Chillingworth Road — Restaurant in Christchurch

TL;DR: Worst place, don't recommend. I sent them email feedback and they were really rude so now sharing this publicly in the hopes everyone avoids this place.

Serving staff were lovely, in particular a woman named Shauna who was a great host. Unfortunately, the food was extremely disappointing for the price point. We used a voucher we were gifted then paid for the wines.

We felt the portion sizes were very small, meals were served cold or lukewarm and overall everything lacked flavour and excitement. The first course was a small piece of lukewarm cauliflower in a bowl. The second was a few asparagus spears with a square of cheese on top. The third, a bland chicken wing (which was mostly skin), dripping in what tasted like spicy cream with some crispy pieces scattered throughout. I didn't eat half of this and did mention to waitstaff that I felt it was very (to put it bluntly) basic and actually a tad gross. The fourth dish was beef which was incredibly difficult to cut with the knives we had but was nice, though again served lukewarm when it seems that some of the vegetables etc it was paired with should have been served hot. The last course of the ice cream was underwhelming and lacked flavour.

We left hungry and ate at home. I am pregnant yes, but I don't have a huge appetite at all and my husband doesn't typically eat a lot either. The portion sizes were minuscule, hence the hunger.

My husband had the wines which were okay but were small glasses. To be honest we shouldn't have paid but we didn't want to spoil our evening. I did express disappointment to wait staff and of course when sending them email feedback they do the whole 'you should have addressed this at the time' and offer no understanding. They're just money hungry. We were TRYING to still enjoy our evening. We were quite upset as it was just a really average experience overall and I'm quite shocked that they are able to operate providing this kind of experience for their customers. A little bit baffled still, actually.

Throughout the service it was clear the chefs were disgruntled as could be viewed from the mirror in front of me. I'm not sure if there was a mix-up going on in the kitchen, but they certainly didn't appear to be enjoying themselves.

I really hope this feedback is helpful for someone. We definitely wouldn't recommend this establishment to others but I do hope this offers some insight into our experience. Taste the chef is $110 per person for barely enough food to make up an entree.

I also sent this feedback to the owner over email and was met with a blunt, rude response. He even commented that my feedback was a week late (due to having a life, being 38 weeks pregnant, working and taking the time to write a helpful and detailed account... incredibly rude). You can tell these guys have no respect for customers and...

I'm very surprised seeing these good reviews and hoping that means we just had an off night, but we were less than impressed. We walked into an awkward silent dark room, no music or atmosphere whatsoever. We were seated in another dark, quiet and oddly placed room. We have been to several other fine dining restaurants and this was really underwhelming from the moment we walked in, to the moment we walked out. (And we talked about walking out many times). Our surver was very friendly and kind, one of the only good thing about the entire place. She was, however, over worked and run off her feet (even though there were only a few other small groups the entire time we were there). A second waitress came in and out, but unfortunately seemed quite under-trained and seemed to hinder more than anything. We waited a long time for our drinks (which actually were very nice). As well as a long time for our food, we were there 3 hours in total. At $175 plus drinks per person, we had high hopes, but there wasn't a single meal I would order again. I had to send my salmon back as it had a bone. The chef offered to recook it, which I declined, as it didn't taste fresh and I knew I couldn't get through it. The "crispy" skin was soggy and no hint of crisp. That can be said for each meal. A lot of them had random textures without any crunch/crisp. There were two "cat food" looking and smelling meals and for some reason they were circular in shape. Shredded lamb and duck. I felt they completely botched a usually delicious meat. The veges were all hard boiled and soggy and the steak was over cooked on the edges. Filo tasted like store bought (although nice enough). Other than that the other meals were OK, but very much NOT fine dining. They were all luke warm and took far too long to arrive for the amount of people in the restaurant. We heard a few murmurs from people around us saying things like "I don't hate it" and we'll that's.. . Interesting" We didn't say anything in the end, as much as we would have loved to. We felt the poor waitress had been through enough (although I would have liked to be discounted due to the meal I sent back). But the more we thought about it, the more annoyed we were that we didn't say something at the time. It really wasn't good enough! All in all, it was quite the let down and especially considering the price. Looks like there needs to be some touch ups on the management, decor, atmosphere and menu. And please, put on some music at least. (It really was an awkward environment). Good luck...

Definitely the worst dining experiences I have ever experienced. Booked in 4 people for a birthday lunch at 12.30pm. This included my elderly parents. There was absolutely no one else in the restaurant. Drinks arrived in a timely manner as did my husbands entree but as for our mains….…. NOTHING… they never arrived! 50 minutes after ordering our mains, NOTHING. My husband approached the bar and waited for the waitress to come out as the bar was unattended the whole time we were in the restaurant. He asked if everything was ok after 35 minutes of not receiving any food and/or attention from the waitress. She rudely replied “it won’t be long”. After a long 55 minutes and still NO FOOD, we approached the bar to say we would like to pay for our drinks and to forget about the food as we simply could jot wait any longer. (Remember we were still the only customers in the restaurant) we simply could not get the attention of anyone, it was as if they had abandoned The building. My husband yelled out loudly, twice to try ann get someone’s attention and even entered the side of the kitchen, but there was no reply! It was unbelievable! We left the premises highly dissatisfied and extremely disappointed in the whole experience. Not long after we departed the waitress sent me an email and 2 minutes later I received a phone call from the waitress. She was extremely rude and abusive and claimed she was going to be bringing our mains out 5 minutes after we left and that we need to come back and pay. She then threatened to call the police if we didn’t. My husband explained we tried to pay but couldn’t get any attention of anyone at all! She said “we were food prepping for this evening”. But it was lunch time and clearly they weren’t busy in the restaurant as I mention again, there were only 4 of us there. So, all in all a very lame excuse and no excuse for the ambivalence she delivered…He suggested that she send through the account details so we could pay for our drinks and my husbands entree, and as yet she has failed to do so. There was absolutely no apology, nor any sign of accountability for anything on the restaurant’s behalf. Very upsetting to be on the receiving end of that’s for sure! I just do not understand how the service was so poor compared to other people’s experiences and that there was no remorse from the waitress! Future diners I honestly hope you have a better experience if you do chose to dine here but...