Fat Eddie's — Restaurant in Christchurch

Came here for dinner 3 adults and a kid 5:30pm on a Friday (3 weeks before Xmas, lots of Xmas groups there). Was super busy. Music was a bit too loud for dining, considering nobody was dancing, and it was early. Only had a two-piece, but felt they were trying to be a big band. Working to their strengths to create a nicer, toned down performance that enhances dining and socialising leading into the night instead of aggressively coercing you to feel like you wanna get on it might’ve been a bit nicer for that time of day. It’s essentially background noise, as it should be, considering the amount of large social groups especially, and the diners. Everyone was practically screaming at each other, making the hum of voice compete with the music, it’s awful really. Sure it sets tone and atmosphere but it’s extremely overstimulating. It’s fine after 9 or so when people aren’t sitting to dine and everyone’s out “for the night”, but before that I’d say this place doesn’t hit the right spot for most people and circumstances.

Then again in saying that, I’ve seen a few really decent bands here, but in general, even late in the night, I really don’t enjoy this place at all. It feels stressed. Hectic. The staff seem stressed. The flow of the place is a total shamble. The security process has always been a little too tight whenever I’ve come, it reflects the very nice décor and the expensive looking chattels, and sometimes the performers, but it definitely doesn’t reflect the patrons or the vibes or the behaviour and attitudes it seems to have - it’s basically just a dirty nightclub with live music from an older era - so there’s this weird sort of dissonance, like, it wants to be VIP with status, but instead it’s crude and a bit pretentious.

But I also hate town these days so what do I know. Seems like there’s no really good bars anywhere. Gone are the days of a decent...

Unsafe for LGBTQ+ I felt unsafe with the security staff. I partied with my friends, when two drunk young men approached me, insulted me with homophobic comments, threatened me with physical violence and even threatened to kill me. I went to the security to report them and hoped that these guys would be removed from the bar. But as the security has a "warning first" policy, and the guys obviously said they weren't doing anything, nothing happened. The guys approached me twice after this and even insulted me through the entire room, while the security assured me to keep an eye on them. After that happened the security finally decided to remove these homophobic men. It was only after a friend came to support me while talking to the security that they took the situation seriously, but then again they rather talked to my friend than with me the victim. I decided to go and on the way out I went to the security guy who removed the guys and told him that in a situation like this immediate actions are required and he just said "in the end they got kicked", no empathy and no understanding of how serious the situation was. After talking with some friends about it, they assured me that these people are a big portion of the people that go to this bar weekly. Now it makes sense why the security did not take anything seriously, as these people are there every day guests they did not want to loose their customers. However, if the homophobic farmer youth are your only customers, something definitely goes wrong in this bar. I felt super unsafe and nobody tried to solve the situation, when I was threatened. The security guards were very...

Very on the fence for this place. I’ve been a couple times, but on this specific day I came in on Friday the 17th of Feb for food and drinks.

The first interaction I had with a staff member was a young girl behind the bar with two braids and ribbons in her hair. She was fantastic, she greeted me with a smile, walked me through the menu when I asked, and asked me about my day. She was fast and efficient, but very nice too and she was able to give recommendations, and made me a cocktail that was amazing (delicious and beautifully presented.) Because of this interaction, I thought that all of the staff would have this level of professionalism and good customer service.

Unfortunately, my next interaction with a staff member was with another young girl with very light blonde hair and fake eyelashes who was much worse in comparison. She didn’t serve me, instead stood there talking to the other bartender and when she finally looked at me, I assumed to take my order, she walked away from the bar and came back a minute or two later. When she finally served me, her attitude was negative and she didn’t smile or anything, she was actually quite rude. Seemed like she really didn’t want to be there. I ordered the same cocktail again, but the drink itself was not good, and I couldn’t drink it, but her customer service had put me off and we ended up just leaving.

The food itself was pretty good. The service makes all the difference thought and there was a 5-star bartender and a 1-star bartender, so I guess it’s really just chance with who you order from. I would recommend maybe a performance review for...