Aihe — Restaurant in Banks Peninsula Community

Very disappointed with this restaurant. Me and my partner have been visiting Akaroa for the weekend last week and decided to have dinner at Aihe. Upon arrival we were asked if we want to sit outside or inside. We have decided to sit outside but were still covered. We have noticed there were outdoor heaters thinking the staff would turn them on since we decided to sit outside, which wasn’t the case and spent the whole time shivering. The staff were quite awful. We had 3 different staff dealing with us and they weren’t friendly or anything at all! We have ordered baguette for the starters which was suppose to come with mushroom butter and olive oil… but somehow the olive oil wasn’t served. We have then ordered our mains which pleasantly were okay and the portions were bigger than expected (that’s the only plus I can give). When the server came to give us our food she was very unpleasant and put us off. And the worst part of our visit was the overall atmosphere…the music kept cutting off every 2 minutes and all you could hear is the static which was HORRIBLE as we were trying to enjoy our nice dinner. So the dinner was ok but the atmosphere and staff were just not great at all especially for the price of the food you have to pay. This was our first dinner out in a while and was completely ruined with things like sitting and having to listen to static from the speakers, unpleasant staff that’s clearly not trained and not getting food that’s listed on the menu. We will definitely not be coming back especially since spending SO MUCH money on this dinner. Sadly….Could have gone to McDonald’s and still have more friendly staff and better atmosphere and won’t be recommending anyone to visit this...

The photos doesn't do the meals any justice.

We have a tiny dog and the restaurant was kind enough to let us bring her with us. Servers and Manager were very welcoming. We sat outside on a winter night but the restaurant was designed efficiently that it was still warm. The setting was very lovely. Service was fast without compromising food taste.

We had the pork belly and scallops to start with. Crispy skin on the juicy and tender pork with roasted pear, radish and fennel. The scallops sat on a pea broth with prosciutto, brioche crumb and truffle oil. For mains we had the Duck breast with beetroot, parsnip, seed mustard and mushroom and Lamb Backstrap with blackberry jus, tomato gel and mint oil (melts in your mouth with explosion of flavours all complementing each other, which is how I would describe all of these meals).

We did not plan to have desserts but if the food is this good, its hard to pass by. I got a dark chocolate creameux with frangelico, orange honeycombe, hazelnut, strawberry and elderflower while my partner had the white chocolate mousse with cucumber, lemon sorbet and almon bicuit crumb. Night and day for us. We loved the sophisticated feel of the dark chocolate, it sets you in for a good night where you drink wine and relax while the white chocolate wakes you up in freshness and you just want to keep swapping back and forth between the two.

With beatifully crafted food, lovely ambient setting and adequate serving size, it was money well spent for us. Will come back again and again...

A Winter Monday with only two other tables in the restaurant. We waited 45 minutes for food from ordering, our meals felt like they were not fresh and they were definitely missing items and ingredients that were listed on the menu. The tuna felt like it was old. Roasted cauliflower and grain salad was missing pickled onions and almonds. No flavour what so ever and all additions were cut up so small that it was just a big lentil mush. No texture. Side of fries were cheaply sourced and mushy. Charred seasonal greens were mushy and flavourless. Were supposed to arrive with almonds and confit garlic but arrived with no garlic, and walnuts instead. Literally was only brocolli, no other types of greens. It was not charred, barely panfried, looked steamed or boiled? Tasted like weird lemons so didn't finish. Mentioned to our waitress, who was lovely, but still included all meals full price. Waitress told us afterwards that there was only one chef working, that is something I can totally understand, but if you know your food will take longer than 25 minutes to get out, you should always let the customers know, especially if you are lacking certain ingredients for meals. If the one chef working is just not confident making certain food items, don't serve them. Feel sorry for the residents of Akaroa that they don't have a reliable...