St Johns Bar and Restaurant — Restaurant in North Island

I’m confused. I don’t really know what to make of my St Johns experience. I’ve been visiting Wellington on a frequent basis for the last 7 years or so. St Johns always looks like a fun time and I wanted in on it. It was one of those primo days in Wellington, barely a breeze with a bright wintery sun. A couple of the coveted outside tables were available but there was no table service and I was alone, my friend having been delayed. I ventured to the bar and ordered a whiskey and dry and a Bloody Mary. I was given the whiskey and dry and a table number and told the Bloody Mary would come out. The table was filthy and having seen customers told to fetch their own cutlery etc I was too intimidated to ask for it to be wiped. So I sat at my filthy table waiting for my drink. And waiting. I killed some time by fetching some napkins and trying to wipe the table. In the end I got up and asked if my drink was coming and was assured it was. And it did. Eventually. After my friend arrived a table in the sun became available so we moved to that. Complete with the previous people’s plates and glasses that weren’t cleared until we asked. It occurred to me then that the staff are perhaps ornamental. Although in fairness one English guy seemed pretty friendly and on to it, he was the exception. The food was ok. The fries were cold. The chicken was a bit dry, but I quite like that because I’m weird. The burger was small but juicy. The charcuterie board was big, good value, but clearly there were olives that needed eating up and we got them all. I had high hopes for St John’s, but I think it’s just a little sad, in need of some tender loving care. Maybe the staff too. We all need a bit of love bombing once in a while, St John’s is...

Unprofessional service - We had our team Christmas lunch today 18 Dec 17 for the 5 of us and we made booking a month ahead. We went in at 12:05 p.m. and ordered our food and drinks - 10 minutes later waitress comes and says we have "run out of duck" on our menu and was told to order something else. I reluctantly did. My colleagues and I ordered 2 starters and 3 mains. I got served my starter first but not my colleague. We only got our food served at 1:10p.m. - no apologies and I had to ask waitress twice why the delay - first response was "we are plating the food" ; 15 minutes later the response was "it is coming" and finally I went up to the cashier and had a stern word on how disappointed we were with the lack of service and unprofessional way staff spoke to us. 5 minutes later food arrives and no apology. Staff kept blaming us for sending in an order late as they did not have the duck and I had taken 5 minutes (as I was on a phone call) to decide an alternative. Secondly, staff also said this is a standard wait time from a starter to a main - 45 minutes from the time I had my starter to my colleagues not having their food is unacceptable. Finally when we all finished our main and went to pay - I saw plates of duck confit being taken out to a group of people : I comment on it loudly and waitress hears and says"OMG ...she saw us taking the duck and we now have lied". Yup you lied instead of apologising and saying that you will not be serving duck due to whatever legitimate reason. We will definitely not come back to St Johns for a meal if this the type of service and staff they have in Wellington. There are better restaurants and cafes to dine and enjoy along...

So up front, I accept that NZ still has some very archaic public trading hours for the sale of alcohol on Christian days of remembrance.

I expected to pay a surcharge and whilst I don’t believe this is neither warranted nor necessary, buying food you neither need nor want is also part of this excruciating process of buying a few beers and a G&T.

This all said, the staff and more particularly, management of this establishment have taken customer rudeness and arrogance to giddy new heights.

In the end, my 3 comrades and I walked out after being told that 8 bowls of fries + a 15% surcharge and then accepting the prospect of being kicked out after 2 hours, was not sufficient.

There are plenty of other establishments who have worked out far more practical and customer centric workarounds that work within the law. I recommend that staff and management take a stroll around the city and check out their competitors approach!

I have spent many and I mean many hundreds of dollars at this place, let’s face it, they are at the higher end of the price bracket for trumped up bars, sadly I will never bother patronizing these characters and I strongly suggest you...