Cobb & Co. at the Railway Station — Restaurant in South Island

Update 12/9/19 Seated and greeted quickly and warmly and served very promptly. Happy with the service of the staff! Spiced squid: very tender and crunchy on the outside yet not dripping with oil! Was likely too salty, and had a slight tang but not at all spicy. Really good savory herb flavour and made really well and complimented with a mayonnaise and lemon wedge. Would recommend this appetizer! 4/5 Lemon caper fish: not as tender as I hoped but certainly not dry and still held a lot of juice. It was paired well with the lemon pieces which were chewy enough to be eaten while alongside the fish. Not a bad choice but not something I'd go for on the daily. 3/5 Honey pork belly: the sauce was really tasty, tangy and sweet and the meat soft with the right amount of fat and lean. The lean meat wasn't dry as the flavour seeped just enough that it didn't make it bland. A good choice! 4/5 Sides: both dishes were accompanied with a small side salad and potato gravy which were standard, nothing special to mention. Overall had a good time, definitely come where for a good helping of pork belly with the first table special, that's what I reckon is worth! Very interesting ambience with cowboy west furnishings, some grass shrubbery, a children's section and a fish tank. Can't say I love it but it is interesting to look at, but was slightly dim and made it hard for me to focus. Ordered the Cobb carnivore with first table discount which includes angus beef steak 200g, ribs approx 4-6 pieces depending on size, fries (swapped for seasonal veg) and salad. Asked for angus beef steak to be medium and it was quite tough and a bit dry around the edges, the centre was softer and more tender but there wasn't enough flavor to combat the chewy-ness of the meat. The ribs were pretty dry and there wasn't even a lot of meat on the bone, the sauce was barely there either and not very succulent. wasn't really impressed with the salad either, it was bland and quite tasteless, and as for the seasonal veg it was just a few pieces of steamed broccoli, cauliflower and carrot, think that speaks for itself. Really mediocre, not really worth the full price let alone the first table discount in my opinion. 2.5/5 However, the saving grace of this meal was the honey pork belly which my friend ordered. It was a very generous portion of two thick cut pieces of pork belly with a very decent fatty to lean meat ratio. It was very tender and tasty, the honey flavour although not rich was enough to combat the fatty pork, but some parts of the lean meat was still quite dry. 4/5 for the good first impression. The flavor of everything and quality of meat can definitely be improved on. Booking through first table is a must, and although I wasn't impressed with the angus beef or ribs, I would like to try the pork belly again in the future to see if the quality...

Visited Cobb & Co last night for my 9 year old sons birthday.

We booked online and mentioned we were heading in for a birthday celebration in the online booking form. Before we arrived, the team had already laid the table out with two birthday hats for my two boys and a balloon for the birthday boy - I thought this was really nice and wasn't expecting it! We also had booked for 4, but brought a 5th guest and this was no problem for the wait staff.

We were quickly moved into a booth and our waiter Jess was amazing throughout the night. She gave us the specials, and we ordered a few drinks and Jess left us to sort out our order.

We weren't super hungry so just decided to go for a main meal for everyone, with no desserts or starters. We ordered a couple of kids meals for our littlies, 2 burgers, and a fillet steak for myself.

The kids ran off and played in the kids area, with 3x PlayStations, and lots of other toys to keep them entertained while the meals were prepared. This was an awesome area separate from the main dining areas so we could confidently leave the kids for a couple minutes without worrying about who they were annoying ;) We also went out and looked at a train at the platform, just out the door which was a novelty for the kids.

We thought the wait for the meal was fine, approx 10-15minutes and overall the family were generally happy with their meals. The kids demolished theirs, but my wife mentioned her burger was a little cold, and after I made the first cut into my steak, I could see it wasn't cooked anywhere near what I had asked and so I decided to send it back (the first time I've done that ha!) Jess was amazing again, and handled it really professionally. She came back to check on the other meals and gave me a couple of updates on the new steak's progress as it was being prepared!

We finished off the meal and the kids ran off to play again while we relaxed a little. The table was cleared quickly and we enjoyed the quiet booth that we were in.

I popped up to pay the bill, and think I may have got the manager on the till who enquired about the meal and I briefly mentioned the 2nd go I needed on the steak. I finished off paying the bill and was happily sitting back at the table when a few minutes later the manager approached me again and handed over a voucher just to apologise for the problem with the steak. This was really appreciated and we'll definitely come back again sometime with the kids.

I always thought of Cobb & Co as a place to visit with kids, but there's an amazing outdoor area (which wasn't open when we were there) which I may even leave the kids at home for a drink with the wifey for.

Cheers Cobb & Co - see...

So disappointed invited my friends here for my birthday dinner giving it another chance as my last experience wasn't good. All the meals came out at different times. The last meal which was a lamb rump came out 25 minutes later than the first one by the time that came out everyone else was all done, on that note the staff didn't ask how we wanted it to be cooked and came out tasting like mush it wasn't enjoyable and couldn't even eat it. One of us ordered off the kids menu that is supposed to come with the "entree, main and dessert" but we only received the main which was the coconut chicken, again really disappointed with this meal the chicken was dry and the meal needed some sauce. To top off the night the waiter came and grabbed the plates, while she was doing that she dropped a knife on me which had sauce on it from another meal and it went all over my white shirt, as much as I know how embarrassed she would be she didn't need to laugh when it happened, we talked to another staff member and they offered to pay for dry cleaning which is why we are giving it a 2 star review but also unfortunate as we had plans after dinner and had to go back home to put on a clean top. The other meals we got were the ribs and loaded fries, they were good meals just a little bit overpriced as you had to pay an extra $4.90 for a small thing of fries. Overall it just wasn't a good experience, the only thing we'll come back for is the...