care being taken by the chef to neatly place items on the plates, so this was a good sign. When the food came out, it was hard to fault anything about it. Eggs nicely done, mushrooms were lovely and there was a dash of pesto on the side of the plate.

Because it was such a beautiful morning, this only made the whole bad motel experience vanish relatively quickly.

Only warning I would give is that coffees look cheap but that’s because they’re SINGLE SHOT, which is very non-Wellington like of them. BUT you pay standard prices for a double-shot long black.

I was a relative fan of Buzz restaurant in Lower Hutt, so when we heard that the owners had sold up and started up a new Tapas place in Petone, we felt we had to give it a go (truth is my wife won vouchers from MenuMania – thanks guys!) – but I am a fan of Buzz.

Anyway – the layout is very nice. Quite plush really but it is odd. It’s hard to describe so I wont try to, but will mention the large velvet cushioned wall. For prospective taggers, it’s a good way to write your name on the wall without the implication of a vandalism charge (although the prices on the menu may leave you feeling like you’ve been charged for something offensive).

Service was pretty good, although it was hard to understand a couple of the waiters who are obviously foreign – and the mono-brow on one of them was a bit disturbing. But, that wont cost Speak Easy any stars.

We decided to order a range of tapas, almost all of them and apart from the Baby Calamari, it was all delicious. I personally didn’t enjoy the chorizo & black beans, but everyone else seemed to. The chicken was popular, as were the tiger prawns. The baby calamari was more like a white membrane stuffed with mince. We ordered a tapas dessert platter as well – and again, were impressed. One of the table had the mousse for dessert and it looks rather ominous when you see it.

There was a private function, with music, going on in the bed lounge area while the restaurant speakers above us played different music altogether. This made it hard to have a conversation without shouting, but it was also just wrong having two completely different lots of music as ambient noise.

Other than that, it was a great dining experience with great food and would gladly return – when I have next won lotto – oh by the way, the toilets are very nice too

We had a large group dinner of about 18 people. They don’t really have tables made for large groups – so we had two lazy susan tables thrown together. Not ideal, but a bonus was being able to keep myself away from people I didn’t want a lot to do with for the evening.

We decided upon the $30pp set menu which turned out to be pretty good value. There were some issues with segregating the vegetarians amongst us, the staff of the restaurant wanting the tree-chewers to sit at one end so that those eating from the set-menu could be easily identified. With all the fuss it would have been far easier just branding the leaf-lovers with an iron.

A lot of food in the set menu, far too much to go into the individual merits of the food, suffice to say the food was very good. I especially enjoyed the Chicken & Corn soup which had a spice to it. The fried rice was a bit bland perhaps indicating mass-cooking of large quantities – but the rest was enjoyed by all.

Service throughout the night was generally pretty good and the staff were helpful (other than the discriminatory action against the cabbage-crunchers). I would have gone for a 3.5 rating, because I didn’t think it quite achieved a 4 – but seeing as I can’t do that, 3 stars from me.

I’ve seen Portofino in Parnell a number of times and have been tempted to try it, but Milano is always that wee bit closer so I have never made it across the road. But, seeing as they’ve opened a restaurant up in Wellington – why not give it a go.

First thing you need to know that it’s located on the waterfront by One Red Dog and Wagamama.

Being a near new restaurant, the environment itself is bordering on immaculate. Though it was dark outside, I imagine the outdoor tables and waterfront view would also be pleasant.

The food, was generally good. It wasn’t amazing, but it wasn’t too bad either and it probably would rate well in terms of Italian restaurants that I have dined at – of which there have been many over the years.

The prices are generally pretty good (expect to pay about $40-50pp for an entree, main + drink). I would personally have given the restaurant 4 stars on the basis of the food alone – but this isn’t about the food alone.

Service was also, generally good, although a tad slow at times.

My big gripe with Portofino is with the toilets (yes, another review mentioning toilets). There were no hand-towels/paper-towels in the mens. Tried to dry them on toilet paper, only to end up with loo paper fluff all over my hands.

I did mention the lack of paper towels to one of the staff, but nothing was done about it by the time I returned back to the loo an hour later. It seems menial but an important aspect of hand hygiene is actually the ability to dry your hands (Obsessive Compulsive much? No, in fact I’m not!). Good hand hygiene and food are a preferable combination.

So I would eat there again, but will be taking my own paper-towels.

It’s amazing to think that as you drive out to this place that you’re only 30mins from NZs capital city. Unfortunately, the peace and quiet doesn’t last when you arrive.

Short Straw is a relatively busy and remote cafe out in the wops, partly getting it’s name from the fact that the building was built using straw – novel.

The place was busy with a few large groups – great diversity of people for people watching. Unfortunately the food was ho-hum. My wife ordered vegetable soup, which was described to me as bland and tasteless. I had a slice of quiche with salad. Lots of salad, but you get all of about 2 drips of dressing on the salad – hardly salad dressing, more like a salad g-string.

Considering where you are, it isn’t exactly a peaceful place with the number of kids running around.

So personally, not my kinda joint. But others may enjoy the drive out there.

Another dinner venue selection on the basis of Menu Mania and wasn’t disappointed either.

We were fortunate to arrive at a time when there were a couple of tables free and nobody else waiting. Similar to a few other places, they only take bookings for large groups. As the night went on, most people coming in had to wait 15-30mins for a table.

Scopa has tried its best to get as many tables in as possible, so there is minimum distance between your table and the next – but it still doesnt feel like too much of an imposition on private conversation.

Service was brilliant. Staff refilling your water as you needed it, and checking back a couple of times throughout the evening to make sure everything was okay.

The food was beautiful. Neither of us had pizza, except for the Giordino for an entree, so food assessment is not about the pizza. I had the aged sirloin steak and all I can really say is, perfectly cooked and my mouth is watering now just thinking about it again.

Now some people will think I have something of a fascination with toilets (see my review of Iguacu) and I dont really, I just think toilets can be cool … and I’m not the only one. I cant comment on the women’s loos, but the men’s has these large stainless steel funnels, which look like oversized penne pasta for urinals. I know its not very nice to be talking about the loo on a food review site, but at least go have a look at the facilities if you do go there.

It looks small from the outside, but it’s a nice roomy place with a small outdoor deck area and I do mean SMALL! Inside the cafe is really nicely decorated and clean with art decorating the walls and a large slap table in a lower section.

The breakfast was great, all very nice. The bacon incredibly so. Coffee was good, but we had to remind the waiter that we had ordered coffee – although in their defence, they gave our drinks for free. Eggs were perfectly well done and the plate nicely presented.

Staff very friendly and its a busy and vibrant place. Highly recommended.

It was busy I’ll give it that much and it does very much have that artsy cafe feel about it. Coffee wasn’t too bad.

It’s hard to say what the atmosphere was like inside, other than hot! It was a very warm day but fortunately there were a string of tables lined up along the store front outside – all relatively busy.

So busy that there was an hour long wait for any cooked foods. It gave us a chance to do some people watching.

The breakfast itself was fairly standard as far as breakfasts go. I can’t complain about the portions too much or anything, but my poached eggs were overdone! (my pet hate).

.I decided upon the Thirsty Whale on the basis of the reviews on this website, and I wasn’t disappointed. But one of the strangest dining experiences ever happened as well – and its not the fault of the Thirsty or it’s staff.

Like Shed 2 (and the Gin Trap next door) it has a lovely deck area for dining with great views. It too is a busy place, but has a lot more room to spread out in than some of the other restaurants, or at least appeared to.

The waitress was incredibly friendly, telling us we may have to wait a while – a whole 30 minutes! Which to us wasn’t much of a wait at all.

Everything was going along well, when we noticed people starting to jump startled at the restaurant next door (The Gin Trap). Then it was happening next to us. A few men even letting out some girly screams in the process. Turned out there were these bugs falling out of the sky, not just a few, there were literally hundreds of them – everywhere. Dropping onto tables, people, deck and possibly even food. It made for great entertainment!

Turns out it doesnt happen very often, but has happened before, with nobody really knowing why.

We moved inside anyway. Dinner was uneventful after that – but it was beautiful. Lamb rack cooked perfectly.

Thirsty Whale is a great restaurant, with good views. Its clean and spacious. Great service, staff being both attentive and friendly and we had the added bonus entertainment factor of hearing grown men scream!

We partly decided upon Shed 2 on the basis of a menu in our hotel room.

It was very busy, which was to be expected because it was Mission Estate Concert weekend (yep, the one that was eventually cancelled).

It has a sports bar feel to it on one side. A great deck which would be ideal for summer dining overlooking the port and its quite a good looking restaurant.

Upon arriving we discovered a special menu for Mission Estate Concert weekend – as if seeing the concert wasn’t enough to make you feel special. In fact, its so special they charge you extra for a few of the same regular items on a more limited, but special, menu. On top of that we arrived to be told that no orders were to be taken until after 9pm because of how busy it was (over 1 hour wait).

Fair enough, it was busy, but this is the 17th concert in Napier and surely they would be better equipped to deal with the rush – not to mention having a year to prepare. Nevertheless we waited, assisted by the Hurricanes vs Crusaders game on the big screen (my wife being a Cantabrian and myself a Wellingtonian it was fitting).

When we eventually did get to order and have our food, the food was great. But was left with the sour taste of having to wait and then realising we were being charged extra to wait a lot longer.

Big events that attract people to your area, should never be an excuse to take advantage of them. There are a lot of other places next to Shed 2 and I would recommend you try one of the others if you do happen to be in Napier during a big event.

A working lunch at Regal today – I didn’t even know the place existed. Being right above Majestic there would seem to be a fair bit of competition for Yum Cha.

I found Regal to be as good if not better than Majestic. It is a much larger venue than Majestic and the tables are further apart, depriving you of that feeling of claustrophobia – which is not a bad thing!

The food was very nice, the service quick and friendly, with service staff quick to come around and market their goods to your table. It was a little hard to understand some of them at times, but you want Asian, expect a few Asian accents to contend with.

Overall I found this to be a great place to dine.

Iguacu isn’t an easy name to pronounce – but don’t let that put you off. Don’t let the flashy appearance of an expensive restaurant for the well to do in a just as flashy part of Auckland deter you either.

Brunch/Lunch between for my wife and I consisted of a mussel fritters and the big breakfast. The fritters were very nice and hard to utter a bad word about them. The big breakfast was, well big. Poached eggs were perfectly done, and I was even asked if I would like them runny or not – which was a bonus! They make a great coffee there too!

Unfortunately due to the humidity, salt isn’t easy to shake over your eggs without having large moistened clumps fall out. The bacon meanwhile was plentiful but a few pieces were a bit too crisp. But thats hardly something to complain about.

Overall the meal was very good. What impressed me more than anything was the toilets. Which is an odd thing to be impressed by, but they were clean and everything appeared to be stainless steel.

So recommendation this time around, is go there if just to use the facilities!

People are a bit spoiled for Italian in Parnell – but in my view not if you dine at La Porchetta.

I have to admit when I spoke to my wife on the phone later on, I made mention of the fact that it felt and came across like a chain restaurant – and interestingly enough, I’ve learned I was right.

You’d think that a place that has a few members of Nesian Mystic dining there can’t be that bad right? Wrong! I was only having takeaway, so that limits my dining experience. It was full, I can say that much, but thats because the Nesian boys looked like they’d invited their extended families as well.

Call me a calamari snob, but I really despise minced fish guts disguised as calamari. I ordered the calamari from an Italian restaurant thinking I would get actual calamari. How wrong I was.

The carbonara fettucine I had was bland and flavourless. Although colourful with different coloured pasta decorating the inside of the takeaway container. If eating a rainbow was important then the place would have gotten 5 stars – sucks to be them huh!

Overall, disappointing. When you have Milano down the road – spend the extra dollars and have a far more impressive meal there instead.

My wife and I have dined here before, and her hen’s night was also at Zico a little while ago – neither of us have been disappointed.

Zico has a handy location for people watching if you happen to snag one of the seats facing Courtenay Place – you get to see a lot of people stopping by to look at the menu. The setting is a wee bit on the cramped side, but not so you’re sitting on top of everyone.

For some reason, there seemed to be a lot of “older” people dining here this time. I’m not sure if there was a senior citizens gold card discount but it certainly seemed it. This has no impact on the food or the setting, it was more … interesting than anything else. Nevertheless, there were also a number of younger people dining there that evening as well.

Service was attentive, albeit a little slow a couple of times. The food arrived quickly and was as good as the other time we had dined here. Food was plentiful as well. On top of it all, we were in a bit of a hurry but service was so quick, we were out and enjoying the noise of the show in plenty of time.

Quick stop for breakfast on the way home from Masterton. My wife has dined here before and liked it – so we thought we’d try it. It has a nice atmosphere, spoiled by the fact they serve Vittoria Coffee – ick! (sorry, coffee snob that I am).

Ordered the deli breakfast. Poached eggs weren’t overdone – GOOD! They can cook eggs in water! Interestingly enough, the breakfast is served in a large soup bowl looking plate thing. Not so good for a couple of reasons – 1. hard to eat anything but soup and cereal out of them and 2. it holds liquid. Which is where the let down is.

Eggs are served on ciabatta, which is one of my favourites, but it didn’t seem to be toasted at all and it appeared the eggs and ciabatta may have been one of the first things on the plate. As tomatoes and mushrooms were placed on the plate, all the liquids were collecting in the centre of this bowl – leaving the ciabatta absolutely mushed (is that an adequate food review word? Mushed?). I can understand that poached eggs will dampen the bread a bit, thats hardly scientific – and yet many, many places manage to avoid soaking the bread through. Even I can avoid doing that at home. One way is to toast the bread and perhaps place something like bacon between the eggs and the toast – although in this case, it was being drenched and mushied(?) from the bottom up too.

I’ve never liked mushy (there goes that word again) bread. Its one of my pet hates. I know its just bread and water, but it has the cosistency of something far worse.

A shame really because it seemed a busy place in a quaint little “please dont let me ever live here” town.

Didnt experience the manner of service that others here have experienced, so I cant mark them down for service, as it was pretty good. But similar to a review of Cafe Cuba in Palmerston North – poached eggs are basically eggs and water, taking it another step and putting it on toast/bread isn’t actually that hard, even without mushing the bread.

We had booked to stay at the Solway (pre return of the child from school holidays trip) and had decided beforehand that we would eat at the resident restaurant.

Solway has changed a lot since the last time I was there, its been ungraded considerably, which is great because it was a dive previously.

Upon checking in we were told to book as they get very busy, only to arrive at the restaurant that evening to find 2 other couples. Hardly brimming to capacity, but based on our earlier experience of the Cafe Solway I wasn’t going to argue with them.

We both had the seafood chowder for an entree, and I was impressed. Its has quite a few chunky its of seafood including discovering a whole scallop – which was a pleasant surprise.

After being told there was no salmon or lamb, it left few options on the menu, so surprisingly I opted for steak. I prefer my steak pink but not bleeding, but often find its quite often done wrong. The sirloin at The Grill is a nice big piece of steak, but was way overdone. Probably my fault because I asked for well done. But it wasnt just well done, but overdone to the point of being dry. But I do accept my part in that.

Other groups and couples came in to dine as we sat and ate. The thing we noticed was that despite the size of the restaurant, which is relatively big, we were all being seated in the same area and relatively close together. Good for the staff I suppose to manage patrons, but it makes it hard to talk about evryone else when you’re sitting so close to them.

Overall, I didnt think it was bad. Bonus points for the chowder! Staff were friendly, courteous and quick to help out if needed.

I’ve never been particularly keen to eat at Jetty because it looks so, well, rundown is kind of an understatement. I remember the place many years ago when one it had a distinct island flavour due to its owners way back when, but hadn’t been back since – until recently.

Its definitely a nice place to eat if you love to have views galore, and whilst not extensive, the menu does look appealing on first glance.

It seems to get a steady stream of patronage, and the staff are all incredibly friendly – it almost felt like somehow all the patrons were related or good friends just based on how friendly they were with staff, and they might well have been too. Personally I thought it was unnerving

To the mains, it was hard to go past the stuffed steak because it sounded so good and it was … for the most part. It was well cooked, and a reasonable size. I did however find that part of the steak was incredibly salty. Not just a bit too much, but like someone had mistakenly dropped a bag of salt on a corner of the steak. Unfortunately this made what was otherwise a good feed, somewhat inedible.

Dessert was tempting because of a couple of things on offer – firstly Churros. Something like a donut but long and absolutely coated in sugar. Was nice, but I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, so I didn’t last long eating it.

I did find it surprising that a place by the sea, with great sea views had very little in the way of seafood on the menu. But thats just me. I thought it would make sense to have more seafood on hand.

In saying that, it was overall, an enjoyable place to eat unfortunately let down by the salty steak – but I would probably still go back.

This is something different for people and in a way that makes it easy to manage your budget.

The Catch, whilst they have an a la carte menu, their main feature is the over-sized breakfast bar with the conveyor belt of endless food going round and round in circles, till someone decides a particular plate to their liking is their next victim.

With an assortment of sushi, including a wide range of raw fish sushi, tempura squid, spring rolls, chicken wings, rice balls, etc etc – you’re never short on choice. Not to mention its made and replaced as quickly as it is taken off.

Getting the plates off the conveyor belt without causing a train wreck is for some people, almost as challenging as using chopsticks to eat.

Because of the way it works, you can walk in, sit down, eat and be back out on the street again within 15mins as waiting time is only as long as it takes you to make up your mind.

This is an ideal place for dining alone for lunch as you can try a variety of food without having to order 3-4 helpings of each kind.

In essence, its a bit like Yum Cha on a conveyor belt – but without the pork buns and sweet rice. You pay according to the colour of the plate, so expect to pay up to $15 for a decent lunch – which isn’t too bad at all.

It is a narrow place, the seating not overly comfortable and its compact, with every likelihood of you sitting in amongst strangers there. It can get incredibly busy during lunchtimes so best to avoid the first lunch rush, or get there early.

At first I thought this was a sorry attempt by Palmerston North to rip off a few ideas from Cuba St, Wellington, which is a lot better known for its alternative culture and coffee than Cuba St, Palmerston North. That is until I realised Palmerston North does have its own Cuba St, but best not to get the two confused – there are vast differences as well.

Compared to Midnight Espresso, its not really in the same league, although it does a reasonable immitation with dopey alternative looking patrons mixed in with middle class soccer moms.

I’m not a fan of supreme coffee, so I didnt even bother to try it, so this review is based purely on the food.

It was busy, I’ll give it that much – and service was okay, not that I dealt with them too much.

The reason why Cafe Cuba has scored just average is that our poached eggs were cooked through, and not just slightly either. Its probably a bit of a pet peeve of mine, because if you cant cook poached eggs properly what hope is there for anything more complicated than an egg in water? As pedantic as it might sound, that wee issue lets down the rest of the place.

The environment and setting is okay, service is okay, coffee even seemed okay otherwise. Be warned though, sitting outside you do have to contend with the odd Manawatu Boyracer burning through.

This was the second time we had dined at Steak Out, the first time being a few years ago now. The first time we dined, I did what any red blooded male would do whilst sweating testosterone out through every pore, I challenged myself to a 1kg steak, at the behest of my wife waving a bet in my face, and almost got to the end of it too but found the last portion a bit too rare for my liking (despite that, I was somewhat thankful for the reprieve).

This time around, I had more sense and stuck to a steak that wasnt going to clog my arteries – as much.

The food was delicious, as it was the first time we dined there. There is a salad buffet where you can help yourself to everything from curried eggs, to pasta salad, to coleslaw, to a kumara salad, but to name a few. The steak was cooked just as I liked it and had a side of fries with a light coating of cajun spice.

We resisted the crumbed camembert entree – or any entree at all for that matter (having learned my lesson about over indulgence the first time), but watched another couple eat it and it looked absolutely devine.

One of the standing features about Steak Out is the staff, very friendly and very accommodating. Almost too friendly at times, and quick to serve you and take your order. Special mention has to be made of Dolly who is incredibly friendly and cant help but put a smile on your face – especially when she tells your wife what a beautiful smile she has, and how lucky a man I am (will probably hear about this for some time to come too!)

The setting is like a less commercial version of Lone Star – so it doesnt have all the fanfare (although it was virtually booked out the first time we dined there) but the food is as good. This place is highly recommended – would be interested to see how other testosterone expelling males go with the 1kg challenge

I don’t normally do chain coffee places, mostly because I’m a coffee snob, but I wasn’t drinking the coffee this time.

Had a quick bite here before seeing a movie. I ordered the Lemon Pepper Calamari hoping, but not very confident for, real calamari and not that minced fish throw-aways covered in breadcrumbs stuff you get. I was very surprised to get real calamari! And it was tasty too. There weren’t a lot of chips to it, either that or they cut up the smallest potato in the kitchen. My wife had the vege pizza which apart from being a bit slow to come out, compared to my food, was apparent ally a bit on the cold side.

The seating is a bit cramped, but its typical of the Coffee Club chain having also been to the one in Chch just around the corner from Hotel So.

There’s no Vodafone signal in there, so if you hang off your phone for the next text or phone call and you’re with Vodafone, probably better to choose somewhere thats not buried by several thousand tonnes of concrete.

Otherwise if you like people watching, there are a few worthy spots and the service is generally pretty good, and the food ok.

Hard to argue that this is probably one of the most genuine Italian places in Wellington and unbeknown to most, because of my mostly Pacific Island heritage and skin colour, very few would pick me as being part Italian as well – so surely that should make me something of an Italian connoisseur right?

Situated in a warehouse also filled with Italian grocery items, its hard to go past the scent of all that Italian fare, Parmesan being one of the more recognisable scents. The place can be busy and the tables and chairs are pushed so close together, that an intimate conversation would easily be muddled with those sitting beside you. Squeezing inbetween tables is not advisable for pregnant women or those horizontally endowed – particularly in the buttocks region. You may get a salt shaker somewhere you dont want it in the process.

The food itself is very nice – and most things appeared to be covered in Parmesan. If you’re incredibly hungry, be warned that serving sizes are a bit on the small side – considering the price, this can come as a shock. Most of what I saw being served looked absolutely delicious and my own food, lasagne (I know, a bit cliche) was very nice – very tomatoe-y (and appeared to be a popular dish as at least 3 other people next to me also had it).

The menu isnt overly expansive, but there is a good selection of desserts (including gelato) and coffee on hand. Failing that, my advice would be to make sure you have an entree as well.

Overall, this is a good place to try some genuine Italian food and pick up a few items for your own pantry. It doesnt get a 5th star, solely because of the cramped nature of the seating – but if you love food, it is well worth a visit.

Was enjoying the meal there until a few somewhat dodgy things occurred.

I could be wrong, but the washing of chopsticks consisted of a 30 second dipping in some liquid then picking off anything that might be left on them. The water they were being dipped in, was then poured into another bucket that consisted of knives & forks etc. Even if there was some other additional washing step that I couldnt see, it still looked dodgy. My recommendation bring your own utensils.

We were given Ginger Beer that was past it use by date, witnessed one couple being directed to make their own instant coffee and another woman get burned when a staff member leaped in to take over making tea from her.

Disappointing because the food was really good, but this has put me off ever eating the food again.

Christmas Buffet at Whitby.

We arrived to find Christmas Crackers with the usual condiments of bad jokes and little plastic toys, as well as party hats you dont want to be caught wearing.

We asked for seating by the windows for the views, but the only views you really get are the logos of the major banks perched on big buildings. So you dine to the tune of ANZ, WestPac and the National Bank.

When you’ve dined at a Working Men’s club you come to expect a lot out of buffet dinners – and to be honest I was a bit disappointed. There wasnt a huge selection and there were some odd things about the dinner too.

Service was average, having been seated at the wrong table and being moved some 15mins later. The waitress pouring glasses of wine when a bottle was requested, only to have her take the glasses away and return with a fresh bottle.

Its okay. Thats the best way to sum up Whitby. Its a nice place to dine and the food is edible, but disappinting as far as selection considering the price.

With an Auckland office just down the road, I have wandered past Banzai a few times and seen how busy it is.

Found out why, as well as offering Bento bowls which looked really good (that I didnt try) Banzai offers a wide variety of shushi.

The sushi was an interesting mix, there were the usuals – chicken teriyaki etc. But most of the sushi was not wrapped in the usual seaweed, some covered in poppy seeds. There was also a really good genuine selection of raw fish sushi – which I happen to love – raw tuna, salmon and others.

Great place to stop for lunch if you like your sushi. If you’re looking for somewhere spacious though, this isn’t the place. Very few tables, but it is built for quick, casual lunchtime dining.

Milano is a classy looking restaurant, however with the white table cloths under glass table tops, which seems odd, but I suppose saves on laundry costs.

Its a small and narrow place that also offers takeaway as an option.

Service was impeccable with water being frequently topped up. We were quickly seated and food was brought out promptly. Our food was hot, tasty and plentiful – and whilst in the more medium level range price wise, well worth the price.

I cant complain about the place at all – other than the fact that it was so hot inside. If not for the fact the food was so good, I would’ve struggled to have remained in there. Which is a shame because it was the only aspect that kept this from a 5th star.

Easily recommended for a quiet, intimate, genuinely Italian dinner out. Guys … easy to get your game on if you take ya lady out here!

We dined there last night as it was seemingly quick and convenient.

Garlic bread to start, a 50/50 meatlovers and camembert chicken thing.

Its a somewhat dark, but clean looking restaurant. The times I have walked past its never seemed particularly busy, which from that perspective is appealing – and on the inside, you would never know you were in the middle of a big movie complex.

Nothing amazing about the food. The pizza was okay, but wasnt great. Hard to rave on about it because it was all so average. They got an extra star if only because the waiter was very efficient in ensuring our water was topped up when empty – something a lot of restaurants could learn to do!

A really good place to go for Yum Cha in Wellington. A wide range of food from steamed dim sims, to chicken feet (not that I touch those personally) to sweet rice, pork buns and a heap more – not to mention the endless Chinese tea.

If you are looking for a mixture of Chinese food to try, then Yum Cha is a really good option for a little of everything.

They say you can judge a good Asian restaurant by the number of Asians who dine there, this would have to be one of the best going by the number of Asians I have seen eating here.

One tip, it can get busy during weekend lunches – pays to book.

The coffee is the main reason for coming here, but if caffeine isnt your thing try their hot chocolate or mocca with a big ol’ chunky, diabetes inviting, slab of chocolate melting into your cup.

Staff are really good and attentive. Take a seat when you walk in and expect the waiting staff to come and take your order (can be slow when most busy) – also expect them to pop back and ask if you would like another. All with the bill being paid off AFTER you’re done.

There isn’t a huge selection of food, but then most people dont come here to eat. What is there looks edible – and thats what counts.

Not too many gripes you can have with great coffee other than many other people also appreciate it for its coffee, so its generally busy – although I have never not found a seat. Expect to find a wide array of people from business people plotting world domination, to students and even mothers with toddlers (the kids plotting world domination)

Down the road from work so this is one of my haunts. Quieter than L’affare, much quieter but can still get fairly busy.

Good selection of food, the bakery selection is great too! Something for everyone. Particularly really good coffee!

Only gripes are that they have recently shoved more tables into the same space so its now not very practical walking around there or sitting there as others try to walk around you. Smokers outside when the big bay windows are open can also be an issue if youre eating. But apart from that, well recommended.

Fairly average in terms of Mexican food, its just that there isn’t much Mexican fare to compare it to in Wellington.

Have dined here a few times and to be honest, I would go there just for the virgin coladas, I wouldnt go for much else – well maybe the yummy cheesy con queso! Although my wife makes one nicer.

Its usually busy, but the food probably tastes better after they numb your taste buds a little with an assortment of margies at the bar because they dont take bookings unless you’re a mobile party.

They seemed in a rush to get our little group of 4 out, perhaps because we weren’t drinking nearly enough.

Anyway the food is fairly average so far as Mexican food goes, not great but not horrible.

Atmosphere is killed somewhat because of how busy it can be – so not the sort of place you would go for a romantic intimate night out. Not even the very hot rubbed chicken will spice up much more than your tonsils and tongue.

One tip is to try and get an upstairs table. May not be the case for all, but on one occasion we dined downstairs, it was just absolutely sweltering. There’s no windows downstairs and it can be very full with lots of sweaty people (some eating chilli and beans – not a safe mix in confined areas). The only break is in the ceiling which displays and exposes you to the upstairs sweaty, chilli and bean eating patrons.

Well, what is there to say about Cafe 51?

It’s run by an Asian version of the Odd Couple. It can be hard to understand what they’re saying, and they in turn they find it hard to understand English.

The food is an odd array of Asian foods such as noodles, sushi and dumplings, to standard western fare like fries, muffins, and … curry? The food is expensive by most people’s standards – the coffee average (especially when L’affare and Brooklyn are just around the corner). Best buy is probably the noodles at about $7.50 … But the muffins, which are baked fresh are great too and usually sold out by around lunchtime!

If you want GREAT coffee, good prices and great food then dont go there. If on the other hand you just want somewhere quiet, then its pretty good for that. Also seems popular amongst smokers … so if thats on your hitlist then steer clear.

Really nice place for a hangover breakfast. The place is quite intimate (aka small) so it can be busy easily, but the breakfasts are generally well worth it.

The toilet represents a bit of history in that it is one of those outdoor entrance loos that were once so common in Petone.

Mink is an interesting place, it looks like a trendy cafe – but then you realise they serve Gravity coffee and question how trendy can they be (if any staff from Mink read this – might I suggest buying Havana Coffee from Wellington).

So I had the Mink Breakfast Grill – their big breakfast. Most of the breakfast was ok, the poached eggs were overdone (which is a pet hate) and the spiced sausage was more odd than spiced, but overall it was a good although average feed.

I was avoiding the coffee so had a Chai Latte, yes I know its just flavoured milk – well at least it normally is, Mink just serve frothy milk with cinnamon on top.

Despite that, service was great. Our waitress was attentive and service was fast. Having to deal with snobby Parnell people, I can imagine being a waiter/waitress in that area would not be easy. So they deserve some credit – service is the only thing that differentiated this place from a 3 star rating and a 4 star rating.

Much the same as the other Lone Star restaurants, although the one thing I do have to give them credit for is my steak was perfectly well done. It wasnt over done, just well done – which is really hard to achieve, as anyone who has ever tried BBQing at home can atest to.

I have a perceieved review conflict of interest in that I know one of the cooks … but I’d tell her if her food sucked regardless. On this particular night she wasnt cooking, so conflict of interest free.

Being one of the newer restaurants in this chain, and one of only two servicing a population of 300,000+ people in the greater Wellington region – expect it to be busy, and expect to wait in the bar for a table (as you do with most other Lone Stars) if youre dining during regular dinner hours.

If watching what you eat isn’t an issue, except for enjoying seeing it vanish from your plate, then I would recommend that you try the Kahlua/Mars Cheesecake – one is easily shared between two, because its a bit rich – but its very good! (but very bad!)

So Cafe Chick goes to a bowling alley to dine and cant stand the screaming kids? Go figure. My recommendation, don’t go to Strike for a quiet, pleasant and intimate dining experience.

We took advantage of an unlimited bowling special on and unfortunately for my work out regime I couldnt resist a Cajun Chicken pizza and the garlic & cheese toast.

The pizza was very nice with lots of chunky toppings. The garlic & cheese toast looked like ciabatta with garlic and cheese on top was beautiful – although my hips wont agree. The food came out quickly. Only gripe is – no plates! Which makes it very hard to eat cleanly with just napkins. If anyone comes across a piece of chicken in a 14lb bowling ball … MY BAD!

But you dont go to Strike for the food alone. If timing is an issue, it passes much quicker if you’re bowling while waiting and inbetween bites.

Yay, finally staff who speak with New Zealand accents in Queenstown!! Who would’ve thought that you could miss hearing that dreary drone of a Kiwi accent when you’re in Kiwiland?!

Service was great. Staff were friendly. Food was beautiful, as was the Honeycomb Cheesecake that I had … mmmm!

What I did notice, sitting outside in the sun, was that some foreigners are decidedly less considerate than Kiwis – the smoking ones anyway. I’m neither a smokist or a foreignist, but I have noticed when eating outdoors in other places in other parts of the country smokers were decidedly more considerate than they were here – but thats no fault of Speights Ale House.

This is a seafood speciality place. Not sure how they make money because the place was near empty – most likely not due to service because they were fairly attentive.

Garlic loaf and scallops for entree. The loaf was good, but $15 for 5 tiny spots on a plate which were supposedly scallops seemed a bit much.

Our mains were fairly plain, but that was likely to be due to our choice of mains as well. I opted for the calamari and the wife for crumbed fish of the day. The meals came with coleslaw, but they were pretty small portions of coleslaw.

Overall not a bad place. It looked clean and has a reasonably good atmosphere, which was let down this night by the lack of people. It is however perched right on the waterfront side of Qtown, so would make for pretty lunch views if thats what youre into.

Eating out in Queenstown on any night, and it would be easy to forget that you may not actually be eating out on a Saturday night.

Sunday night, late after a movie and the place had a reasonable number of people playing pool, having a few drinks and a couple even older than us eating pizza – a lot older I might add.

There was a pseudo-DJ playing some decent hiphop in the background. I say pseudo, because he seemed to be bouncing to his unmixed Winamp computer selection and subjecting everyone to it – at least until he switched to this annoying grungy excuse for music.

Almost forgot, this is about the food right … the pizza was very good! Its our 2nd trip to Queenstown, and I was in a grump the 1st trip so the pizza didnt seem so good then. We had the Tri-Factor and it was very nice.

Only gripes about the place were that it was hot inside with the open fire going full bull – so after being dressed for a chilly night outside, I found it hard to sit with the place so hot! The only other gripe was that with so many international visitors there, youd think one would be good enough to warrant a challenging pool game … NEH!

My wife and I dined here just last week – late on a Friday night. Its a small and cosy place, we had to stand outside a little while until a couple paying and leaving had cleared the doorway for us to go in. The place was very busy! Although it would be busy if you took 5 of your best friends its that small (if you dont have 5 friends, try chihuahuas)

Staff were incredibly friendly, although what I believe to be English accents amongst the staff were a surprise (was expecting thick Italian accents).

The food was okay, I was a bit disappointed by my main which was a spag meatballs dish, but the rest of it was very good – including my wife’s main which I tried as well, a blue cheese pasta dish. The desserts are amazing and well worth trying. The coffee is good too.

It has a great atmosphere that is very intimate, so booking is virtually compulsory. If there are large groups dining there, they can be a bit noisy, so if you’re taking a lady and hoping to get your game on, working it a lil’ then you might want to take your big game to distract from any large groups. In other words, if you dont want to dine somewhere where you may feel like a raisin in a box of other raisins, then best you look for something a bit more spacious. If you can live with a degree of tight dining, then this is a good place to dine.

Nothing particularly special about the food or the atmosphere. So far as Asian places go, you could do a lot worse.

They do have some very nice dishes there and its worth trying out the sweet n sour pork. Its the type of place that wont break the bank, or force you into having to take out a 2nd mortgage – so pricing balances out the lack of atmosphere.

Its never seemed particularly busy when we have gone. I cant knock the place too much though, because I appreciate the fact that it is so quiet. In a country that seems to value the regurgitation of something like Chow, its nice to have something a bit more on the down low, where the food holds no surprises, either good or bad.

My wife and I have been back to Buzz a few times, and whilst its not the best place, its not too shabby. The staff are always really good and friendly too.

We tried the All you can eat Pancakes last weekend – after avoiding them for a long time, and unfortunately staff were really slow to come back around to clear plates and bring out the next lot – but cant complain too much.

The food isn’t outstanding, but it is very edible with a range of options for those who are health conscious and those who aren’t. The selection of smoothies that they do is also a nice variation on the usual fare.

Its good to have somewhere in Lower Hutt thats not part of a chain of quick fix coffee places serving brown grainy water as a poor excuse for coffee.

Have to update this because we recently had dinner there for the first time. The meal, as expected, was beautiful – but I ordered dessert, pavlova strawberry stack and when it arrived, I was surprised to find it wasn’t actually pavlova but a meringue. Now I know that essentially they’re almost the same thing, but they’re not. This is NZ and you shouldnt have pavlova on a menu only to serve a meringue! Thats sinful!!

I’ve had better service from my Mum when I was 4 and refusing to eat my greens.

Our waiter was unprofessional, not to mention grotty and unhygenic (wiping his nose on his t-shirt) and even swore in front of us when he brought out our plates of “supposed” food.

The vege’s were probably the same one’s my Mum was trying to feed me all those years ago, because they looked dated.