The Island — Restaurant in North Island

Being able to order food and drinks off your phone at the table is wicked and game changing. The Island has a brilliant atmosphere and is good for dinner and drinks.

Great music selection and food quality is good too.

My criticism surrounds the layout/menu changes. This sort of place is perfect for having small plates and drinks; grazing, but it is a bit difficult to do this now.

The restaurant is split into two sections, The Tap Room which offers a limited (but quality) selection of snacks, and then The Island which offers mainly full meals.

If you're sitting in one section, you can't order from the other. If you want a variety of social, share plate style food you would have to be switching sides of the restaurant. Overall there's a reasonable selection of share plates but they are restricted by which section you choose to sit in, effectively halving your options.

We decided to sit on The Island side only to find their snacks menu was just four different types of fries and calamari. Literally nothing but fries (and yes, people love their fries but some variety maybe?).

We used to be able to get breads and dip, wings (which are still there) and then maybe share a pizza. Now it's pretty much wings and four different types of fries as far as snacks go.

There was an awesome looking smoked meats share plate, but apparently only from Friday - Sunday and the price jump from one to two people is large - so it pretty much becomes a main meal.

I think the separate dining area idea would do well (in fact very well) if The Tap Room offered a sizeable selection of small plates while The Island focussed on full meals. Or if the fries were on the tap room side as it's more of a bar than a restaurant, with The Island being the place for all things meals, small plates and snacks.

The R18 section at The Island is brilliant. We want to share drinks and graze over food; be there for a while so that is where the variety in share plates becomes important.

We will come back for drinks and a full meal next time, although when/if share plates become more accessible and offer variety beyond fries this is instantly 5 stars; not 3. Social plates are PERFECT for this sort...

Sorry, wanted to like this place, but it gets two stars, and that's solely for the outdoor area - nice and spacious, great for families and a kids playground; however a lot of parents just let their kids go completely free range, so it was a bit hazardous with kids running around, playing tag with no regard to other patrons or waitstaff. The service was a complete let down. We ordered from the menu provided and paid at the counter, only to be told when the food came out that some of the items weren't available until the next day, so the pork burger I ordered, which was on the menu, was replaced with a (crusty looking) fish burger that wasn't on the menu?! Why weren't we notified of this when we ordered, or as soon as they realized they couldn't make it? Was given the option to accept the fish burger they made or get a refund, or at a pinch, I could reorder something else. The waitress was going to come back to retake my order, but after waiting 20+ minutes before this happened, decided to take the refund and go elsewhere for food instead. The food prices seemed quite high, yet the portion sizes and quality didn't impress. Most of the staff seemed utterly confused, and we had about 3 different orders of food, that weren't ours, come to our table over the course of our visit - despite having to provide your table number when you order. I see why there are so many reviews where people say their...

There are 2 main reasons that the Favourite Husband and I hadn’t previously been to The Island. Firstly we are several lifetimes too old to go there and secondly the playground. I’m slightly allergic to small children and there always seems to be a lot of them there. Imagine my delight then to discover that there was an R18 area. Genius. We were meeting the extended FamBam who are all very familiar with The Island and the menu. The cocktails weren’t bad, but there was no margarita on the list and I don’t like to ask for fear of being labelled the problem child of the group. I loved being able to order using the QR code from the table. This is the type of “modern technology” that appeals to me and I strongly believe more places should offer it. Portions were generous. Flavours were good. The Thai beef salad was really nice, with chargrilled steak and the pickled ginger was a nice touch. There was a lot of dressing which overwhelmed the dish a bit. The burgers were really juicy, the loaded fries and chicken wings were also full of flavour and generous portions. The pizza was a hit. Look, I can’t find fault. I’m not going to try. It was pub food done really well. Good value and a good night. Service was friendly and fast. It’s not “fine dining” but it’s not trying to...