The Pickle Jar — Restaurant in North Island

We went here today, I forgot my mask so pulled my jersey to cover my nose and mouth. I was told I wasn’t allowed to enter without a proper mask and to go to the chemist to buy some. My mum did just that.

We came back masked up, to see two people leave without masks. We questioned it as we were scanning in, to be told you only need masks until we get proof of vaccine pass. We asked why we couldn’t just show our vaccine pass or I could have given my mum my vaccine pass to show. This was not allowed.

Anyway, we sat down and soon after that a family walk in. The father was not wearing a mask, I heard the waiter go “I think I’ve seen you before”, this implies no certainty in vaccine pass, but they were allowed in. I got annoyed and spoke to the manager to which she responded that the people allowed in were regulars. I responded “making us get a mask to wear for a few seconds was ridiculous”, she basically apologised but said that is how it is. I returned to my table to see more people coming in with no masks. Again, they were allowed in. I assumed, they must be regulars even though vaccine passes were checked. Another group then walked in with no masks, vaccine pass was asked but no masks were required.

By then I’m fuming, so I commented to the waitress. She must have said something to another staff. The staff came over and said they took my advice on board and weren’t requiring masks. How convenient that they all of a sudden took my advice on. Simply as soon as that decision was made they should have came straight away and apologised and told us the changes they had made. But this was not done. I felt singled out and to be honest I felt like it was due to racism. That was the only difference between me and the others that walked in hassle free. I won’t recommend you at all. I suggest watching “Colin in Black and White” on Netflix. You will see how he is singled out and you might understand how we felt. A coffee on the house doesn’t make things better, it didn’t even cover the cost of the disposable masks. Put simply, just treat everyone the same....

Went here on a recommendation which almost instantly regretted. After ordering two drinks were asked was there anything else - 2 people = 2 drinks hmm 🤔 Ordered burger and warm vege salad from the "Main event" section with supposedly 'Seared haloumi' it arrived as what could only be described as a miserable assemblage of bland vegetables with barely 3 bits of haloumi lost in the tiny bowl. The waitress was alerted immediately to the lack of cheese and returned to say that's how it should be. We didn't finish the salad, were charged fully for the bill, and only asked to speak to the chef who was too scared to leave the kitchen. We were offered a voucher to return (unlikely as live in the South island) or a drink. That was besides the point really, takeaway points from this - serving staff arrogant to anything being wrong with the dish, once we spoke with the chef his only response was for a cheap dish you couldn't expect much more. To me haloumi to a vegetarian is the same as a juicy steak, don't deny them the pleasure! The old menu we took the recommendation by had what one would expect from such a salad (pictured), replete with greens and a zingy dressing, and also gluten free (which the Israeli couscous in this one was not) Great to be back from overseas where food culture is so vibrant and return to such a miserable performance of kiwi hospitality. Burger ordered at the same time was bland and didn't have any redeeming features apart from not resembling the aforementioned salad. Get a kebab down the road and save yourself the...

I have been going here with my friends for a couple of years now and we have always loved it, however a couple of nights ago we had quite a traumatic experience. We decided to ditch our usual onion rings and instead opt for the bread board. At $18 it was quite pricy for a starter, but it did come with an array of toppings and our favourite type of bread- ciabatta. However, when the bread board arrived it contained ordinary white sliced sandwich bread instead of the ciabatta we had been so looking forward to. I asked the waiter, “I thought this was supposed to come with ciabatta bread.” They replied, “We’ve changed the type of ciabatta bread we use, but this is ciabatta.” They then left the table. One bite of the bread confirmed it was white bread. It felt very condescending- they clearly thought we didn’t know how different types of breads tasted. If the bread board had been cheaper, or the ciabatta had been replaced by another type of bread- like sour dough perhaps, I may have been okay, but for $18 we wanted more than white sandwich bread. Although I have had many positive experiences here, and the rest of our food was tasty, this event has left me confused and...