Pomelo Kitchen & Bar — Restaurant in North Island

We were really looking forward to this place and told the food was what Monsoon Poon was like in their hay day, so the exceptions were high. On arrival, we were greeted by the waitress and then shown our table, the atmosphere was cosy and quiet with excellent views. Was shown the menus but not told the specials until we were ready to order. We ordered two entrees, the crispy tofu and the beef skewers, for the mains we ordered the Teriyaki Angus rib eye, Grilled salmon, a roti and lotus chips. 30mins after ordering our entrees they arrived finally. We did notice other people that ordered after us got their food before us. Another 40mins later our mains were finally here.

At no point did a staff member come over and say there was a delay with our food or to apologise. Instead, a waiter came over and saw that my beer glass was empty and asked me if I would like another one. I declined in fear of it taking so long to get to me, but he didn't take my empty glass away, I had to ask him to take it.

Now to the food, the entrees were really great! The crispy tofu was spicy yet tasty, and the beef skewers were so tender with a yummy spice. Our mains was a different story, the Angus rib eye was alright, not great but good. The lotus chips felt like they were just out of a bag. The grilled salmon with soba noodles was such a disappointment, the salmon was cold and the noodles lukewarm. The overall texture was just off. The roti, probably one of the best roti's I've ever had, it was hot and so yummy it makes me want to make them at home.

Overall the food was ok to good, what I felt let it down was the service, it felt like amateur hour there. Only after we had finished eating our mains, they asked if everything was ok. We did make a complaint about the salmon, and they made apologies, but for a $30 dish, it should have been on point. Towards the end of our meal, it got very noisy in there. So much, we were almost yelling. They need to do better acoustic damping for a small space. Upon paying they did notice that we were being served our food later than other people and kind of saying sorry, but it didn't feel genuine. They decided not to charge as for the tofu, which was $11 because the salmon was cold, so I appreciate the olive branch.

Maybe we got them on a bad day, but we felt they treated others better. Perhaps one day we will return and might be better. This looks like a harsh review, yes I admit that, but it is...

Visiting from Sydney, we had the pleasure of dining at the Pomelo recently. For starters, we had Free Range Pork Dumplings, Crispy Soft-Shell Crab and Raw Market fish. The immaculately hand pleated dumplings were generously filled with well-seasoned flavours and served with a rice vinegar dressing which complemented the pork filling. We were not disappointed with the crispy soft shell crab; perfectly crunchy on the outside and delicately soft on the inside with the right balance of chilli to creamy mayonnaise. The star was the finely shaved snapper fillet; so fresh you could smell the ocean breeze. The coconut, lime and chilli dressing was the perfect match to capture the umami freshness of the snapper. We chose Red Duck Curry, Tiger Prawns in Yellow Curry and Grilled Spring Lamb Cutlets as our mains to share. What we enjoyed about the red duck curry was the subtle anise, sweet fragrant lychees and light tartness of the cherry tomatoes which imbued the sauce and the jasmine rice. Likewise, the large tiger prawns were juicy, generous and perfectly cooked with just enough yellow curry sauce as not to smother the prawns. We had heard how delicious NZ lamb was and thoroughly enjoyed the caramelised, basil pesto and honey marinade on the grilled lamb cutlets; each mouthful was a delicate blend of sweet herbal tenderness. To finish off we had the Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta: velvety creaminess with specks of vanilla, perfect with crumbled meringue and raspberry compote. We highly recommend a visit to this fine establishment. Jane and...

Our dinner was a bit of a disappointment, which is confusing after reading all of these great reviews. Pomelo came highly recommended and we chose it to celebrate my partners birthday. Started off well with a lovely corner table and excellent view, but we were distracted by how drafty it was and wish we had brought additional layers.

Food was good, not standout. It took over 30 minutes for our starters to arrive, and well over an hour for the mains. At that point we had finished our bottle of wine and were quite hungry. The lamb had delicious flavor but was overcooked, not a hint of pink inside. The chicken poppers were very chewy- a total miss. Highlights were the dumplings and the duck curry.

Service from our first waitress was excellent, but got confusing with the second person who brought out our food. The lamb was delivered with no knife or fork, and she seemed miffed when I asked for a knife. No fork arrived with it so I ended up just picking up the cutlets by the bone as trying to cut meat with chopsticks and a knife was an exercise in frustration.

When our plates were removed we were asked if we wanted to see the desert menu, which we did. I had been looking forward to trying the panna cotta but the menu (and the waitress) never returned. After waiting for 15 minutes we decided to just leave. At the till there was no acknowledgement from her at all.

We chalked it up to it just being an off night, but for a $200+ meal I left feeling that I had made a mistake and slightly embarrassed for choosing...