Vine Eatery & Bar — Restaurant in North Island

After waiting ages for any attention at all i approached the bar and was given food menus and told to go sit. The barman couldn't even get me a drink menu as they were all in use !!! After another 5 or more minutes a wait staff came with a drink menu . My partner was about to order a basic spirit when I noticed the super expensive price (13 bucks) and encouraged him to wait while I looked over the menu. The waitress was not amused and left us. She came a couple of times to the table next to us and completely ignored us until we flagged her over. I order 2 glasses of wine which came with what looked like barely a few mouthfulls in the glass. When I questioned the amount she just shrugged and said that's how it is. Again i think she was not amused. On checking the menu, the wine is served at 150ml . It barely looked like 120ml which is a standard measure for wine = I alcoholic drink. I've worked in hospitality my entire life and I know my measures. After an hour our food had not arrived, we ordered 2 salads no entrees, just a simple order. Others around us wer being served multiple plates , some who had been seated after us. We waited another 15 minutes for our food to arrive. Both servings very small. While my partner never complains he was happy with his food but mine was a middle eastern lamb salad and was possibly the worst lamb salad I've ever eaten. It was covered in so much what I think was a thick balsamic that you could not taste any if the flavours. Very disappointing. Just yesterday in Rotarua I had the most amazing lamb salad for near on half the price. This is just another example of a Taupo restaurant ripping off the tourists, overpromising and grossly underdelivering. I understand there's a staffing issue in hospo at the moment but this place was not understaffed. I did not complain to the mgr we just finished our substandard meals and left, never to return. And I'll surely mention this bad experience to any friends...

We ate here 3 days in a row. The first day the food was amazing, service was somewhat slow (in fact we waited at the bar for 5 mins to be served. There was a guy who looked like he was the manager as others were going to him - he looked like he was doing rosters or inventory who glanced at us but made no effort to come over) and no table water provided, however we loved the food. So we came back the next day and being a creature of habit I ordered the same dishes as the day before. Today we got table water, yay! Now instead of 3 lamb cutlets I got 2 and the sauce with the cutlets was runny, not solid creamy like the day before - it really was not great. I raised it with the server who seem disinterested. We then got another table server and I raised it with him and he seemed disinterested too. No one apologised. No one seemed to acknowledge I was receiving less than what I got the day before.

We had to come back the 3rd day as we had a business lunch meeting. I ordered different food and it was really good but the service from the same male server as the day before was average. No smiles and no warmth.

There is so much opportunity this place could gain from by providing consistency of food, to service with a smile and being genuinely interested in your customers.

Note I should say it was not busy when we came here. Possibly 3-4 tables max each time and surplus staff on the 1st day...

Nice cafe menu , prices are fair for what you receive. We have been here on 5 occasions now our last visit was not as enjoyable as the first 4, the meals seemed to have slipped a little in quality and design, all 4 items we ordered were underwhelming and not what we had imagined, we ordered mushrooms and oysters as an entree, both were disappointing and chicken and venison as mains again both disappointing ( the stuffing cake that accompanied the chicken needs to be reworked by the chef it was dry and inedible) the venison was not cooked well or seasoned. I was expecting better based on my recollection of previous meals we’ve enjoyed here. I’m not going to low ball a low review as I’m aware every kitchen has bad patches and bad days and previously they have cooked us some very nice meals on previous visits. I would still recommend a visit to Vine if you haven’t been, it’s usually pretty good, and it’s well run on a good day. Pays to book in the evening. It’s priced about right for what it is , staff are generally competent and friendly , I would describe Vine as smart / casual - cafe / pub dining , not overly formal but not too casual either. Nice enough place give it a go, it seams to be popular with most people there is a high chance you’ll...