Black Barn Bistro — Restaurant in Hawke's Bay

Nicely renovated bistro style restaurant overlooking vines and, in the distance, the Hawkes Bay coastline. We had the lunch set menu: bread and whipped smoky/salted butter, two choices of entrée and two choices of main, with a madeleine each to end the meal - with coffee and drinks extra. I had 3 Waiheke oysters as a special starter, with a 3 boys Christchurch Stout. I’m an oyster purist and was disappointed not to be able to choose whether to have the onion/vinegar/chive garnish which was pre-loaded onto the oyster in its shell, and thus masked the individuality of the oyster. With this amount of cover this could have been any old oyster. The waiter said that they used to present the oyster “natural” with the choice,but it was now “done this way”. I thoroughly enjoyed the smoked salmon entree, with dill sauce and sweet pickled cucumber. I was pleased that the bread offered with this was different to that offered with my partner’s terrine. It suited the textures and flavours well. My main was beef, deliciously presented with a mix of flavours and a bowl of fries, cooked with a subtle truffle aroma in the background. My partner had the pecorino soufflé, with a pear and walnut salad. She loved it so much I didn’t get even the slightest taste! I enjoyed the Black Barn Pinot noir as an accompaniment to the beef. The madeleines for the brief finale were perfect. A lovely Lemon cream contrasted well with the soft sweet palate of the madeleine. Coffees were from a local roaster, Hawthorne, and were well prepared and tasty. We had arrived later in the lunch session and occasionally had to wait for it to be noticed that we needed more water. But the service was pleasant. The atmosphere is quite “open” in a way that emphasises the outward views, but can seem a little austere on a cold winters day, even though there was a log fire which faced some tables but not others. I can imagine that the openness and the terrace could be wonderful airy places on a hot summers day. Altogether a very nice experience with nicely curated food, a good range of local wines and...

We had dinner at the Bistro on December 29th and had very high hopes for a wonderful experience despite reading mixed reviews online. We had travelled from Canada and this was the only winery we visited in Hastings. Despite making our reservations months ago, when we arrived we were placed at a table at the very back of restaurant, with almost no view of the winery outside. In fact, my husband was looking at a wall due to the orientation of the table. I noticed a few tables closer the windows and inquired about them and was told we could not have them as customers specifically requested them. All I could think was, I did not specifically requested the worst table in the restaurant!! Otherwise I would not have made my reservation months before after searching all the wineries in the area. I will take some blame here as I likely asked the manager in a rude tone if they had made the reservations prior to ours and she very rudely said back “yes they did, do you want me to look up when they made their reservation?” I said “yes please back” but she never did. She did not try to defuse the situation (as she should be trained to do) or even offer us one of the other open tables closer to the windows.

After we were seated at the first table, we watched the manager walk into the kitchen and whisper something to the waiters. We can’t be certain but we felt she was whispering about us as they turned to look at our table. We had read in the prior reviews that the staff were snobby and sadly this was our experience as well. I made my husband request another table closer to the window again and this time she did seat us at empty take closer to the windows. By this point, the dinner that we had been looking forward to for months was almost ruined. The waiter we had was lovely and very professional. The food was also delicious, unfortunately first impressions can sometimes be the most important and we would like not recommend the Bistro to others...

The bistro reopening was the perfect excuse to catch up with a friend over a delicious lunch and a cheeky few drinks. The new decor provides a fresh, relaxed vibe and the team out the front were fantastic, it was like being greeted by an old friend. We had a young waitress and also had the restaurant manager, checking in on us during our visit. Both made us feel comfortable, shared a laugh or two and made sure we had everything we needed. The drinks list was fantastic with something for everyone- my favourite was the extensive craft beer list (I will be back to try more of these!). The menu itself was out of this world. The ingredients are sourced locally and seasonally and the dishes are simple yet complex- we definitely had to try as much as we could! Everything is made in house and from our table we could see the large wall of preserves that formed part of our meal, which was pretty special. You can see the chefs hard at work and can see that each plate that comes out has been created with so much love and passion. The tartare was the highlight of my meal, and the fish was absolutely devine. I’ll be back to enjoy another afternoon of great food, drinks and service very soon!...