Comes & Goes — Restaurant in North Island

We found out they’ve started offering dinner this week, so had to come try them! Comes & Goes has always been “that place with pretty food and drinks” and the brightly lit environment continued through into the night. We shared a variety of the entrees, mains and dessert, and started off with the house-made ice tea & pina colada (Mocktail) which were both really good (and pretty!) The fish of the day was Tarakihi, and we enjoyed the ceviche which had very beautiful tangy sauce to complete the flavour. It is a bit different compared to other places but we enjoyed this twist. They were nice to give us a bit of each sauce to try, and we were very impressed with all the sauces for the fried chicken! The chicken pieces were juicy inside and crunchy on the outside, and all the sauces were really good! Couldn’t really pick a favourite, I was going to go with the yum yum sauce (Korean fried chicken sauce) but then the Delta sauce (a bit like thousand island) was quite nice and tangy, and the mustard was quite creamy as well! For something a bit different, you could also try the plum powder (I grew up eating this with Taiwanese fried chicken). The salad was very pretty, the feta added the needed contrast to the beetroot and worked well together. The pork ribs had a tangy BBQ sauce and were very big! For the mains, the steak was cooked medium-rare as requested, and we also were given all 3 sauces - the peppercorn one is very strong in pepper if it’s your type, and the mushroom sauce had a cumin flavour in it, but the red wine jus was just super gooey and was our favourite (high recommended!) - probably didn’t need the butter de paris with all these sauces but also an option, it has very strong herbs folded in (not brave enough to name the herbs out of thin air) We were impressed with the market fish though! It was pan-fried and fresh, but still soft inside with a slightly crispy layer outside, and that potato puree was so good! We liked everything on this plate, the veges worked well together and this dish was happily devoured. We also shared the panna cotta and the matcha creme brulee (matcha is everywhere these days I swear!) the panna cotta had quite a strong earl grey flavour and the poached pear slices were not soaked in sugar syrup which was refreshing, and the matcha creme brulee was just right, creamy and velvety but the matcha flavour comes through and worked very well - might be a bit too much raspberry sauce on the side but it’s up to you how much you want to add to it! Petone is brimming with dining options but usually during day time, so now a dinner addition is always a...

REVISION: After a great initial experience swinging by for coffee, Comes & Goes is rather disappointing when you choose to dine in. Alas! The food looks fantastic, but the tribulations to get there make it a hallowed prize you have earned.

The Maître d' seems largely unable to run the café floor: groups of three at tables for two, next to two people at a table for four. Groups of four turned away so that a pair can share a table for six. I'd be upset if I were the owner.

Table service is meandering and slow, with wait staff that seem to dither innocuously than gloat attentively.

The coffee, while good, takes time to get to you. A waiter may offer to order you another cup it takes so long to get to the first.

The menu looks superb, and somehow understates exquisite looking food as it comes out. But, some small indicators suggest a rigidity that's unfavorable. Waiters saying "Chef can't scramble eggs," probably don't realise the offensive of lying to a customer; the chef WON'T scramble eggs. This is upsetting given the 'Build Your Own Breakfast' option.

Clientele make for interesting company with an even mix of Petone locals and undifferentiatable millennials whose names are Lizzie, Millie, and silly.

Go here if you're in no rush and will likely grumble about bad service anyway. Enjoy the good coffee and delicious food....that you earn under the same conditions as Ulysses earns...

We went to try the Welly on Plate entry for this year, and to be honest we got a bit of a mixed bag. The Chicken dish they had for their entry was a little odd, the Sous Vide chicken was bland and could have done with pan frying a little more to crisp the skin, and the yuzu puree didn't really work for me, to make it worse it was served pretty much cold, and didn't look anything like the picture they originally showed. I would give this dish 2.5 stars, my wife said 3. We also tried the burger they entered which was a slow cooked beef cheek burger with fries, and an egg on top. This was actually really good, the beef was tender and very tasty, all the flavours matched up well, and the sauce/gravy was rich. The only issue with this one is having an egg on top and being quite well stuffed made it a knife and fork burger, but I can forgive it that. The burger was a solid 4.5 stars, really great. I also had a latte, not bad, not sure on the bean choice, but it was well made, I reckon a 3.5 star coffee. As for the place, simple decor, could probably do with some soft furnishings though as it was a bit loud, but nice enough. 3.5 stars. Service was fine although I think they were stuggling with the amount of customers due to the competition 3.5 stars. I would recommend the place, and will be back to try some of the other interesting fusion dishes on the menu, I just hope they serve them...