Jimmy Cook's Kiwi Kitchen — Restaurant in Fiordland Community

I want to write a nice review because I don't think any of this was done in malice. Ultimately though, I wouldn't set foot in this restaurant again given how many better options there are in Te Anau.

TLDR: The food is passable, and the staff mean well, but they lack training and this shows in the level of service. The restaurant should consider a rebrand as a specialty seafood chowder joint, they'll do much better.

Some details:

We arrived just before 19:00 and ordered promptly. Half an hour in we were told they ran out of some ingredients and would have to change the seafood dish so it isn't battered and fried but rather pan seared - which would be fine in theory. We didn't get our starters until approx 20:00, and the sea food dish was undercooked (probably as a result of changing the dish last minute). The seafood chowder my partner ordered was excellent. Highly recommended. At 20:45 the manager, Joseph, came to our table to explain that the delay was due to steak being “not fit to be served” (a direct quote). We looked for an alternative on the menu, as the member of our party who ordered the steak is gluten intolerant, but none of the GF options were available as they had ran out of both steak and the fish. Joseph ran to the kitchen to see if the venison could be made GF. He came back and stated that “don't worry, you'll have your steak"and walked off. Presumably nothing else was GF so he decided they would magic the unfit steak into something edible. Fifteen minutes more pass with no food in sight, while other tables seated an hour after us were being served mains. I expressed my frustration to Joseph who said the food would arrive shortly. Several minutes later Joseph returned and stated that I was right that there has been a severe delay so he will apply a discount to the bill. Our mains finally arrived, after we had been waiting for over two hours. Joseph expressed that he would like to offer us a second round of drinks on the house (a coupe of juices and a soda) which arrived promptly. It felt like he was making a genuine effort. The steak was dry (well well done) and the sides were all cold. The schnitzel was… Okay. I wouldn't give it a bad review, but it wasn't great. The venison hot pot was pretty good - again, my partner was winning on the food lottery tonight. When we went to pay, the chaos continued. The bill had no discount on it, and when questioned Joseph pointed out that the complimentary drinks were not on the bill. In other words, the discount was for the drinks we never asked for, not for the average food or the two hour delay. We argued and ultimately Joseph applied a 10% discount and removed the drinks entirely.

Bottom line:

I didn't appreciate the staff ignoring the severe delay and chaotic manner of the service, waiting for us to express our frustration before acknowledging the situation. I also didn't appreciate being forced into an argument after the promise of a discount turned out to be more of a bait-and-switch. Ultimately, the $28 discount was not worth the unpleasant experience and I wouldn't recommend this restaurant given the...

This was the worst meal I have had in New Zealand since arrived. The tempura prawns and scallops were over cooked and the batter was burnt, and inedible. The prawns were not fully shelled and when you bit into them, the prawn shell was still on it and you had to spit it out. The dessert was pavolva and it tasted like shop brought no crunch, no fresh fruit and it looked like the bottle of raspberry couli had been dropped all over it with sprinkles. There was cream and ice-cream but they just made it even sweeter. You couldn't eat it even after I scrapped the couli from the pavolva. If this is the standard of New Zealand pavolva they have a...

We came here for a dinner and we ended up having to buffet. The ham is delicious. The beef stew was delicious. The fish was delicious. Everything was delicious. Even the desserts were delicious. We ate way too much. To have some traditional dishes as well as desserts. Definitely recommend this place. The service was fantastic. It's owned by millennium hotels. Long story short, good quality. Good service. Definitely recommend we spent $50 New...