King Tiger — Restaurant in South Island

Good food but incredibly unprofessional staff. We are on a bus tour and our driver told us that this restaurant had great deals for the passengers of this bus. So we decided to have dinner there, explicitly asked our waitress if ‘x company’s discounts’ were indeed applicaple. She said yes. We also ordered drinks which we also asked discounts about but she said it was the general happy hour discount we get, which was still okay. When paying, we were presented with the full price for the food. When we told the person that handled our bill, she said the discount is only available for locals and that you have to show a card. We said we weren’t told that, and that the waitress answered yes when we asked about discounts. Then the manager(?) said the waitress asked her about it and she told her its for locals only. We never heard this from our waitress. Then she said yeah bus passengers discounts for drinks, but another second later she said yeah for everyone discount, which was confusing, as if she knew about our bus but then again no. In any case, we clearly asked the staff about the discount and we were told yes. If the discount is not happening and our driver told it incorrectly, fine, not the restaurant’s fault. But when a staff member says yes to our question - that’s the restaurant’s fault after that, not our fault we weren’t told no. In the end the manager(?) offered us 10% but she was still rude and didn’t let us finish our sentence. Customers can be stupid sometimes but in this case, it was pure rudeness and misunderstanding from the staff who cared...

On our two day stay at Franz Josef, we happened to eat here twice for want of other vegetarian options. While our first dinner though not too great, went off uneventfully, our second dinner was the most horrible experience one could have. One of the curries we had ordered arrived and they forgot to give us the breads to accompany it. Then when the breads arrived, they didn’t give us plates. By the time we had the plates we were told the second curry wasn’t available. This was all after an hour of waiting patiently. Then we were asked presumably by the manager how the experience had been. So here’s the thing, IF you’re planning on eating here and are asked this question do remember it’s a RHETORIC QUESTION. Do not answer honestly. We did and were told to FEEL FREE TO LEAVE. So we did. At 9. After an hour and half of being patient and allowing them to screw up. Oh and did I mention all the kitchens close post 9? Pretty nice of this guy to ask us to leave hungry at that hour eh? Lucky for us we landed at the MOnsoon Cafe which kept their kitchen open for an extra few minutes just so we wouldn’t have to sleep hungry. I recommend giving king tiger a miss unless you’re craving Indian, in which case, be prepared for the worst and always remember, HONESTY ISNT APPRECIATED HERE. Just shut up and quietly eat whatever you’re served (or not served) and carry a kilo of salt cuz a pinch ain’t...

What a surprise! By this stage of our trip, I was dying for some decent Asian food. Everywhere else we had been in NZ had either been average or the reviews were so bad we didn't even dare try it. We were VERY sceptical at first since the menu showed a fusion of Indian, Chinese and Thai cuisines. But it was my birthday and I was desperate so we took a chance.

So glad we did because it was great. My hubby got a Chicken Tikka Masala which he said was the best he's had in years. I got the Tom Yum Soup with Noodles and while I'm not going to say it was the best I've ever had, it certainly hit the spot and the seafood in it was delicious. The Garlic Naan and Thai Crispy Chicken Wings were also very good. Probably give the desserts a skip, they weren't bad or anything but nothing special either. We sat outside on a large bench under the umbrella which was lovely.

We actually came back the next night because they're one of the only restaurants open late. Hubby got the exact same thing and I got the Noodle Soup with Chicken (Tom Yum was better). We also got the Fried Pork, Garlic & Chive Dumplings which were amazing. I'm used to pan fried dumplings but these were delicious. Green Beans were also yum but I wish they didn't cut them up so small, took forever to finish haha.

Service was very good both nights and King Tiger was definitely one of the highlights of our trip in NZ....