Stoked Public House — Restaurant in North Island

Fast food experience at restaurant prices

I’m still trying to get my head around last nights dinner experience at Stoked. We weren’t very stoked to say the least. We live local and run a BnB which also means we often do research of local restaurants so we can give recommendations to our guests. So instead of going to one of our favourite restaurants in town we thought we would try something new. I have been to Stoked before, but many years ago and I remembered it as a decent restaurant especially for meat eaters. I’m not sure if there was an ownership change since then. The website and also the menu out the front is appealing. We were greeted by very friendly staff and sat down at one of the tables. We were given a tablet with the instructions to make our order on this tablet as this is apparently so much easier and quicker. Okay, we thought a bit alienated and not quite sure what to think of that. We ordered a starter to share, tempura artichokes, it came in a flash almost before we could order the mains. The mains came while we were still eating the starter. Also the drinks came out as soon as the order was placed on the tablet. Which is kind of convenient if you are in a hurry and just wanna get feed and then leave. But it kind of takes away the whole "going out to a restaurant” experience where you sit down and enjoy a meal with time for every course.

The food was also less than average. I had a halloumi burger which didn’t look very appealing with it’s squashed bun and the very few strips of lettuce and the thinnest slice of tomato you had to search for. It tasted very dry and bland. The artichokes in contrary were very salty. All served in a plastic basket to avoid dishes, I guess. Every burger at a local pub and even McDonnalds is much tastier and bigger. For prices like $28 for a vegetarian burger and $34 for fish and chips we would have expected more.

This restaurant is located right at the waterfront of Whitianga with the most amazing view of the ocean, the islands, the beach and the esplanade. You can see boats leaving and coming in and people walking past. We found it quite estranged that there is TV’s in your vision where ever you look. Is this a pub or a restaurant or just a fast food dine in? To us the whole experience with the tablet ordering system was very impersonal and I’m questioning if they are not missing out on revenue as no one asked us if we would like another drink or even dessert? I believe nothing can replace human interaction and I find it very sad to see this kind of “progress” in our little town. I might be old fashioned and this might be what the Auckland holiday makers expect but definitely not what we are looking for. Needless to say that we won’t be back in a hurry or recommend this place to our guests. We wish the patrons all the best on their journey, may they attract the customers that suit this kind of food...

Food: Was going to do an overall rating of 3 stars but the food was actually really good. Probably the best fries I’ve had - they tasted like real potatoes. The vegetarian pizza was delicious.

Ordering: The ordering process was awful. We got given small tablets to place our orders. It was very difficult to view the menu like this. We couldn’t compare prices, options etc. And the items listed had no explanation of what the food was. E.g. The “Vegetarian pizza” was listed but had no description of what was actually on it. On top of this the digital menu had different items listed to what was on the paper menu; and the paper menu was different to what was on the menu displayed out the front of the restaurant. So there was three menus, and no waiter to ask questions to get clarity. It felt like a lot of unnecessary work just to place an order!

Service: the service was pretty poor. For the prices on the menu you expect the service to be of a certain calibre. This is not the case. The waiters were not attentive at all. I had to get up out of my seat and go to the bar for every menu question I had, to order drinks, to ask for water etc.

Ambiance: it is one of the nicer places to dine in Whitianga, which may be justification for the price but $25 for a pizza is quite a lot I feel.

Overall: Would I go back? Probably, for the food. But I would strongly recommend the restaurant bring back a traditional ordering system - people definitely prefer talking to a person when ordering food (and...

HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE!!! I bought my mum here for lunch. We ordered the shipwrecked pizza to start and instead of Brie & Mozzarella cheese on the pizza as stated on their menu, they made our pizza with blue cheese. Unfortunately the blue cheese was very strong & over powering. Quite honestly, it was a terrible combination with Chicken, Bacon, tomato & Basil. The pizza also came out burnt 😔

When we tried to talk to the staff/owner about our order and the simple mistake but she was rather defensive, rude and arrogant about the situation. She refused to acknowledge that our order had been made incorrectly and was extremely unwelcoming and unhelpful 😕

When making full payment the owner then turned sour... Calling us “a liars” in at the front desk of the restaurant in front of all their other customers, then literally threw my Eftpos card at me after payment, saying “all the pizzas are always made as stated”. I was absolutely shocked!

The owner or the chef wouldn’t even taste our pizza but yet of course both still persisted to tell us we were lying and our order “was” made correctly. I’ve never experienced anything quite like it...Very disappointing, unpleasant and unprofessional to say the least! 😒

I would NEVER go back nor would I ever recommend this venue...