McHughs Of Cheltenham — Restaurant in Devonport-Takapuna

McHughs are offering a Mid Winter Christmas buffer lunch from mid June 2025 and so I booked a weekend lunch for a group of 10 ladies. When I booked I spoke with James about dietary requirements, ie, 5 of us require Gluten Free food. James could not guarantee that the buffet would be completely GF which was understandable due to cross contamination, however a lot of the dishes would be GF anyway. I asked about desserts, hmmm, most would not be GF, but there would be fruit salad and he would ask the kitchen about a Pavlova or similar. I also asked about decor on the tables for Christmas and was told there would be something on the tables. There was NOT any Christmas decorations in the restaurant at all!! Thank goodness I had taken Christmas crackers and Christmas gifts. Back to the food..... the main course buffet was great, lots of GF food, although I would question that the beef was technically a Stroganoff! However the chicken and Ham were delicious. Dessert was another story.....the only dessert for us GFers was a fruit salad and technically an apple salad with a handful of grapes and pineapple thrown in. Very disappointing dessert wise especially as there were 5 of us with the dietary need. The venue is great, James and manager were great, but for $48 it was quite a disappointing offering for a mid winter...

My husband and I had our wedding here on the 6th March, 2020. It was absolutely spectacular!!! James was so accommodating and incredibly flexible, he put us at ease with everything and made it so much easier with dropping things off and helping us pick the right package for our menu and drinks (we had a lot of our own wine to use which was no problem for them, a small corkage fee which made it so much easier). The canapés were perfect. The fruit punches were gone fast because the guests loved it so much 😊 and the rest of our minimum spend on alcohol was put on the bar tab, he let us know when we had spent the amount we wanted to. We had such an amazing experience from when we enquired, right up to the day and everyone absolutely loved the food. They cater for all allergies/ intolerances e.g. gluten and dairy free and vegan and the staff were super friendly and helpful. Such an amazing venue to have a wedding at and very affordable. The views, the food, the staff, the whole night was absolutely flawless! Thank you so much for making our wedding...

We have frequented this place for years, but we will not be back while the middle aged kitchen hand/chef continues to work there (didn’t catch his name). He was unprofessional, rude, and swore at my mother in law when we asked for the food to be replenished; you would think this was a simple request at a buffet. I have never encountered such bizarre behaviour in customer service. Even after being called out for his poor behaviour multiple times he continued. We complained to the lovely manager James who did his best to defuse the person in question. The servers; waiters and waitresses faultless, but the chef let everyone down. The location is perfect if you have little kids - a walk along the beach to collect shells. The buffet selection is compact; they don’t provide endless choices that the quality is affected, they provide a tight menu, but tasty. Parking right outside is limited, but plenty of street parking. Such a shame, the behaviour of one very combative and rather unhinged kitchen hand has left...