Joe's Garage — Restaurant in South Island

23 November 2024(Saturday night)

Saturday night dinner - tried this place again as we had a voucher and wanted to give them a second chance. Sooooooo busy and glad we made a booking. Greeted so nicely by a lovely young man - Atash I think his name was. Had to wait for a few minutes but admittedly we were early. Got seated five minutes later and had a very friendly lady who was wearing really cool purple silky pants, come and ask us for drinks within the first ten minutes of being seated. Drinks arrived and we were left to chat for about 25 mins. Ordered dinner and I did specifically point out, I did not want the weird pea salad they serve with everything and if there was another type of coleslaw or salad that would be great. They agreed and I was looking forward to my fish and chips! My husband had the venison burger, my friend had a salad and her husband just had a simple pizza. Orders arrived within half an hour and also another drinks round was asked in between the order and dinner arriving. Really impressed with the great service especially when they were uber busy. All tables were full! Great atmosphere. Meals arrived and everyone was happy, however with my fish and chips I received the weird pea salad and I was so disappointed. I didn’t say anything for a while then I thought, well I did ask for something different so I did mention it to our nice male server. And he went off and told someone and then immediately came back and said my whole meal cost had been taken off the bill! Well, I didn’t expect that - and felt abit bad about it as I had eaten my fish and chips - which was really delicious, by the way! My friends enjoyed their meals and my husband said the burger was good but it didn’t really taste “venisony” yes, that’s not a word. But he was quite happy with it. Very pleased we came back to give these guys another try as I was quite disillusioned last time. I am very glad to update and say - WE WILL BE BACK AGAIN!!! Thankyou JOES GARAGE Ravenswood!!!! ...

The fit out is great. Outdoor seating next to a supermarket carpark and dust bowl not so good. Sounds pumping like its 8pm on a Thurs, Fri or Saturday night in a small space at 2pm Sunday arvo making it difficult to hear yourself think - not ideal. Advertising milk shake with real whipped cream then apologising instead of walking 150metres to the supermarket next door to deliver what the customer ordered without them even noticing = non-existent management. Staff didn’t seem like they wanted to be there. Customers an inconvenience. Three out of four dishes sitting on the edge of the bar surrounded by flies while the last meal took a while to be plated not good. Bacon and egg roll delivered in a tip top hot dog roll – dry, not toasted & no spread. 2 small strips of bacon and an egg $16. Hamburgers $21.50 to $24 then $5.50 extra for fries. $30 for hamburger & fries better be good. It was just ok. Drinks and meal took ages. Hospitality means serving the customer well, creating a hospitable environment and delivering what you advertise at a reasonable price. No wonder there were only two other tables busy in the...

We went when it hadn’t been open long and had a lovely meal of seafood chowder and Caesar salad and wine and beer. Great portions. We were taken to a table by a young lady that seemed completely overwhelmed but due to just opening we expect she will settle in. Maddi (not sure of spelling sorry) our server, was fantastic. She was friendly, helpful and attentive without being intrusive. Really lovely with all the customers big and small. Our only downside was the furniture. We are both quite big people. We were first seated at a table and chairs and they were so uncomfortable. The seat is vey shallow and hard. They were like school chairs designed for children. We asked to be moved to a booth which Maddi was happy to accommodate, however, the gap between the table and the seat was very narrow and we had didn’t have much room to spare between us and the table. That said we will...