Merchant of Matamata — Restaurant in North Island

Bitterly disappointed, have been disappointed here before but thought we would give them another try. Worst experience ever! Pork belly was not crispy despite it being called crispy pork belly on the menu, the vegetables thatsaccompanied the pork belly were raw, which is strange considering we waited so long for our meals. The bacon on the breakfast meals was so charred and burned, tasted disgusting with a lingering taste. we were not asked how the eggs were to be cooked when we ordered, despite the menu saying "eggs how you like them" or something to that effect, they came out cold anyway. The 2 worst things were: hair in the hollandaise, and the apple juice which costed $7 , which came out with a straw, thank goodness, however once the condensation had cleared from the glass after drinking half of it, revealed old lipstick stains 🤮🤢 (picture attached) No one came and checked on how our meals were, nore were we asked how they were when we paid the $110 bill!!! Absolutely disgusting service, food and hygiene standards. I would not recommend this "restaurant" at all. The one star i gave for this review was for the primo pinball machine...

This restaurant was overall very disappointing. We came here sine the place looked great, had a lot of beer taps, had a great menu, but it didt't live up to our expectations. We ordered the crispy pork belly and an the hippie salad. The crispy pork belly was not crispy, and even worse, it was tasteless. The portion was so small i would have to order at least three of them to have walked without wanting to buy some fast food. Definetly not worth the 30$. The hippie salad had some of the same problem, it was super super dry and tasteless. Nothing about it made it special, and super overpriced for a salad thats so simple. The staff here where nice, but very unexperienced. Do not take the plate before everyone at the table is done eating, espacially when we are only two. It makes it really uncomfortable for the people still eating. And the worst part of this place by far. DO NOT PUT ICE CUBES...

A pleasure to leave a review. What a huge step up this place is compared to the historical fare available in Matamata. Front of house staff were attentive and friendly and kept an eye on us. The food was top notch. My steak easily in the top 10 streaks ever. Someone there knows how to buy, cure, and cook. Deep flavour, tender meat, awesome. Me family were raving about their food:. The burger, the pizza, the pork falling off the ribs. Topped off with the most chocolatey brownie possible. It almost tasted like pure dark chocolate. We will be back, soon I hope. I also hope they can maintain this standard. Lock it in as part of the business. Would be sad if changes in staff would change the result. In the mean time, run - don't walk - to this place. And order the steak, medium rare - unless you don't respect the meat...