Hiku — Restaurant in Kaikōura

This was the worst restaurant we have tried in New Zealand in the last month. The restaurant looked really stylish and the menu was attractive. However the experience was extremely poor. From the beginning the bar tender was rude and unhelpful. We were showed to a table by the window which was promising but most of the tables were taken by a bus tour who had a buffet meal. The few tables having a la carte were ignored. The food was poorly prepared for example the chicken burger had a lot of batter (not mentioned in the menu) which was burnt. The plate was padded out with a large bun and lots of sauces. The crayfish fettuccini had the crayfish replaced with mussels which were overcooked. The wine was offered without a menu so turned out to be a poor choice. The table service was non-existent and we had to chase the cheque and tell the new waiter what we had had. The waiter asked if the meal was satisfactory but was not interested in our reply but carried on a conversation with a colleague. For a restaurant which clearly was pitched at the higher end and certainly charged similarly to excellent restaurants elsewhere it lacked quality in the atmosphere,food but...

Our experience at this establishment was disappointing from the start. There was no clear direction on where to go upon entering, and the waitstaff appeared impatient and unhappy.

The table was sticky, and when I asked for it to be wiped, the waiter only cleaned half of it, leaving the surface still sticky.

While the food arrived quickly, the quality did not match the speed. The truffle croquettes (served as 3 smaller than golf ball bites) were neither crispy nor hot. The chicken karaage was decent but nothing remarkable. The sharing crayfish was particularly underwhelming—served lukewarm and plated so poorly that it spilled over the plate. For the price, it was absolutely not worth it.

Overall, the service and food left much to be desired. I wouldn’t recommend this place based on...

We dined earlier and received great service attention from staff. Atmosphere and presentation is of a very high and modern standard, however the food let's this experience down. The entrees of calamari and fried chicken were the best being fresh, delicious and not overcooked. We would order these again. We had the leg of lamb which was nice but the carrots were not enjoyable and very hard, basically raw, yet warm. Was not sure if they were deliberately presented that way or if they were way undercooked. Desserts were over rated and under delivered and not very nice. In summary, very average and over priced, taking into account what we paid without...