Windross House Restaurant — Restaurant in Howick

We don't write many restaurant reviews, but felt compelled to review Windross given our truly wonderful evening. We returned to Windross 25 years after getting married there. The husband and wife owners have been running this restaurant for 16 years and have pretty much everything down to perfection. The husband, while a bit aloof, was efficient in his service. The wife was wonderfully pleasant. The young waitress was outstanding. Prices were very reasonable. The wine selection more than adequate - over -priced we thought, but no more so than in other restaurants. And the food was simply superb! There were four of us, and our entrees included scallops (excellent) with a beautiful tomato sauce (though the combination seemed odd). We also had calamari, which was simply superb. Our mains included venison (good) with a red wine and berry jus, which was divine - and the roasted veges were excellent too. The lamb cutlets with a creamy mint sauce were perfect. And the white sauce with the fettuccini was probably the best we've ever tasted. We didn't have much room left for deserts but shared a great (and reasonably priced) port - and a home-made cheese cake, which was...

Always love this restaurant even if I generally always get the same entree and main which I slightly change to my liking, as usual they came out to the table perfect. Juliana and Billy are simply great hosts and always neat to catch up with even though they were flat out on this evening, having been let down by a no show staff member. The place was humming but everyone we saw leave was smiling and happy, we really love this restaurant, perfectly set with the Cockle Bay beach and incredible lookout vistas, a must eat place in Auckland and especially Howick. Dejan (son of the above) is a really down to earth young man who makes a fantastic person to run the bar and wines because his personality fits in so well, knowledgeable and worldly so always nice for a chat. Other staff are well chosen for personality which is more important than skills which are important but can be learnt. A regular clientele says everything, we love the food and setting so come back. Looking forward to covid free times, which will allow this great restaurant get back to it's thriving normality and profitability along with so many other businesses in...

1 star for location and ambience 2nd star for the waitress who was kind enough to take some photos for us. We were there for lunch one of the orders was the mango chicken which the chicken was not fully cooked. My friend who ordered the chicken is 6 months pregnant. When we called the waitress to address the issue she took the plate back came back and said it's just the vein that's making the chicken look pink. I advised her to take a closer look and sliced a few bits off the chicken so she can see the texture clearly the chicken was still raw. She did offer to cook the chicken further..... in the end they agreed not to charge for the medium rare chicken and my friend ordered the fettuccine as a replacement. (Which she ended up takong away because she had lost her appetite by the time that meal came out) Overall the menu was over priced for the quality of the food served and the portions are small. Perhaps look at hiring a better chef or changing up the menu. Would go back to give it another go but maybe not for...