Portobello Hotel & Bistro — Restaurant in Otago

Little beaut country seaside pub, without any sense of pretense or trying to be anything it's not. Serves a really decent selection of cold beers on tap, and bloody very reasonably priced meals. Personally, I visit the place pretty much every time I go down the Peninsula - you'd be well advised to do the same if you're down that way!

From memory, it's one of several 'Pubs that are old, and are happy to remain that way' sort of establishments that now dot NZs landscape. Which, to me, only adds to its charm. It is maintaining its history, and seems to be in absolutely no hurry to reach out into the 21st Century and become just-another-gastro-pub-experience (and more power to the owners, for that!)

The pub offers punters a brilliant view across into the Otago Harbour, which is spectacular at high tide, but can get just a shade on-the-bugle (i.e. smelly) at low tide. But, this is simply the way it is - tide goes out, smell of all those sub-tidal things (seaweed, etc) gets a little more edgy until the tide comes back in. No real drama - but be aware of it, in case your sense of smell is a little more refined...

I dont ever leave bad reviews on google, but i thought this deserved one.. We came into the bistro and were asked if we want to have dinner, said yes and then we were told that food will take at least 45mins to be served and we were completely fine with that. We got seated we waited for our menus for 25+ minutes, when staff was taking care of everyone else and had to go and ask for the menus… Then we got the most insincere “ooooh were sorry” and told us that theyr not gonna make food anymore. Felt like we were ignored and were not welcome there… All there was missing was communication and honesty to tell us that theyr not going to make us food for whatever reason in the first place and not make us waste our time waiting for nothing… Food looked good tho.

Should also mention that this was our second time there and the first time it felt like something was off as well. That time we did not get a normal menu but ordered from some menu for snacks as those were the only menus we were given.

Just wanted to try some...

I've been to all the food places in the village, and most of them are really good. 1908 has fantastic food and lovely staff. Ric's make great burgers. Even the cornerstore has some good options if you are hungry, like mince pies.

Portobello Hotel, on the other hand, is absolutely disgusting. This is the first and only 1-star review I have made for a restaurant in New Zealand.

There was nothing wrong with the beer, but I would rather scrape a roadkill off the street and fry it up before I eat a beef dish from this place again.

I am very grateful that the bartender urged me to speak with the chef. This meeting confirmed my belief that the chef has the foodmaking skills - and emotional maturity - of a...