Speight's Ale House — Restaurant in Otago

This 1 star review is purely for service. Food is all right and atmosphere is bar-like. Speight’s Ale House’s blonde male waitstaff on the evening of 3 October (*edited) has no place in the service industry.

We arrived in Wanaka that evening and the lovely accommodation owner recommended Speight’s in Wanaka along with a discount card for 10% off food and drinks. Thought we’d give it a go on our first night in town and they had a good number of vegetarian options.

On walking into the ale house, my mother requested for a low table. Despite some low tables seemingly unoccupied, the male staff told her there’s none. Only high tables. My aunt was tired so she said we can just eat here at one of the high tables.

Went to the counter to order our food, and I showed the female staff the discount card which she acknowledged and said we could use. Unfortunately, we forgot to remind her about the 10% and didn’t check the bill before tapping our card.

We checked the receipt when walking back to the table and realised the discount hadn’t been applied. Went back to the cashier immediately and the female staff was apologetic. She sought the male staff’s help, to which he said “if you didn’t show us the card before you placed your order you don’t get the discount”. We said we did, and the female staff corroborated this “actually, they did show me before placing the order”. Instead of being apologetic, or even trying to help find a solution, he brusquely brushed us off and said “unfortunately there’s nothing we can do about it now”.

If you want to be treated like you owe him a living, then this is 100% the restaurant for you to come to in Wanaka.

Otherwise, take your money elsewhere. We’ve met so many nice New Zealanders on our trip here, this was an anomaly so we will be sure not to return or recommend Speights Ale House Wanaka.

*5/10/24: edited to remove wrong mention of the duty manager after reply...

This is probably the worst experience I ever had at a pub/restaurant. concidering customer service is a major part of pub and restaurant management I would recommend sending the current manager on a refresher course as he was truly lacking in this perticular area.

Despite serving the incorrect drinks and discussing whether an American passport was legal or not (while not serving anyone else at the bar) for up to 10 minutes the staff remained unfriendly and seemed to want everyone to leave as soon as possible. To also add the beer was low quality and overpriced. Not recommended.

I don't wanna point someone out but the guy working (28/8 21.00) was lacking on everything when it comes to custom service. I have never been at a pub where I've been so badly treated. If I would be you reading this, I probably would save my money and go to any other bar around this area. Because this pub doesn't have anything...

Firstly, we waited 43 minutes from time of order until we got food. My meal came out cold and the veg on it was actually freezing. When I said it to the waiter, she whipped it off my table and said "I doubt its freezing". I asked her to come back with my food and she stormed off with it and wouldnt respond to me.I went to the bar then to ask for the manager and the girl told me that the waiter who took my food was the manager. 5 minutes later they send over a bar man with my food. I never once seen that manager again for the night. She hid in the kitchen. The table beside us also had to ask where their food was after over an hour. Shambles of a place that probably could run well with a decent manager that has a bit of manners. One good aspect was that the waitress who took our was really nice and couldn't have been...