The Grounds at Whoa! Studios — Restaurant in Henderson-Massey

Beautiful venue!! Sadly the service was more than disappointing. I'm 34 weeks pregnant and drove up from Hamilton to have a nice meal with my family who I barely see. We did book a table although this wasn't necessary as they had tables available also. I ordered starters with our drinks as I know it can be busier on weekend. Two drinks came incorrect, they corrected these with the right ones pretty quickly, then a few minutes later a different waiter came back and tried to take them back. We had been waiting just over an hour when I had to call someone over to see where our starters were, and put in our orders for mains as that hadn't been done yet either. Another 30 minutes passed and I had asked for our starters 3 times. They quickly came back with one small bowl of fries less than a minute later, obvious that they had just forgotten the 3 times I asked for our starters!! 6 of us shared a small fries while waiting for sauces, and the rest of our starters. Our mains showed before that could happen and I had to ask again for our starters! The silver lining is that the food tasted really good, all of us enjoyed our mains but I can't say if waiting 2 hours and being starving affected that. One more reminder later and we got the rest of our starters half way through the main, and a quick "sorry there was a muck up with the fries" then they were gone by the time I looked up. I was told we wouldn't be charged for the fries, I'm not one to complain as I've worked in hospitality for 6 years, I know people have bad days, this was just offered. They then tried to charge me for the fries and my sister had to say something because I felt too bad and was just over it at that point and wanted to leave. My whole family was really disappointed and I felt bad because I chose the place and it was a little pricier. The food was good, and the company was even better luckily or I would have been really upset. That's the only nice thing I have to say sadly. Mcdonald's has better service and friendlier staff and we joked the whole time about how we should have just gone there. Probably won't be coming back or recommending...

The Grounds restaurant has set the benchmark for modern family restaurants across Auckland and offers more beyond just a family restaurant.

The stunning contemporary interior features gabled ceilings adorned with clusters of wooden light shades. There are cosy different spaces to cater to different needs.

Outside the large shaded courtyard is a real asset. The star of the show is, of course, the playground for kids with its unique handmade crochet play net.

The menu has breakfast and all-day options. Amongst the delicious options it has the favourites like scotch fillet, fish and chips and buffalo burgers. It has a quality selection of vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options.

A snack menu is available on occasions like quiz nights that includes sharing seafood platters, nachos and pizza.

The kids menu has a good selection ranging from dumplings, toasties and fish bites and chips.

Set menus are also available for larger groups.

The excellent dessert menu is sure to tempt you as well as a cabinet of superb artisan handcrafted ice creams.

The drinks menu is extensive and diverse with a good range of beers, wines, cocktails, juices, sodas and smoothies. They have $15 cocktails 6pm – 8pm and beer/ wine happy hours 4pm to 6pm Thursday to Sunday.

Regular events include Thursday night quiz 7pm, Friday DJ sessions 6pm – 9pm and Sunday live music sessions 4pm – 7pm. The adjacent Whoa studio also has shows for school holidays.

The venue is also available for hire for events and private functions.

Convenient parking is available outside and overflow parking at Henderson high in school holidays. They are also close to the Henderson...

It's amazing how little aspects can massively affect the experience. The ambience is amazing, some of the best in Auckland. The service was amazing, probably due to the individual serving us who was managing all the tables. And he was clearly foreign, which is probably why he was so great. Most westerners are horrible at waiting tables.

All I can say is they need a new head chef who's actually interested in producing a good experience for people rather than looks good on paper and is adequate enough not to bother you when you eat it. Sure it's "fancy", but is it good?

We ordered a big breakfast and children's toastie. The toastie was slightly burnt which made the crust too hard and the flavour put off my son from eating it much. The big breakfast was probably not appropriately priced for a fancy nice place like this, but it's quantities were underwhelming due to there being no bigger option and I was trying to order the biggest breakfast option available. I've been to many other cafes around Auckland and every big breakfast has more on it than this one. Just call this one the Gentleman's breakfast and charge $9 more to chuck on an extra sausage, side of mushrooms and an extra hash brown.

Two tine sausages, two small eggs, a tiny amount of bacon barely enough for one bun and one small hash brown just doesn't cut it for a "big" breakfast...

Also the sausages look like they're meant to sound a look fancier than they taste... I've had nicer sausages from...