The Pier Hotel — Hotel in Kaikōura

A local institution, this restaurant is very popular. Several people we asked recommended The Pier.

Their large dining rooms were full the Saturday night we went, so we we were lucky to get in. Advance booking advised.

They provided a courtesy car from our Sudima hotel and back again which made our visit it possible - it would have been too far to walk, especially at night.

I recognised some people at the big table next to ours. They were part of a group we’d seen on the train from Picton.

And of course this restaurant is perfect for tour parties.

However there’s always a trade-off, and in our case this positive was a negative.

The noise level was high (one of the group said jokingly as he was leaving that we’d be able to talk now…).

My seafood platter arrived luke warm and I considered sending it back. However my partner’s crayfish was good and I didn’t want to eat out of synch - the place was so busy a replacement would have taken too long.

I persevered, but didn’t enjoy it. A hot seafood platter with mussels in sauce, calamari, fried whitebait, salmon etc. needs to be hot.

On reflection I should have ordered a simpler dish.

All credit to our waitress who asked if we’d enjoyed our meal and did so with an openness that made it easy to be honest in response.

She said the kitchen had been very busy, apologised, and offered a free dessert.

In this case I accepted because there’s always a lingering worry about eating an under-cooked mussel…

Happily there were no adverse repercussions!

I recommend The Pier - everyone makes mistakes and it’s all about the recovery. In this case...

Stayed at the hotel. Perhaps it was just a bad day but... Was seen by an unsmiling lady on arrival, then while we were getting our key, we were interrupted by another staff member who was looking to fill a guest request of a fan for their room. The two staff members then mocked the guest for wanting one, saying that they could just take her up a menu to fan herself with. Totally unacceptable dialog to be having, especially in front of a new arrival! And, as we discovered...a perfectly fair requested from the other guest! The rooms were so hot and stuffy, even with the window open all night getting eaten by insects, just no air flow at all.

Breakfast was good, with a nice selection and also had gluten free options available. The breakfast room was right next to our room, which meant that as soon as people started breakfast in the early hours we heard every bang of the heavy automatic close doors. WiFi is available and usable...just... The shared shower was very spacious and clean when I used it. The shared toilets require you to be a space ninja in order to close and open the door, felt pleased to be flexible, but did wonder if people with slight mobility issues would be so lucky... On the up side, the place has a pretty view from the communal balcony, was quiet after 10pm-6am(ish) and an excellent playground for kids and the other guest...

We went here for dinner. Staff were very friendly and the dining room feels like a clean, modern pub with some sea themes. The views to the mountains are stunning, well worth an early dinner to gaze at the mountains from the window. The local beer and variety of NZ wines was also good.

The food came quickly - we ordered the seafood platter and the crawfish chowder and overall it was standard pub fare. Chowder was a but thick but nice, but the let down was it was served with a dense potato bread which did not go with the shower, a nice white, light crusty bread would have been the go. The seafood platter was $55 and had a good amount of food, the main win was nothing was over cooked - all the seafood was well prepared. Although everything by on the plate felt under seasoned, the mussels were in a coconut milk broth which maybe should have been curry? They were tasteless and probably the least exiting thing on the plate. The whitebait was battered but had no flavour, same with the pāua and calamari - so salt or seasoning. The smoked salmon and smoked fish pate were nice and texture was good. We also ordered chips and it was a very small portion for $10, they were also noted on the menu as beer battered fries and they were definitely crinkle cut no batter, which I like, but disappointing on the portion. Overall a good experience and a...