Nero Restaurant — Restaurant in Palmerston North

Booked here for a birthday dinner and the meal was incredible. Best dinner experience for us in Palmy.

We were welcomed in from the cold despite turning up slightly earlier than booked, with warm friendly smiling faces. The atmosphere was cosy but classy.

The amuse bouche for the evening had cashew cream which I can’t eat, but Scott had already planned a special amuse bouche for us (which was his pate - absolutely great because we were both really close to ordering that as a starter!)

We both had the prawn and shrimp ravioli with citrus butter sauce and salmon caviar for starter. This is without a doubt the nicest pasta dish we have had at a restaurant. Flavours were incredible and we both wanted more. All of the dishes were fantastic but this was my favourite of the night.

We both had the pork belly with kumara and orange purée, sage lemon and Gruyère arancini, crackling and house-made apple & remoulade salad for main. Ordered a side of duck fat potatoes too. Absolutely delicious. Flavourful, exciting, everything perfectly cooked, and it was fine dining and hearty at the same time.

For dessert we had the creme brûlée and the tiramisu. Perfect ending to a meal. Simple dishes done very well and just the right amount of sweetness too - they weren’t sickly sweet.

You could taste every individual component of each course.

Each of us had two glasses of delicious white wine throughout the meal from their extensive and well thought out wine list.

The team is fantastic and our server, Holly, was very attentive especially to my allergies, and double checked everything for us. She went above and beyond and she always had a smile on her face, and we felt very comfortable in the restaurant.

I would wholeheartedly recommend Nero to anybody who wants to experience a fantastic dining atmosphere in Palmy. Thank you for making a good...

When I first dined here 2 years ago, I was not particularly impressed overall, due to the high price point and somewhat disappointing flavours. However, upon revisiting it recently with my partner, I am pleased to say that I have left with a much more positive impression.

As soon as we walked through the doors, we were greeted by a big welcoming smile and led to our table. After ordering, we were surprised to be presented with a complimentary pani puri filled with a delightfully sweet and savoury walnut cream. These were a great way to whet our appetites and really set the tone for the evening.

We decided on the dumpling special and venison carpaccio for our entrees. The dumplings were absolutely bursting with umami flavours from the shrimp inside, complemented by chilli crisp and peanuts on top. In contrast, the venison was a delicate dish with incredibly tender meat that kept us wanting more.

For our mains, we decided on the beef filet and lamb, with a side of truffle fries. Both of these were extremely tender and well seasoned, and we enjoyed the various flavours that the garnishes offered. The truffle fries were crispy and very flavourful, especially when accompanied by the creme fraiche on the side.

The dessert we shared was the tiramisu. This was a fantastic way to end the meal, being a decadent and flavourful dish.

Overall, Nero has proven itself to be a wonderful restaurant with great flavours not to be found elsewhere. Next time you want to treat yourself or a loved one, it cannot be...

Nero is a comfortable but yet intriguing mix of flavours and decor. Attentive, knowledgeable front of house and wait staff will talk you through specials and make sure you have everything you need with out intruding. Now for the food; wow, the have created recipes that have obviously had time, effort and a huge amount of thought put into their flavour profiles and texture balances. We started with the duck pate, then for mains we did the half time change over on the duck leg and the angus steak, both melt in your mouth and the steak was perfectly done to the ordered medium rare. Desert was a rich and decadent tiramisu for myself and a licorice ice cream Sunday for my partner but we did get tastes of each others of course. The standout was the licorice icecream, I was blown away. It brought back flavour memories from days long gone by and was so well balanced and not over powering but also not lost in the cold as some tastes can be. Add one standard beer and a craft pilsner for myself and it came in under $200 for a really great night and foods that will be talked about in the future....