The Flying Moa — Restaurant in Ōrākei

Response to Manager feedback for how our group was badly treated.

Since you don’t allow customers to respond. I will just add my experience yet again to advise the public of how rude your staff is including the manager behind the keyboard.

Please explain how your staff gave plenty of notice to our group when clearly there are others still around and our group can see that? Place yourself in the customers shoes. We were only told that you were closing a few minutes before which we were clear of and for your information we were not “asked” nor nicely to leave. The body language and scene we witnessed and stereotyping prior to being forced to leave is why I will be taking this complaint further.

If race was not the issue then why was the other table who were also there and of European descent not approached the same way we were by Jordan who is meant to be the manager. We were very much aware of the closing time and were happy to comply yet you failed to allow us enough time to finish our alcohol that you served us and called as “last drinks” before closing as paying customers. we knowingly were just weary of the other table and were about to finish up. If you had a specific closing time then maybe you need to let your staff know to not serve anymore alcohol. The fact is this whole situation could have been avoided if your Manager Jordan owned up to his rude approach and managed the situation appropriately.

Noone even your venue tolerates physical/ verbal / homophobic abuse yet you failed to mention or apologise because it was your staff who displayed the above towards our group. Our group only retaliated because of the actions your staff showed towards us.

Apart from the fact that we will not be back I will not accept your “Sorry you feel that way” I am appalled of such a response let alone from a manager. Noted we are not the only group who have been treated this way and to have this experience according to reviews so I will happily share...

A group of us came in and had a few drinks before our dinner - at some point we asked where our dinner table was and was confirmed where we were sitting was the table booked. About 45 minutes later we were told this wasn't our table WHICH IS FINE but it was the way we were asked how we got this table and basically why we were there. The person wasn't really questioning us, more accusing us of high jacking a table. Anyway, we moved to the other table (with not very many apologies from the manager) in front of this busy bar like we were in the wrong and not the staff. So that was already a bad start.

Once we were settled at our table no water came - which i even asked for. No candles were lit, but every other table that had people being seated was lit as they came in. They also were automatically handed a bottle of water.

Although the waitress was lovely it took a while for someone to ask if we wanted anything to drink. I think that it was forgotten we had already been seated at the other table for 45 minutes waiting. When we ordered our drinks and food the waitress was lovely and helpful.

At the end of the night I asked again for a bottle of water as we hadn't had any yet. Waitress said sure and left. It got to a point where a group member got up and got his own drink instead of waiting. The waitress saw that I was completely pissed off that he had to do that and suddenly there was a bottle of water at the table. And just a side note - there was 8 of us and one bottle of water? It didn't last long. Not once did a waiter come back and ask if everything's okay, or if we needed any more drinks.

It's a shame we had such a bad experience because I have been there to have a few work drinks plenty of times and it has been great. It's a good atmosphere but wouldn't...

I used the womens restrooms on arrival, there was a mess of toilet paper all over the floor (not just a few pieces, but an entire roll). The first thing I noticed when seated at our table was that the music was unbearably loud, so much so that you almost have to yell at the person sitting opposite you so they can hear you.

Our table was in a nice spot next to the fire which was perfect for the current cold winter weather, however the next table was so close to ours that you cant help but hear their conversation and make awkward eye contact by accident.

The menu isnt very vast so I ordered the diablo burger with a banoffee hard shake, while my partner ordered the ribs with a side of onion rings. Our table wasn't set, nor did it get set during our time there. I had to take cutlery from the empty table behind us.

The burger was extremely dry and needed to be doused in sauce just to get it down, while the underwhelming presentation of both of our meals (as well as meals I saw being taken to other tables) looked like it had been made by a teen in a high school cooking class. The banoffee hard shake on the other hand, was delicious.

My partner could barely touch his meal because the ribs were so scalding hot. I had almost finished my meal by the time he could even start eating. They were also burnt and extremely difficult to cut up and eat. (Would make alot more sense to serve them already cut up). He did enjoy the onion rings.

I won't be returning here, and I wont be recommending it to anyone else. I do appreciate a great restaurant, the flying moa, unfortunately isnt one...