Acacia Restaurant & Garden Bar — Restaurant in Ōrākei

My partner and I were hyped to try this place tonight — we walked in expecting a culinary delight and left wondering if we were on a hidden camera show.

I usually don’t write reviews, but this experience practically wrote itself. The night kicked off with a 45-minute wait for our entrées: a questionable plate of what I think was cauliflower, and a side of fries. The cauliflower looked like it had been emotionally neglected, and tasted about the same. Then came the fries — they promised loaded cheese fries, but delivered plain fries with a faint memory of cheese. It was like someone whispered “cheddar” over them and called it a day.

Then came the mains — unannounced and borderline unrecognizable. I got the lamb ragu gnocchi, which looked suspiciously like mochi floating in passata, possibly made during a blackout. Hunger was the only seasoning that made it edible.

My partner’s chicken dish was a true horror story. It must’ve been slow-cooked on high for six hours straight, because it was drier than my humour. The bacon was burnt to a crisp and the “filling” had clearly filed for a missing person’s report.

And the prices? Let’s just say if disappointment had a cost, this place has monetized it perfectly. It was meant to be a special night celebrating my partner, and instead we ended up celebrating that we still had teeth strong enough to get through the chicken.

Honestly, if you’re looking for a place to laugh, cry, and bond over bad food, this is a five-star comedy show. If you’re looking for a good meal, maybe...

A very disappointed night! $79 grab one deal but the food was so below average that we wouldn't even pay $79 full price for it. 1st of all, we had to pick a day when we purchased the voucher. When I phoned to book, only 8pm booking available. I asked to change to another day as it's too late for our little one to have her dinner but there was no flexibility whatsoever. We had to bite the bullet and went for the 8pm sitting, the displayed food was very limited and poorly presented! Unlike described on their menu, there was no prawns, no ma'am bread, no scallops in their mornay, no ham and many of the desert items were missing too. No one has at any stage come to check if we could like to order any drinks. The curry chicken was extremely dry. There were no labels for any of the sauces on displayed so you have no idea what they are. There weren't even a decent salad or vegetable dish on offer: cabbage coleslaw, plain cucumber, chinese bean sprouts (who serves raw bean sprouts?). Only decent things to eat there was the whole steamed salmon and oysters. If anyone wants to have a buffet dinner, I recommend you to go to Valentine's instead as you have much better choices of food there. To top it off, I became violently ill when we got home. It's likely to be caused by the oysters. Never ever...

I attended a brunch service on the 3rd of February with a long-time friend from Sydney. I have chosen Acacia Restaurant as my family, and I have genuinely enjoyed the food, ambience and service the staff give us. The most positive part of the dining experience is how Sunny, a "Food and Beverage Senior team member", has not forgotten about me being a loyal customer of the establishment. I understand that the restaurant is constantly busy with high demands of customer expectations and requests, which substantially staff tend to forget customers. "I must admit I'm becoming a regular here now (laughs)".

I was delighted with the food we tasted; we ordered the Acacia Big Breakfast and French Toast accompanied by two Chai Lattes. Classical brunch food but excellent execution on plating, flavours and a personal twist with Acacia. I am impressed that mascarpone is part of the french toast, as many hotels and restaurants no longer put this on. Replaced from a local cream fresh that is whipped up. Mascarpone is a highlight of french cuisine. Well Done! Acacia, in maintaining this detailed part of the...