The Whaler Bar and Restaurant — Restaurant in Kaikōura

Starting off positive - Mains were excellent with good sized portions. The chicken was a little dry but the peppercorn sauce made up for it. The ribs were a winner and practically fell off the bone.

Dessert was where things fell down. The dessert special was a mango, rhubarb and beetroot crumble which intrigued me, but in hindsight should have been a warning! Firstly, why the mango and beetroot? You couldn't taste either, so just do a really good rhubarb crumble! Secondly, a crumble should have a fruit base with crumb on top. This... thing... had a crumb base and then extra thick chunks of crumb on top, almost like it was trying to be a pie, but failed at the last moment. Thirdly, it was twice the size it needed to be. Unless your menu says otherwise, keep the different items to similar portion sizes! As for the creme brulee - the star of the dish is the layer of caramelized sugar on top. Putting icing sugar on top of that just ruins the point! It was a good dessert just trying to look too fancy. I've seen other restaurants use edible flowers to make it look great. On the other hand, I saw other patrons with seafood dishes and the brownies which all looked excellent, so maybe we were just unlucky with ours.

Finally, service was fairly slow taking about two hours for mains and a dessert. It felt like we waited for our dessert for as long as we did for our mains.

Overall I would recommend checking this place out for lunch, for their mains, or just for a great place to hang out for a few drinks. The bar itself and the atmosphere is pretty great and had a relaxed vibe going. Just expect to wait a...

Starving so ordered Garlic bread to start with drinks & a steak & fish n chips to follow! Advised 45 mins delay on mains after half hour delay asked if garlic bread coming out first meanwhile flagging staff for drinks refills eventually. Over an hour ten later food finally arrived and was a bit on the cold side tho the steak was delish apparently! Fish n chips was large meal of overpriced cold chips with fish which was good. With being Easter weekend it was busy but even when it thinned out service was slack! Finally went to bar to order drinks & tell them of no show garlic bread to be told we HAD TO BE EATING TO ORDER DRINKS !? & as we had finished meals couldn't order. Salads were still on our plates which we still had at our place at bar front in the window. No offer of desserts or any refills of empty drinks during the meal. They need to check Easter policy cos how do U order drinks at the beginning & whole hour which we waited for meals. Rude manner when discussing which went downhill rapidly Frustrating first ever visit to Kaikoura Last to The Whaler I would say! Irish or Scottish bar manager was stubborn & couldn't see our point! Do you?...

It was a quiet evening on a really cloudy/almost rainy day - so not many people roaming around Kaikoura.

We couldn't appreciate the bar and restaurant full, though we are certain the atmosphere would be great on busy occasions. A few big screens for sports lovers also helps the general entertainment.

It is more of an almost self-service procedure, where you need to order food by the bar and take a number with you, after which a waiter will bring the food accordingly. Having said that, the team of waiters and waitresses were very nice and polite, and very welcoming.

We ordered a plate of Calamari for starters (forgot to take the photo, sorry!) and ordered a Hawaiian Chicken Burger and Sticky BBQ Ribs for mains. Food was really nice, well seasoned and fresh.

Walking from the caravan campsites, many will come across other restaurants which also seem good and inviting. It would be a pity if The Whaler misses out on patrons due to selection by convenience, as it really is a nice overall experience...