Portal Bar & Eatery - Christchurch Airport — Restaurant in Christchurch

My partner ordered the Otago Wagyu Sirloin (medium) and it was cooked to absolute perfection. The red wine jus that came with it was just divine. We were greeted by a lovely young lady by the name of Maisey who was kind enough to direct me over to Fern & Co cafe who have an all day breakfast menu, as it was 1:00PM yet all I was looking for was a nice simple scrambled eggs on toast. Fern & Co is owned by the same owner and Nick (looked to be the restaurant manager) was very attentive and looked to be the kind of person who takes great pride in making sure his team are providing both quality food and service, even joining them when serving customers their food and straightening up the dining area. Well done Nick and team. It now makes sense why the service at Carton Mill has shifted, as we remembered Nick’s face from there as he was part reason why we enjoyed dining there. Not so much lately.

Just adding in as I cannot see where I can put a google review up for Fern & Co. I just want to acknowledge the lovely young lady Alice who served me today. She was very bubbly and cheerful and provided excellent customer service. My scrambled eggs were delicious, especially the rocket salad on the side. So yummy, I want to now try the rest of the hot breakfast menu purely based on the quality of my scrambled...

Ignoring the service, food is simply amazing. One of my friends ordered the plant power burger (vegan) and it was the best burger she ever had - made us doubt whether it’s even vegan! We also had the 3-cheese pizza and sirloin steak. Cooked to perfection - it was the best meal we had in Christchurch!

Staff and service however, is terrible. Really disappointed considering how this is a restaurant located in the airport and could essentially be the face of Christchurch. It was really busy today and the kitchen bell was going off but the staff were just talking and ignoring it. This is the first time I’ve seen customers coming up to the kitchen and collecting their own food…

FOH staff really needs to improve on their menu knowledge. Before dining here, we saw a few reviews saying that the burger is not vegan. False advertising would be an issue under Free Trading Act if the menu is claiming to be vegan when it’s not. Concerned, we personally asked one of the chef that was out making pizzas. He said that they use vegan cheese and the yogurt they used is coconut-based (we tried it and can confirm that it is). So disappointingly, staff have been spreading false...

I initally gave this place a one-star review due to the lack of vegan options and menu item of a plant-based burger with vegan cheese that wasn’t actually vegan. The manager since got in touch saying they’d changed the item to make it fully vegan, had a meat-free fryer and are looking at adding more vegan items in future. I tried the burger today - pretzel bun was a bit dry (just a bit of warming would have improved it) and there wasn’t any vegan cheese included but the rest of fillings, including the patty, and the fries were good. I’m impressed they followed up my complaint and made improvements. Hopefully it only...