Aosta — Restaurant in South Island

I will preface this by making it clear that I am describing an experience I had back in December. I felt too bad leaving a review at the time but I still think about it today so I have decided to finally leave a review. My partner and I made a reservation for our anniversary in December. We were so excited to try Aosta because we had heard such good things, and it is obviously a pricey restaurant so we were really treating ourselves for the occasion and expected high quality in return. Unfortunately our experience was anything but. When we first walked in I got the impression that perhaps our booking had been forgotten. We were asked to wait while our table was set, and then were sat at the corner of the bar. Obviously having made a reservation we were surprised to be sat at the bar, so asked if there was any chance we might please be able to move to a table if one became available. The host appeared annoyed at us for asking but eventually found us a table, which we were grateful for. We were then served by a man whose service was appalling. He failed to introduce himself or talk us through the menu, and when he would run food to the table would simply drop if there without talking us through the dish, all of which should be standard practice in a restaurant of this calibre. He did not check on us once or ask us if we would like a second drink, but we watched him doing all of the above for the tables around us. We were unsure if perhaps we didn’t look wealthy enough to be worth his time, or if the restaurant was simply so annoyed at us for asking for a table for our reservation? The food was good but nothing outstanding enough to remove the bad taste of the service. After the meal, we paid at the counter where no one asked us how our experience was or thanked us for dining with them. Having both come from backgrounds in the service industry, the whole experience felt very strange and I’ve honestly never felt so poorly treated at any other...

Many of the reviews on here talk about how great the service is but we found the opposite.

We were ignored by all the staff and left awkwardly milling around by the entrance when we arrived.

After a few minutes, the barman took pity on us and told us to have a seat at the bar while he found a waitress, so we hung out next to a bunch of uncleared plates and watched as one of the waitresses finished the critical task of filling up more water jugs than they have tables and eventually came over to speak to us.

We then waited for her to bring menus, waited for her to come back to take a drinks order, then waited some more for her to grab our drinks.

For reference, there were 3 wait staff looking after 5 tables.

At this point, it’s 25 minutes after we arrived and I’ve finally got a G&T in hand (one from their cocktail menu with marmalade in, it’s super tasty). Maybe things are looking up.

We were wise to the speed things moved at now so we didn’t make the mistake of letting the waitress escape before placing our food order. We’re on a roll.

And then the kitchen joins the game and starts smashing it out of the park!

The food is INCREDIBLE!

The focaccia is exquisite.

The beef fillet is superb.

The unknown purées and sauces are good enough that I’d happily have eaten them for dinner on their own.

There’s some kind of oil/glaze/drizzle over everything that’s making me grin uncontrollably. It’s epic.

Then boom! Main course is over. It’s back to awkwardly trying to make eye contact with the waitress to order another cocktail and dessert, being ignored and eventually having to resort to ambushing her on the way past. Bit of a dampener.

But finally, the kitchen kills it again, a different waiter comes over and reconstructs a deconstructed tiramisu on a potter’s wheel in front of us, and the espresso martini is to die for.

Overall a mixed bag.

Top tip: order like you won’t get...

Gonna be a long one, but this was genuinely something we looked forward to only to be disappointed with the experience. It had potential until it didn’t.

It is a small space, very cozy vibes but honestly the service was very lacking. Food came out very slow and the service was not attentive, they left our waters on the table and never once refilled it for us. Our table got a bit dirty from a few courses and they never came to wipe it down before the next course was served.

The worst part was the food, which was very surprising to us as the presentation was actually all well-done. However, literally every course was heavily over-salted (coming from someone that actually prefers saltier food). Even the starter focaccia was too salty. The Paua Pappardelle had amazing flavour but was overshadowed with the imbalance of the salt, the crayfish pasta was so salty that it was almost bitter so we sent it back. The waitress told us the chef will remake it, but when we got the new dish, it tasted almost like a different dish entirely. It completely had a different flavour, pasta was undercooked, and they didn’t even use the same herbs. The original dish we sent back had parsley and the remade dish used spring onions and coriander. These herbs all each have a unique taste in itself so it completely changed the flavour profile of the remade pasta. It just felt like there wasn’t really a real attempt to remake the dish properly and the flavour was also watered-down.

The only things I enjoyed that weren’t overly salted was the lamb, and the tiramisu was not a traditional one but was quite enjoyable.

For an establishment that’s been so highly rated, it really felt like the staff could give less of a F about consistency and quality. Definitely not worth the price...