The Strong Room — Restaurant in Manawatū-Whanganui

Extremely disappointing quantities of food for the price you are paying!

3 Pork Bellies were ordered, what was received was 1 pork belly sliced into 3 small squares served on 3 plates, with a potato gratin beside each and a smearing of burnt carrot purée garnished with some leaves. This - a quarter of a full meal - was expected to be paid at full price? This is FEILDING, Manawatu New Zealand, not a freaking posh restaurant in New York where millionaires get to throw away their money on entrées served as mains. This was such a pathetic dish of food that I could not accept what I had been served and told the waitress/manager that I simply would not pay $35 for a piddly little meal like this. When the waitress/manager saw how disappointed the three of us were with our meals, she promptly accepted our complaint and ordered another pork belly for the three of us.

There is no denying the flavours were fantastic, brilliantly cooked meals, but I don't expect to leave a restaurant still hungry! The total for our outing was $211 for a Sunday night of four patrons, which encompassed one drink each, two entrées and four mains. AND WE WERE STILL HUNGRY!

The meal would have been far better and more rounded if it had been supplied with vegetables, instead of paying extra for those. Our fourth member had to pay $6 to add one potato gratin to her fish meal which brought that main dish total up to $42.

So here's a star rating breakdown:

Service: 5/5 Absolutely wonderful staff that accepted our complaints and promptly took care of the situation with positivity.

Meal quality: 4/5 Nice fusion of flavours across different meals. Dressings nice and spices not too strong. Ironically, the extra pork belly that was served was better cooked, tenderer, and more succulent than the initial square plonked on the plate.

Quantities: 2/5 The pork is meant to be the star of the meal, but it ended up being a token gesture, and with nothing other than a slab of potato gratin (twice the size of the pork) I felt like I should have only been paying $20 for what I received.

Prices: 4/5 Nothing wrong with the prices across the range of meals and drinks on offer. $35 isn't too much to pay for a Pork Belly dinner, but it is too much for the quantity that we received.

Atmosphere: 3/5 Nothing great, tidy.

New Zealanders are absolute chumps for not being satisfied and walking away without doing anything. Stand up and tell the staff and restaurants you dine at that you simply can't accept paying for this meal and still be hungry afterwards. It doesn't matter whether it's fast-food, pub, or restaurant. You as a customer need to be rewarded with a satisfying dinner directly in relation to what you are paying. This restaurant needs to work a lot harder on generosity of content. We aren't all millionaires, and we as New Zealanders struggle enough with every day costs - eating out shouldn't break the bank and still leave us...

Terrible food and bad service. We went for mothers day and were really disappointed. The staff were unfriendly and unwelcoming. I got the "avocado smash" which had bugger all avocado, the bread was soggy and the poached eggs were so undercooked that some of the whites were still clear. There was also no seasoning at all so it was very bland and I couldn't even eat much of it. My husband had a chicken burger and said it was disappointing and bland. There is nothing remotely healthy on the highly over priced kids menu and we never even got the "free" icecream that was meant to be included. It's a bad sign when the happiest person at the table is your toddler who is eating a mandarin you had in your bag!. I would have told them this in person but we were never asked if we enjoyed our meal and when we paid the lady gave minimal eye contact. We won't go...

Without doubt the best dining experience we've had since we arrived in New Zealand 6 weeks ago. We wanted a more NZ restaurant and chose this on the basis of the recent reviews and what a find! We had the most amazing meal of lamb rump which was cooked to perfection, came with truffle butter and was accompanied by a simply unbelievable pak choi, avocado and pomegranate side which may not sound much but was as superb as it was original. I have to admit to being gobsmacked at finding such a wonderful place in the middle of nowhere and, to top it all, the staff were simply wonderful too! The only downside is that I'm only in the area tonight so I can't go again but it will remain a wonderful memory! Thanks to the chef and the rest of the team -...