Shed 22 — Restaurant in North Island

What a terrible experience!

After an awesome day at Te Papa supporting the moko papa yesterday, I walked into this restaurant with my husband and two children and said "kia ora" to the waiter at the entrance, only to be greeted by him who bluntly said “Are you alright!" I turned to my husband in shock and asked if we should even bother eating here. He hadn’t heard the comment, so the waiter said "oh you want to eat here!" and awkwardly showed us to a booth. We had barely sat down and opened the menus when the waiter returned and asked, “You guys are parents, right?” Completely confused, my husband and I said yes, and then he turned to someone behind the counter and gave them a thumbs up. To this moment, I have no idea what that was about. It was strange, unnecessary, and frankly made us feel profiled. Still trying to settle in, we were immediately asked if we’d like to order drinks, even though we hadn’t had the chance to look at the menu properly. I politely asked for five minutes. The waiter walked away… and never came back. We sat in our dark booth, 5 minutes came and went... 20 minutes, we watched staff happily take orders from customers who had arrived after us. Meanwhile, we were completely ignored. By this point, my kids were hungry, we were frustrated, and we decided to leave.

To the venue and staff, do not greet your customers with “Are you alright!” it’s unprofessional and condescending, especially when I as the customer greeted you with a friendly kia ora. Don't randomly and bluntly ask if people are parents without explanation then signal your co-worker. It’s invasive, and quite frankly rude. And lastly, do not leave customers waiting 20 minutes without service, and completely ignore them, especially in a restaurant that wasn’t even busy.

It was just after 1pm, and this was by far the worst dining experience I’ve ever had. I honestly cannot believe it happened....

So we have finished with the tour to Miramar studio - in case you do not know, it's where all the CGI and special effects for LOTR were made. This is where Peter Jackson made the successful trilogy using New Zealand as base for the movie. Sean picked me up and we proceed to downtown where we went to visit his showroom and then walked to Te Papa museum. Everyone had a great time and by the time we finished with the museum tour, we walked over to this Mac's Brew Bar.. a popular craft beer place in Wellington.

It's located in a very big brick building facing the waterfront. As the weather was windy and cold, we could not sit outside to enjoy the scenery. ◾Mac's craft beer - tasting set served paddle style, I love how different taste of each of the beer was. If I had the capacity I would like to try all.. but 4 glasses were already a bit too much for me. ◾chicken nibbles - essential chicken wings in either spicy buffalo style, chipotle BBQ sauce or honey mustard mayo. I took the latter because the small ones could easy eat it. ◾salt & pepper squid - lightly battered and deep fried to perfection! Served with nam jim dipping sauce & lemon, honey, mustard emulsion. ◾seafood chowder - whole pot of tummy warming goodness filled with smoked mussels, fresh fish & shrimp. Served with chilly corn bread which was perfect in the cold weather.

Spacious joint on the waterfront offering a wide range of beers, pub grub & a popular patio. I had a great chat with Sean, as he has been a dear friend of mine for more than 20 years...

This is the worst meal I have ever paid for in a restaurant!! I ordered beef short ribs. What arrived was four small pieces of grey gristly fatty meat swimming in a gravy which resembled grey watered down liquor and tasted the same. Accompanied by half a plate of mesculin salad straight out of a bag... no dressing or love for the salad except a small metal bowl with a clear liquid that tasted like watered down dressing with no flavour, no surprise here as it matched the meat which was also completely flavorless!!. ABSOLUTELY no seasonings, flavour or love had gone into this poor piece of beef. The others had fish and chips which looked like a mess thrown onto the plate and one other in our party had the open steak sandwich which out of the 4 meals looked the most edible but was also a disappointment. The charge for the beef short rib was $35! Yes.. I ate half of the meat and some potatoes as we had not eaten much during the day as we were looking forward to a nice meal out so we were all really hungry, but none of us will ever eat here again as it was to sum up disgusting! We left and went somewhere else for dessert and a few cocktails.... so I would recommend ditching the idea of going here and try booking at Chouchou next door. The fillet mignon is only $5 dearer and if their desserts and amazing service are anything to go by will be much better than this poorly run establishment. Shame on you owner for ripping good hard working people off...