Valley Inn Tavern — Restaurant in Christchurch

My wife and I decided to go to the Valley Inn for lunch today and upon arriving saw the specials board outside the pub and both decided to have the Sunday Roast. From experience we know that a roast can cost anything from $16 to around $22 but the Valley Inns NORMAL price is $25, and it was on special for $27 with an alcohol drink of which you had a limited choice. Anyway I placed our orders with the bar waitress and we decided NOT to have an alcohol drink and instead I ordered a Cappucino with cinnamon on top $5.50, and my wife had a glass of water (Free) and upon paying for the order asked for a GST receipt. I cannot stress enough how important it is to ask for a GST Receipt, as you are about to see why. We went and sat down and I checked the receipt to see if we were charged the extra $2 each for the alcohol drinks and we were, even though we didn't have any. Anyway I queried this with the bar waitress and she took my receipt away and came back with $4 as she realized we had been overcharged, then I had to ask for my receipt back as she did not return it. Had I not gotten a GST receipt I would have been oblivious to the fact I had been overcharged. Then to add insult to injury when I eventually got my Cappucino it had Chocolate on top instead of Cinnamon, and as it was she wrote my coffee order down on a piece of paper. We have been here many times with good experiences and will go again as long as we don't keep getting a repeat of...

INTERNATIONAL TRAVELLERS BEWARE. We have been in New Zealand for over two weeks have have rarely been ID’d, but when we have we have shown our Alberta Drivers Licences on both islands and had 0 issues.

We showed up to the Valley Inn Tavern and after placing our full order, which did not include alcohol, were asked for ID. Okay— fine. This is a tavern, we get it. When we showed our licences we were told that even though it verified our age, “they do not accept international licences and we would need our passports. It’s the same everywhere in New Zealand.” We made it quite clear that it had been fine anywhere else we had been thus far, and that being passports are one of the most valuable things you take with you travelling, we don’t have them on us at all times.

We turned to leave and were laughed out of the bar by the wait staff. They were hysterical that someone not from their country may not know the rules, especially when, contrary to their beliefs, it’s not the norm anywhere else we may have been. We could seriously still here them laughing when we got out the door. We understand rules are rules, but the laughing was a bit much. We are just hungry travellers trying to get something to eat at the closest place to our accommodations, There was no need to be rude to us whatsoever. Their lack of professionalism has cost them our money and patronage and we hope this review saves any other...

My experience with the valley in tavern was primarily positive. Upon arriving at the Heathcote Valley inn tavern I immediately noticed an unequivocal and bubbly atmosphere which was equally shared between the patrons of the bar and the bar staff themselves. I ordered the beef and bacon burger as an easy yet fulling meal and also asked for a few changes in ingredients and they were polite and followed through with my ordered happily and willingly. Receiving my food i was excited. To the eye the meal was visually pleasing and it tasted as good as it looked which was fantastic. The burger unfortunately missed the bacon that was mentioned in the menu. However, it still tasted great and I was happy overall with the experience. I recommend dining at the valley inn tavern on your next trip...