Sugo — Restaurant in Bay of Plenty

This used to be one of our favourite places to eat in Tauranga. We would regularly take our team here for lunches, and come for dinners with friends or the two of us.

The Seven Sins cheese pizza was our favourite, and it was always recommended by the staff as a top pick. Unfortunately this has been removed from the menu for some reason.

Recently, we moved into a new office just a block away and tripled our team size. I spoke to the manager once and he offered to open the place for us specifically during lunch time on a day they were normally closed. This sounded great, as we were looking forward to come here for lunches with the larger team (~18 staff).

A few weeks ago however, we tried to have dinner here around 5pm with a couple of friends. Unfortunately, we were told there were no tables available. As we didn't have a booking and it was a Friday evening, this was to be expected.

However, on our way out, I happened to glance at the reservations computer and noted quite a few tables with reservations for 6.30pm onwards.

I asked the waitress whether it was possible to use one of those tables, provided we ate quickly and made sure to leave before 6.30pm. In no way was I insistent, rude or impolite. I was merely hoping they could fit us in for a quick meal, even if it meant we had to rush our dinner, as we loved eating there and were regular customers.

My question was overheard by the manager, who clearly didn't recognise me, and he then interrupted the waitress and rudely asked me whether I "wanted to work there", with a snide look on his face.

At first we thought it was a joke, but he was dead serious and basically chased us out of the restaurant. We left, stunned, embarrassed, and absolutely flabbergasted by this unprofessional behaviour.

He could have simply said sorry no, and we would have gone somewhere else and come back another time. No problem.

But after this horrifying behaviour in front of other customers and staff, we will not be returning.

We all have bad days, but this is no way to treat your customers, nor to set an example for your employees. A real shame, as this used to be a great...

Had a wonderful experience at Sugo, Tauranga Friday night (23/09/22). We were served by 3 staff over the evening & they provided such a high standard! We were a little late for our reservation due to traffic but that didn't seem to be a problem. They have the 3 main components of an awesome Italian restaurant: My favorite Montepulciano by the glass ✅ Tiramisu ✅ Limoncello ✅

We decided to share a couple of the smaller plates to ensure there would be room for the tiramisu. Duly ordered the charcuterie board, beef carpaccio & prawns. The charcuterie was fine, the prawns were nice, but the sauce from the prawn dish & the carpaccio were OUTSTANDING! We were saying on the way home just that garlic butter sauce served with the house pizza bread would be worth every penny so please do consider putting on the menu! The beef was wonderful, absolutely melt-in-the-mouth. Simple & elegant. We'd been having the waiter on about how important the tiramisu was to the evening & we weren't disappointed. I would go so far as to say probably the best I've ever eaten & I've sampled it all over Italy. The layer & alcohol ratios were perfect, every mouthful was pure delight. This wonderful experience was topped off by the barman coming over to encourage our return as he would be creating a tiramisu cocktail special on his return from holiday, then regaling us with his life story so far. Seems like a great reason to return although I think that had already been decided by the butter sauce 😁 Thank...

I am really disappointed having been a loyal customer of Sugo to find out that they won't do any kind of takeaway for the foreseeable future. I called them at 4:30pm when they opened on a week day, knowing it would be a quiet time and they still refused (and not that politely either). Due to new rules I am not able to sit and eat in their restaurant or outside and now having this rule, I am not allowed to eat there at all. I think it's awful customer service. I understand the rule at peak busy times but not to allow it at all, even at their quietest times seems ridiculously unfair and poor customer service. My friend had called a few days before and had an even ruder response on the phone after she politely asked about takeaway and the guy told her he was hanging up on her. They have great food but I am extremely disappointed by this. At least allowed non peak takeaway or 4:30-6pm or something of that nature for those that aren't allowed...