Terra Restaurant — Restaurant in Bay of Islands-Whangaroa Community

Never got to try the food so this rating is based purely on unfortunate booking mishap on New Years Eve and more importantly the terrible way it was handled.

We booked a month ago for a New Years Eve dinner and we were so excited for this experience having seen the great reviews and photos and essentially planned a trip to Bay of Islands for this meal. We booked through e-mail and had it all confirmed. Unfortunately my partner broke his phone just before our trip so we left the phone at the store for repair.

We turned up to our 8pm reservation on New Years Eve only to be told by by a manager/waitress that she had been trying to contact us to confirm our booking but because we did not respond they cancelled it. We felt super uncomfortable and was very upset by this because from the get go it was clear that we were being blamed for not responding to the text/call and so it was our fault that the booking was cancelled. Also, no attempts were made to contact us via email which is how the booking was originally made.There was also no indication at the time we made the booking that we would need to make sure to confirm a few days before or else the booking will be cancelled.

This is just super unfortunate and also upsetting. Understandably booking mishaps happen but more than anything the attitude of the manager/waitress who spoke to us very much made us feel at fault for this incident when it could have been addressed much better and with a more sincere apology.

Very disappointed and will definitely not be...

Style over substance! - unfortunately. We too were told they were fully booked and made to feel like we weren’t welcome on arrival. The staff were polite but not warm, we almost felt like an inconvenience as we sat alone inside an empty Resturant. During our starter we were told that we could now move outside as they now had room/availability? -sounds like this is what they do after reading other reviews. I get the whole exclusivity vs. demand kudos that places create to add another layer of importance, but the food needs to be good enough to carry that arrogance and disappointingly it wasn’t. Scallops were over-cooked, heirloom tomato’s weren’t heirloom at all, the 12hr cooked beef cheeks were tough and after requesting the wine list twice, no one ever took our wine order. Very disappointing experience - I’d suggest $12 fish and chips by the water - otherwise you can spend $140 for an experience like ours. They must try harder as to be successful, you can’t just survive on the location...

We came for a special occasion, and Terra was the best choice for us to treat ourselves. We had the Taste of Terra degustation menu; every dish was marvellous and a gift to our tastebuds. The front-of-house team was welcoming and friendly, and their service was immaculate, with special attention to detail (as they knew about the reason for our visit). Terra serves carefully chosen and ordered ingredients, caters to reservations, and has a precise schedule to meet its high standards. This level of cuisine and preparation effort needs to be met with the respect it deserves, so make sure to book in advance (if you have any, mention dietary restrictions with your booking!) and show up on time, and you will have the most incredible culinary experience. We're locals and feel so lucky to have a restaurant like Terra in our little town. Thanks to the team and everyone involved for making this an evening...