Lone Star Tauranga — Restaurant in North Island

Not a good experience when our group of 16 people came for my child's 6th birthday party last night. Firstly when I ordered a bottle of Chardonnay, I was told later that they did not have it. So I asked for a different bottle and got told later by the waitress that there was none available at all. This seemed outrageous. 4 of our group drink Chardonnay, including my 76 yr old mother. I asked to speak to the manager as this was 5.45pm on a Thursday night and it did not seem right that they could not have any at all. The manager apologized on behalf of the waitress, said she was reasonably new and said yes we do have some at this point brought out a bottle which we were happy about. My 78 year old father then ordered the garlic mussels that were advertised on at least 2 special boards that we could see from our table, he was told by the waitress that they had run out. This again seemed outrageous especially because they should not be advertised if unavailable and we did mention that it should say SOLD OUT to let customers know this before they start ordering them. When my sister mentioned to the waitress that last time we dined here the same thing had happened with the special being advertised but not being available, the waitress then just shrug her shoulders and said there is nothing that I can do about it which did not seem the appropriate thing to say at this time. An apology at this point would have been more acceptable. The meals were fine when they came out and we ordered another bottle of wine, and were told this time that they had no more bottles available but there was an open bottle and that was all they had. It was only about 6.45pm and we asked if one of us or one of the staff would be prepared to go across the road to the bottle store but were flatly refused. The 6 yr old never got a wee sparkler or anything special for her birthday dinner which was also disappointing. When I went up to pay the bill and mentioned that I was not happy with aspects of the night the girl said we were the rudest table of customers that she had ever come across. At this point I asked to speak to someone at a higher level, she then burst into tears and said there was no one else. I felt really bad that she got upset but the reality was that our whole dining experience from start to finish was unacceptable. Our group all left feeling let down and most mentioned that they would not be returning back to dine at Lone...

Saturday afternoon, the venue had 12 people not including myself and family sitting outside, on arrival we where greeted by what seemed a very on edge and what eventually turned out to be very rude duty manager named Mikaela (I was given her name by another waitress on shift) Mikaela needs a lesson in the basics of working within the hospitality industry, particularly upholding your LCQ and duty managers certification (if you actually do) I have spent over 11 years working in the hospitality field and passionate about it, customer service should be your top priority.

After requesting we sit outside to enjoy the sun Mikaela rolled her eyes at me without trying to be subtle about it, we sat down and after delivering our food and beverage menu was straight to the point almost demanding what we want to order. We had only sat down... the drinks took a while to arrive and my daughters iced chocolate taste like dish water and chocolate syrup...not a great start.

On arrival eventually of our mains, the ceaser salad I ordered personally had very little taste, the chicken was very dry, salad had no dressing, bacon was fatty and no crisp as it is advertised.. I outlined this to the waitress who eventually brought Mikaela to my table, I explained in detail my reservations with the dish which she did not acknowledge other then asking if I would like something else, which I kindly declined.

The most outrageous piece of this experience was come time my wife paid the bill as I had at this point had enough and didn't want to enter the venue, Mikaela had still added the ceaser salad to the bill and it was only after my wife told her to remove it, she answered "oh we can do this" ... as if it wasnt obvious enough it was a poor dish and not worth $28.50...

I am a frequent Lone Star patron and have had some good food in the past, it is a Damn Shame this was my first visit to Lone Star Tauranga and it did not deliverer on client service, food and general atmosphere, very unwelcoming, I will be sharing this experience and not returning, I apologize to the public reading this as I cannot offer a Zero Star for your reference now and...

My partner and I ordered a garlic loaf starter rock the boat and honky tonk chicken then Italian doughnuts and longhorn cheesecake with a long black and flatwhite coffees. The meals were ok the garlic loaf is nice but the plain loaf is better, the honky tonk was cooked well with good flavours in the cranberry and orange accompaniment but it wasn't a sauce or jus it was like stewed a little and put on top of the chicken, the chips were so big they were more like potatoes and the coleslaw was ok in flavour, the rock the boat fish, tasted old the green salad way under seasoned with a couple of sundried tomatoes thrown at it and the best part was the sauce and mash. The desserts were nice along with the coffees but I was disappointed at the options available in teas. When I asked at the bar, the young male bartender knew nothing about the teas or what was available. I suggest if you are not teaching staff about this or dont have an interest in selling it then take it off your menu. Our coffees were great.

To end what I love about lone star is the customer care it shows in it's service. I worked for lone star many years ago when I was a student and they had the same customer service and care which many restaurants do not have. I won't do a main meal here again but I will stick to desserts and coffees as i have done...