The Citadel Cafe — Restaurant in Manawatū-Whanganui

Went there because it was named as 'Northland's best burger'? on the lonel planet, so went there with high hopes... Beforehand i looked at the menu, looked alright, $10 for a 'gormet cheeseburger', but opened the menu to find it was $15. Ordered the calamari for $14.50 and was presented, after 15 minutes, with a spoonful of salad drowned in oil, lots of aioli (best part of my dish), and maybe 7 thin pieces of salty calamari... i thought it came with chips and someone from my group who ordered the fish/chips (same price), it came with one piece of fish and maybe 5 chips, 2 sauces, and some lettuce leaves. The fish was pretty good but the chips were very salty and oily too. The classic burger was alright, but the patty was over cooked and burnt, but nice bun! The $6.50 5cm slice of 'oreo cake' was underwhelming and the waffle pops were bland, but very fun to eat and a cute idea! However I loove the atmosphere, the staff were pretty nide, and it seemed pretty busy. However the food took a long time to come out and the portions were quite small, and it was pretty pricey and the taste was pretty average. But loove the vibe and the deco, I wish that there were more options and that some came with more 'sides', i wanted the chicken but it was...

Booked for dinner a few weeks ago. They only had outside seating but we weren't told that upon booking... the problem was that it was a pretty cold night and the heaters offered little warmth. Food was ok and service was good.

Thanks for the reply. It was on the 19th of May 2018. We were a party of 5 that booked for dinner. Once we were seated my partner asked staff if we could move inside due it being cold and was told by wait staff that there wasn't any tables available inside despite having just seen a large group vacate a table. However I don't know the ins and outs of why we couldn't move, I'm merely saying we asked and was told it wasn't possible. To their credit the staff did bring us a patio heater but this wasn't really sufficient for the whole table. But as I said... everything else was ok and had it been warmer we would have stuck around...

Friendly staff, rather small servings unless you get a large burger and frys although frys were minimal. I could have eaten more and im not a big eater. Food taste experience ok to good. Getting a bit high on prices and drinks are very expensive. Food all round used to be better and prices more affordable. I know costs have gone up but not that much. This is Wanganui not a big thriving centre. I know its a balance but think citadel have put prices up to much and serving sizes cut to much. My experiences suggest this was already happening with previous owner and i had decided not to go back because of that but a friend picked the place. I think food taste experience has picked up under new owners but not to where it was a couple of years ago. Just...