No.8 — Restaurant in North Island

I never write reviews but this experience was terrible in so many ways I have to pass this on for my own piece of mind. Quick version: terrible food, more expensive than Auckland. Background: after two days of camping we were hungry for a proper meal....

Fresh Tofu Vietnamese Rolls: $16, 4 rolls. Okay, bland flavor, and rolls had come unrolled and were placed such that you didn't notice they had come apart until you lifted them up.

Hand-made Steamed Dumplings: $16 for just 6 dumplings! On top of that they were so oversteamed the bun was gloopy and falling off the filling. Gross texture with strange flavorless mince filling. Even if you've never had dumplings in your life I would recommend keeping it that way rather than trying these. Supermarket dumplings are far superior and the price is criminal.

Chili Tofu: $30 This was truly bad. The tofu was sitting in a sickeningly sweet tomato stew. There was no chili. The spice was exclusively black peppercorn which was visible liberally to the gluttonous coating of the tofu. The coating fell off easily and wallowed in the stew. On top of that the "large rice" which accompanied this dish was the size of a fist. I had to order more rice which they tried (unsuccessfully) to make me pay for.

2 cokes at $4 each: excellent coke! A+++++

Total for 2 people: $70. I would happily pay this for quality tasty food. And begrudgingly pay this for average food. However paying this amount for terrible food is what drove me to write this review. Heed this warning and take your food dollars elsewhere!

PS I asked the waitress what she recommended. She replied with "people usually order...chicken wings...etc" That was a bad sign that she didn't actually like the...

Went for brunch on a Tuesday with my wife. Good location with scenic outlook of the town basin and the yachts etc, nice holiday feel. That’s Whangarei town basin for you. Entering the premises we were welcomed by friendly staff. Inside was tastefully decorated, looking and feeling like it’s going to be a quality dining experience. We chose to sit outside as it was a nice day. We ordered two meals and coffees to start with cocktails to follow. Food sounded great on the menu and it arrived in good time, but the truth is the two meals were a let down which prevented me awarding 5 stars. Flavours of the meals were odd, the herbs, spices and sauces did not gel or were excessively imbalanced (too much salt, too citrusy, this spice / herb too overpowering etc). May be i got there on an out of the norm day with a stand in / temp chef. Or may be the chef was just having a bad day, or maybe that’s just how it’s supposed to taste ?. (sorry chef). We liked the cocktails though, great flavours and well balanced mix of alcohol and cocktail mixers …. delicious…. well done the bar staff! 10 / 10. Chef don’t worry we are coming back to give it another chance. We will definitely not be ordering the Szechuan Spiced Prawns or the Chicken & Pork Larb again. Wiped the inedible sauce off the prawns and only had a couple of mouthfuls of the Larb and left the rest. I recommend you and your boss test the flavours before putting the dish in front of customers.

Truth is we will be coming back for the cocktails and try a different meal hoping to pop the review for No8 up another...

Was really happy for the Saturday night until me and my wife went to this restaurant (NO. 8) and yup that was it when we ordered 3 items 1.Tandoori chicken kara Chicken wings Fries And we only ate like 1 piece of chicken and just few of the fries when my wife got a feather in her chicken we called in the staff member and she was like ( oh it really can’t happen) she did have said us she can order something else from the menu but we both were so upset with that even we were not able to have any more fries and when we went to pay for just our drinks that was lamonade and L and P the lady on the bar was totally rude she said we can only take off both of the chicken dishes from the bill but not the fries as you have eaten like a few from it as our mood was totally off at that time I wasn’t willing to argue so we paid like $10 for the fries and drinks but the behaviour of the staff should have been polite and should have felt sorry but the bar lady was totally rude

not going back but letting everyone know that if you are not happy with the dish or you find a feather in the chicken dish that’s is the customer fault according to them

Not making any false post i do have got photos and videos for this

Have photos and video as well not making a issue...