manoah — Restaurant in Devonport-Takapuna

We had an unfortunate experience in our latest visit to Manoah. It’s such a shame because we have loved coming here frequently in the past and supporting our local but now we feel a bit hesitant as we used to recommend this hidden gem to many of our family and friends. 😔

This incident occurred 13 May, our family came for lunch to celebrate Mother’s Day 💐. Now, I could tell the staff looked a bit stressed because the restaurant filled up very quickly and was busy as soon as it opened for lunch.

One of the waitresses took our order but it was a bit difficult to understand her as her English wasn’t very good. I wanted to order a Soba Katsu Set with prawn, she hesitated and checked with the kitchen told me they didn’t have prawn. But she said we can order the Udon Noodles with prawn. At that point our whole party was a bit confused, “we can order an Udon/Soba Noodle alone with prawn but not the noodle set menu with prawn?” So she hesitated again and went back to the kitchen to check another time (I’m assuming to make sure what she said to us was correct?) She then proceeded to correct herself by saying they don’t actually have any prawn available on the menu today. It was a bit disappointing but these things happen, so I proceeded to choose another dish from the menu.

When the food arrived, out came an Udon Noodle with prawn which I didn’t order and thought weren’t available at all. 😳 I think our waitress got a bit nervous when we tried to clarify why this dish came out. So another senior waitress with better English came to sort out the problem with our order, but I was quite unhappy with the way it was handled. Firstly, the attitude of the senior waitress came across impolite, and spoke to us in a manner that gives the assumption we were in the wrong. Secondly, she said the junior waitress had explained to us that it was the King Prawn from the Katsu set was not available but all the other prawn dishes were available. That definitely was not what was communicated to us and I didn’t even ask for the Katsu Set King Prawn at the start.

It would’ve been fine if the junior waitress just apologised for making a mistake with our order, but my husband and I were pretty upset how the junior waitress proceeded to lie to her manager/senior waitress to try cover up her mistakes and put the “blame” for the incorrect order on us.

I was able to speak to the senior waitress briefly about the misunderstanding as I went to go pay the bill. We don’t want to be a troublesome customer but we were quite upset with how the situation played out and was handled.

Also, we have noticed the new menu has changed quite a lot from the previous one. I used to love the Yakisoba/Yakiudon dishes and it’s sad to see them amongst others being removed. We also won’t be able to bring our vegetarian family and friends to this restaurant anymore due to the menu change. 😞

But, will give star for the food. It is still presented beautifully and the quality of ingredients still similar to what we’ve had...

The food was great however management was not accomodating. We chose this place to celebrate my partners birthday out of all places even though we don’t live on the shore but was denied to spend 10 extra mins to cut cake there so all of us had to go back to the south to cut cake and scrap our plans to go to the arcade nearby. Secondly this restaurant does not cater to vegetarians - so my vegetarian friends got served curry (literally just curry) with no vege or potatoes with rice and had to pay full price. I should’ve called to double check but they also need to update the menu they uploaded under their google account. Lastly, they got our orders wrong but luckily my friend was kind enough to accept the wrong order. It was just an unpleasant feeling for me as I picked this place and disappointed both my vegetarian friends and my partner. From the 3 scenarios outlined and the decisions the restaurant made from each scenario, it was clear only profit mattered and they had no compassion for their customers or ownership of...

Finally writing a review after having their food at least 20 times now. I normally get takeaway as I prefer to eat at home since I live close by but even having it at home it's so good. Best katsu in New Zealand in my opinion.

I've had their food ever since they opened and I do agree there was a time where the batter use to peel off as others have said in the 1-2 star reviews but I havent experienced this in the recent months so if you are still hesitant, just give it a go and see for yourself. Also, I would recommend you to get the pork loin rather than the tenderloin or get the cheese katsu (wife's fav). The reason is because the pork loin has a bit more fat than the tenderloin which can be a little bit on the dry side as it barely...