Osteria Matamata — Restaurant in North Island

We were so excited to be coming to Osteria to celebrate our best friend getting married tomorrow. Unfortunately our celebrations were short lived as the service was the rudest we have ever experienced. It had been over half an hour and we had yet to place our food orders or receive our drink orders. We had also only been brought enough water for 4 out of 6 of us despite asking for more. There had been quite a few snide comments up to that point and at first we laughed it off as sassiness, but our opinions quickly changed when we stopped the waiter and asked very politely if we could please place our food orders. He replied snarkily "when I'm ready!" and walked off leaving us gobsmacked. When he came back we explained that we had a wedding tomorrow and that we were hoping to have placed our orders by now. He replied in a condescending tone, "well, this is a restaurant after all!". By that stage we were feeling pretty upset, we had reserved a table so it's not like we were unexpected guests and we have eaten at alot of restaurants before and have never had such rude and condescending service. We said to the waiter that we are going to leave and go somewhere else because you have been very rude, he said "that's fine!" Turned and walked away. We would understand if he said politely "I'm really sorry things are really busy tonight so there will be a bit of a longer wait." Instead he was rude, snarky and condescending in tone. There were 6 of us who were wanting to order multiple cocktails and a substantial amount of food but instead we walked out. We went across the road to Good Merchant who were the complete opposite with amazing service. If I could I would give Osteria zero stars after this waiter ruined what was meant to be a lovely fun night out...

Made a reservation for dinner. Got there and was told that "that guy there needs to seat you" ... We waited and waited and were finally shown to a table. The same person that said "that guy there needs to seat you" then came and took our order for drinks and entree. Entree almost arrived before the drinks. Main order taken and that arrived swiftly too. Meals as always were absolutely beautiful. Our table was then cleared and we saw nobody... we normally end our meals here with dessert, a grappa and a coffee...but after waiting for over 10 minutes with our wait staff cleaning knives and forks out the back and no one else in sight, we decided that we would leave. Very disappointed in the service. There is a guy that works here who has amazing wait skills and in the past we have had him, and he's made our experience great (dark hair and pony tail). This time we were sadly disappointed. What happened to the white table cloths and the beautifully laid tables that were all part of great dining experience? What happened to the great wait staff? Just feel that the front of house staff really let this place down (except for one). It used to be a special place, now, sadly...

I was in matamata recently for work and decided it would be nice to check out the Italian place. I walked in, wasn’t greeted by any of the staff who were ALL at the front counter and had looked at me. I approached and asked if there was a table for one, the server I asked looked at me, looked at her coworker, smirked and then said ‘you can have this table in the middle until 7, or you can sit outside’- reader, it was about 12°c outside. I looked at her, a little taken aback and said ‘you know what, Nevermind’ and left. As mentioned I was on work travel and regularly eat at places alone and never ONCE have I been made to feel uncomfortable about it until that night. As I left I actually could not believe what had just happened. I regularly travel to matamata and stay overnight and I can tell you now, I will never step foot in that place again. If I could give 0 stars I would. I was talking to a coworker about it and she said the same thing happened to her a few years prior. Seems poor service and rudeness is engrained in the place.

Anyway, I went to the next block of shops and dined at the Mediterranean place Sofra who were much more inviting and the food...