Rocksalt Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Bay of Islands-Whangaroa Community

Rock Salt Bar Kerikeri, I drink here primarily at lunch times and usually have something from the menu. I am working my way through the extensive menu and can say that I am very impressed with every meal I have eaten, coupled with the excellent service from all the staff. Today I had the 250gm Rump with a prawn skewer ( Turf and Surf) on the stone, fabulous, my preferences for sides were the chunky chips and stir fried vegetables. I have eaten in many places all over the globe and can honestly say this meal was "up there" with the best of them, beautifully presented with the smokey dressing, I can't say enough it was fabulous, hence I am here placing this review, well done Rock Salt always memorable. Another visit today Wednesday 2nd November 2016, tried the Garlic Prawns, sensational with a nice handle of Tui's tap beer. I will be coming regularly, check out the menu and my meal which I have posted, Highly Recommend.

My 3rd visit to this wonderful venue, it was so nice to be recognised by the Manager, again it was a lunchtime visit and selected the Stonegrilled Custom Grill a selection of Pork Fillet, Lamb Rump and Rib eye, I just love this method where your food cooks in front of you and you are in charge of how you like it cooked, the bernaise sauce was to die for, the salad was exceptional as the dressing blew me away. The staff are amazing, polite and friendly, another wonderful experience dining Al Fresco my food cooking away in front of me attracted a lot of attention and comments from members of the...

We went here a few days ago whilst on holiday up north.

Nice ambience inside, but the outside area was full of drunken locals swearing at the top of their voices and falling all over the place.... absolute philistines. Totally Inappropriate for families. I'd never take my son back here.

The service was AMAZING! The girl that served us (Amy) clearly loves her job and is one of the best servers I've encountered in NZ!! 10/10 for service!!

The food however was JUST TERRIBLE. We ordered the seafood platter and it was bloody awful. Cold, soggy chips and thick, doughy batter on VERY overcooked seafood. The prawns were freezer-burned (!!!) and massively overcooked, basically rubber.... The "chefs" here clearly have no passion for food and just no clue how to cook it. The chicken satay burger that was described as a chicken fillet on a bun was actually a pre-frozen, crumbed chicken patty on the heaviest bun I've ever seen. The Crab dip smelled like vomit (really) and we didn't dare to taste it!!

Well...

Update Feb 11/2/25. This place is still awesome. Great staff, they are friendly, helpful and very professional. The Chef is pretty good, and the food is consistent. They will probably be due for a new menu soon, hasn't changed much for awhile. That's not a complaint, just an observation. Still recommend for family outings.

An awesome place to share with family and friends. For a Birthday or an Anniversary, this is the place. And the Chef Absolutely will let you alter the menu if something does not appeal to you. All in All, I would highly recommend it. Update 21/4/22, Quick update to let you know that this place is becoming more popular, it seems to be busy most days of the week. The menu is still very much the same. The last visit, I wanted to change a few items on the plate for my dinner, but the chef wasn't having it, and I actually had to order another dish to get the menu item that I wanted. Which pretty much sucked. Oh well, you live and learn. I guess after I've been a few more times I'll update...