The Apothecary Licensed Eatery — Restaurant in Howick

Poor service, hair found in food, very bad management, long wait for food.

We had originally come here for the Valentine's set menu. Upon all of us arriving (at 7:10pm), we were served within a couple of minutes (roughly 5-10) minutes and I kindly asked the waitress, "Sorry we've been talking, could we have 5-10 more minutes?" I also had asked her if we could have the bacon removed from some of the dishes as I do not eat bacon. She said she would check and then come back. 20-25 minutes later, nothing. We then waited until she finally came over and took our orders for both food and drinks. We were okay at this point because we understood it was a busy night.

Our entrees came late as well, and we ate them so quickly because we were so hungry. At this point it was probably 8pm. We then had to wait HALF AN HOUR for our next dish. My friend had asked to speak to the manager, which he was very lovely and this seemed to have fastened up the process of us getting our meals. We had the palate cleansers and the mains came out fairly quickly. Upon eating, my friend had noticed that there was a HAIR embedded within the mashed potatoes. If it was her hair, it would have just been on the top, but it was literally embedded within the mashed potatoes and she had to pull it out. We called the manager over and he went to check with the chefs. Upon returning he said 'it seems to be what you have said'. This statement was so confusing. It literally was a hair!!!!!! He offered us a $50 discount off of my friends menu and then later asked if she wanted something else to which I suggested she get the same thing as me because I was enjoying my meal. We ate fairly quickly as we had been waiting so long for the food. We then again had to wait for dessert. There was also another couple right next to us, who had the same set menu, had their dishes served before us, but arrived after us so we were getting so impatient at this point. We also had to wait so long for our second round of drinks.

When we came to pay, it was a big ordeal. The waitress gave us our receipt and we were confused as we thought $50 was going to be taken off of the bill. We called the manager and he had said that he told us that he would either give us a $50 discount OR give my friend a replacement meal. We were surprised, because when he was talking to us at the table, he NEVER mentioned the word 'either'. He specifically said "we can comp $50 off of your bill", and then later asked "would you like anything else??" My friend stepped in and had told him that we've been having a bad experience through the night to which he responded it's been a busy night (which is understandable), but no excuse for the poor service we received. My friend gave him feedback about the wait to get served, to which the waitress that took our order was at the front desk and he had asked her what happened. She said she tried to take our order multiple times (she only came once - I had asked her to kindly give us 5-10 more minutes, and asked her about the bacon in the food, but she came back 20-25 minutes later). She literally lied to our faces and said we had asked for her to come back 20 minutes later. Who in their right mind would ask for 20 minutes? We left at around 10pm.

The waitresses honestly had no idea what they were doing. One waitress kept coming to us asking if we had this meal or not to which we kept saying no. She seemed very lost. One waitress, I had waived at to see if she could come to us, she pointed at herself, laughed and turned away without getting anyone else to attend to us. So many waitresses were clearing tables (for no new customers) while we were waiting to be served.

The food and drinks were great (besides the hair in the mashed potatoes) but the service was so bad. Would not recommend this...

Went there for Brunch today was a little disappointing as due to being before 12pm could only order off the breakfast menu as they did not have an all day weekend menu. Was a table of 4 and between us ordered the breakfast burger which came on Brioche Buns that were soggy and the potato rosti would have been better left off and served with fries. Standard Bacon and Scrambled eggs was ok except for portion size was fairly small. Buttermilk Pancakes really tasty except not quite cooked through and again for price only 2 small Pancakes. Smashed Avocado on Sourdough was ok except for the amount of Avocado was too much and came in big blob on plate. Don't get me started on drinks as ordered large coffee but got regular but found out later that large is actually extra large. My coffee was only warm and the wifes hot chocolate was fairly bland another person at table ordered an ice chocolate when arrived at table was a glass of milk with chocolate syrup and ice cubes really disappointing. Had a staff member come to table asking how everything was advised about coffee only warm and expression on her face was like she should not have asked. This was my first and...

Ate here today on a very rare trip out to east auckland. Thought it would be ok as place was bursting. There was no table service. Not able to poach 2 eggs, could only serve them fried. Had to ask 3 times for the high chair, yet with a 10 month old usually there is no need to ask even once. When it was FINALLY delivered, my husband went to put our daughter into it and his hand was covered in so much gross food and yellow wet remains that he had to clean himself. Obviously we then had to eat with our daughter on our knee as we werent going to use a soiled high chair. Luke warm food, tasty, but not hot. Smoothies not clearly labeled, even the girl on checkout admitted it wasnt clear when she tried to show me on the menu then realised the options werent there. Chicken nibbles served when labeled on the menu as wings ...and they sell sprite labeled as lemonade on their menu - with no explanation, it was just dumped back on our table as the rude waitress walked off. This place is an embarassment to cafe culture. It wouldnt last a week in...