Arbour Restaurant — Restaurant in South Island

Best food, wine list and service in Blenheim.

We tried a number of other restaurants (fine dining) while in Blenhem and this is by far the best due to the quality of the food, the exceptional service, the wine list and the 'nothing is too much trouble' attitude of Liz and her team.

We took a group of 11 to Blenheim for an annual client event. Our group was made up of foodies and wine'ies: everyone's well rehearsed in wine trips - we love good food and a great night out while we are on these events.

Arbour came recommended to us by our hotel and we were very pleased to find the restaurant more than lived up to expectations.

Right from the word go, from booking the Saturday night dinner with Liz, she made the arrangements seem no trouble at all.

When we arrived on the evening the atmosphere was welcoming, warm and relaxed. Liz made sure all the guests were comfortable and the 'boss' had the little black book of wine.

The food was incredible. We opted for a la carte for this particular night but gave Liz and the Chef carte blanche to select our hors d'oeuvres for us, which were absolutely perfect. A stunning selection of seafood served in a variety of ways.

The wine list was brilliant - we ordered from the 'little black book' of wine which certainly made us feel special being able to peruse and purchase from the hand written cellar stock.

Dinner was delicious, deserts and cheeses were fabulous. We ate and drank with abandon and were looked after seamlessly by Liz and her small but incredibly efficient team.

I would love to come back to Arbour again either with a big group or on a date night. Next time I'd make our visit a longer one and would go for the 'just feed me' degustation and I'd wallow in the luxury of this beautiful little gem of...

We enjoyed our evening at Arbour. Imaginative food (we ordered "The Many" tasting menu), with superbly fresh ingredients well presented and thoughtfully matched with mainly local Marlborough wines. Nice setting and simple but attractive and relaxing ambience. My partner's food preferences were also well-catered for.

One negative was that the service staff were overstretched so the food and wine discussions felt a bit formulaic and rushed....not much chance for discussion and questions. About half way through our dinner a party of about 30 diners arrived, so that was perhaps the reason. It also resulted in us receiving only four courses over the first two and a quarter hours of our dining experience. Not really acceptable, but to Arbour's credit the service speeded up nicely after we pointed this out.

One suggestion would be to have a small printout available of the pairing wines served. It is hard to keep track, and certainly by the next morning the identity of that Pinot Gris one had half way through dinner will have long gone for most people, unless they wrote it down. I guess I should have taken pictures of the labels but that just feels a little naff. Even if the wines change frequently, a simple word-processed piece of paper would...

Arbour is a must visit restaurant in Blenheim. We visited a couple weeks ago, during a rainy few days in Marlborough. The space is cozy with each table having plenty of space to feel intimate - the decor is soft and acts to quiet any extra noise for a calm experience.

Service was fantastic with every staff member being friendly and knowledgable. Liz guided us through two exceptional wine pairings for our meal - my husband opted for the rare & cellared and I for the current vintage which allowed us to try as much wine as possible. ;)

And to top everything off, the food was amazing! From our first bites of focaccia with black garlic to to very last of caramelized yoghurt creme. However by far my two favorites were the Barley, Porcini, and Hazelnut Veloute and the Middlehurst lamb. Everything had good flavor balance with appropriate seasoning, acid, and varying textures throughout the dishes. An overall favorite...