Arborio Restaurant, Cafe & Terrace Bar — Restaurant in North Island

Service was prompt and welcoming. I was seated at a table inside. There were two large tables of patrons inside which became too noisy for me.

I asked if I could sit in the courtyard area with enclosed glass windows. Wasn't a problem. Not long after I sat there, another very large group arrived and sat on a table behind me.

I felt constantly in the way with wait staff walking behind me through the small gap between me and the patrons sitting on the table beside me.

The view of the sea was obscured by salt on the windows that needed a good clean to highlight the wonderful views.

My tempura fish n chips was fresh and perfectly cooked. The salad was lacking in flavour.

My recommendation by staff of the Flamingo cocktail, never arrived until after my main arrived and I ordered it well before my mains order was taken.

The cocktail was delicious. A nice mix of citrus (lemon) and sweet flavours.

I went back for another cocktail outside with a friend tonight. Lovely ambience inside with the Middle Eastern lanterns and decor.

I was confused why the restaurant has an Italian name Arborio? As the menu is a mix of various cuisines from around the world from curries, seafood, hamburgers, pasta and salads.

Highly recommend dining here but not for a romantic evening due to the large pax tables and the noise of large groups. Would recommend it for a nice meal out with the children or family and friends or...

Me and my husband are just visiting and our second wedding anniversary happened to fall in the same time period.So after surfing in the internet we decided we’d go here to celebrate.The atmosphere and ambience is really nice here and because it was a Sunday it was not so crowded.The staff is really friendly and attending.Really good food I’ve had in a while.I asked my steak to be well done but it was medium rare but it was okay to me but should be more careful on stuff like that.And the portion was really too much for one person unlike most of the places which is a great thing.We were too full to try the dessert which is a shame lol.And the prices couldn’t be more reasonable.Oh and one weak point I can point out is,they don’t have a meat dish which only contains chicken.My husband only eats chicken but their chicken dish is bacon wrapped so my husband had no other option other than going for a pasta.It’s a typical asian thing so I hope they could consider such customers too when making their menu.But I must say overall we loved the whole experience and will definitely go again before we leave this beautiful city.Wishing you guys all...

My friends and I had just arrived from Auckland. We had read online that Arborio was excellent, a great menu and close to our accomodation. We arrived at around 5.15pm and wanted to have an early dinner. We asked for a table for 4 people (we didnt have a booking) , and the waiter/maître d advised us that all the tables were full. We looked around and literally only 5 tables were occupied (inside and outside the restaurant). The waiter also looked around to check again to see so many empty tables (the whole restaurant was empty apart from 5 tables) and proceeded to tell us that all their tables were full right now and could not accomodate us. We felt very unwelcomed, and I will say we are 4 brown women. This is really disgusting Arborio Restaurant. The fact your staff blantantly turned away 4 paying customers and we were made to feel inferior is not ok in 2023. Best believe we will be telling all our friends and family that come to New Plymouth never to come...