Gisborne Peak Winery & Short Term Stays — Attraction in Gisborne

Had the worst experience here! My friend who is vegan made a booking here thinking the pizzas would be suitable for her dietary requirements. We go out for pizza all the time and it's No problem as they either don't add cheese or use a dairy free substitute. We had looked forward to catching up for lunch in a lovely setting. Our friend was running hour late, so out of courtesy we waited for her to arrive. We ordered coffees which tasted not quite right - a bit off.

Our stomachs were literally grumbling by the time our friend arrived. No biggie, pizza shouldn't take long. We were disappointed to discover the pizzas are pre-topped with cheese, which they refused to scrape off. We brought the issue to a woman I presume was the owner who was extremely rude and unaccommodating. She said that as it's a busy weekend they were unable to make any amendments. There was literally nothing vegan friendly on the menu! It was a very awkward and disappointing experience as we all sat stsrvubg debating where else to go where we could enjoy a meal together.

Eventually, a waitress picked up on our issue and took it upon herself to organise a plate of Turkish bread and some olives for my friend.

The dessert was also a great disappointment. The menu item which described some delicious chocolate cake was literally a little choc cake just like the ones at Woolworths with the white squiggle on top.

When it was time to pay there was about 20 people waiting to pay and we were told they won't split bills. The whole thing was a kafuffle! They make out like they're doing the customer a favour by having you in the establishment, yet their service is non existent. If you read the responses to previous reviews you will see that management are very defensive and unwilling to accept responsibility or take the feedback as an opportunity to improve.

There's also no sanitary bins in the female bathrooms but there signs stuck up instructing customers in a rude tone.

Avoid.

This experience was about a year ago...perhaps they have improved since then but I doubt it given the response received to the star rating...

My partner and I stayed for our eight year anniversary and absolutely loved it. Such a beautiful and peaceful place.

The cottages have everything you could ask for e.g. BBQ on the deck, electric fry pan, kitchen utensils, chopping boards, they even provide things like oil, salt and pepper. The breakfast provisions were fantastic, they even provided gluten free bread, cereal and bacon (we requested GF at time of booking). The gluten free provisions were clearly labelled and kept separate to avoid cross contamination. The view from the deck, and everywhere else on the property, is spectacular.

The staff are super friendly, welcoming and helpful. Oh my, the gluten free lamb pizza was super delicious (ordered in advance as they prep the gluten free ones first before touching other pizzas). The wine is delicious and loved the chocolate lava cake (not gluten free, partner has coeliacs not me. He had the GF pear and cinnamon cake).

Phone reception was basically non-existent in the cottages but was slightly better in other areas of the property. It was actually really nice not being able to use our phones and enjoying the serenity. We took a book each which I enjoyed reading on the deck, although I did more looking at the surroundings than reading.

If you're wanting to head in to Gisborne for dinner (the cellar door at the winery is open for lunch only) and don't want to drive, let's face it there will be too much wine for driving, I suggest booking a taxi in advance. If you don't have any phone reception at all you can ask staff to call and book in advance for you. We tried to call a taxi from outside the cellar door (a bit of reception there) when we needed it and couldn't get through to the local company and had 2 uber drivers cancel on us so we were late for our dinner reservation. Alternatively, you could buy some groceries in the morning then cook up a lovely meal with the BBQ or electric fry pan for dinner.

Can't recommend...

I was given a red balloon voucher for my birthday and so I decided to use it on a beautiful day today with my partner. We loved that we can bring our little puppy along to enjoy the beautiful scenery. We were greeted and shown to our table - the lady did advise that they were incredibly short staffed and that service may be slower than usual which we completely understood as these things can happen. At our table we noticed on the table cards, the ones with vouchers had a red balloon voucher were red and those who didn’t had a white one - I’m unsure why as I’m sure we could have ordered some items off the regular menu had we wanted to. We were given two menu’s - but not a wine-list. When the lady came to take our order, she proceeded to find us a wine list but didn’t explain any of the wines available - when attending a winery I always appreciate some information on the different wines and any recommendations. We ordered and a lovely cheese board arrived which we loved! The garlic and herb dip was to die for!! Our pizzas then took a long time to arrive and we felt forgotten about at times - the staff - they did tend to larger tables more than the smaller tables. The pizza arrived and they were lovely. We seen a staff member delivering food from the kitchen and asked if we could order a cola - this young man said no sorry you’ll need to go inside as I’m busy. We felt that wasn’t very good customer service but I understand when the pressure is on it is very hard. We waited another 20 minutes to grab another staff members attention to ask for this and then waited 20 minutes for the cola to arrive. When food arrived there was no grace, it was plopped down on a table and the waitress walked away instantly without even a ‘is there anything else I can get you?’. The experience was lovely, the food was beautiful but the service definitely let the experience down as a whole. Myself and my partner agreed we aren’t sure we would return for...