Juliana's Restaurant at Auto Lodge — Restaurant in North Island

am not a professional food critic or anything… but I looove food 😁. Here’s what I thought about our dinner at Julianas Restaurant:

Starter: Garlic Bread (Turkish loaf with garlic, butter & parsley) - Just okay. Two slices for $9 felt a bit steep. Flavour was buttery— not bad, but nothing I’d rush to order again. 5/10

Mains: Lamb Shank Slow-braised in red wine. Super tender and rich. The sweetness of the baby onions really complemented the dish. Comforting and well-balanced. 8/10

Angus Beef Cooked spot-on at medium rare with a nice char and garlic butter. The red wine jus tied it together nicely. Fries were crisp, but for $47, I expected a better veggie portion — just two slices each of broccoli and carrots felt a bit lazy. 7/10

Drinks: Jasper – tequila-based (can’t remember the rest of it) but we loved this one. Refreshing with a kick — would definitely order again. Negroni – gin-based. I love gin, I love martinis… but this? Not for me. Bitter, a little harsh, and just didn’t click. Wouldn’t order it again.

Dessert: Sticky Toffee Pudding Moist, warm, and absolutely soaked in butterscotch sauce - paired with vanilla ice cream, it hit all the right notes. Classic, rich, and the best way to end the...

We went on 9th July for a birthday celebration. As regular diners here it was extremely disappointing. The service was rubbish. We were seated and then ignored. It took over 30 mins to order drinks and we had to stop a waitress to get them. The we had to ask to order our meal. And got a sarcastic comment from the waitress about them be busy. And at this point they said they were short staffed. However people who came after us were served first. Then the steaks. Two were ordered as medium rare and came out well done. No one came to check if our meals were ok. Two meals were also forgotten. We put a written feedback form in and also spoke to the receptionist who assured us we would hear from someone. We haven’t. A very disappointing experience and...

So disappointed to add such a poor review. The meal was great - good potion size, well cooked and delicious. However the experience was ruined by poor service an attitude from staff. The gaps between service were extremely long and no effort was made to check in on the dining experience. Staff had to be approached 45 minutes after finishing the mains for the table to be cleared. After another 20 minute wait it again required us approaching staff for a desert menu. 25 minutes later and no one had been to take the order, again requiring us to approach staff. The restaurant was about half full so none of this can be attributed to being busy. So disappointing that the service detracted...