La Rumbla — Restaurant in South Island

Horrified. Wouldn't do this publically normally but couldn't find a manager's name or number on the website.

We visited this restaurant to celebrate our engagement, and the barman slipped my fiance his phone number. Bad enough in usual circumstances, but the fact he KNEW we'd just got engaged makes it even more disrespectful.

We went here expecting exceptional food and service for the price and were disappointed on both counts.

The calamari was way too salty. In fairness they did cook it again, but the second time it had absolutely no seasoning on it - they served it in a side dish explaining "it's harissa" but it was still too salty to add. to it

Second dish was mushrooms, which I don't eat but my partner said were just as disappointing and bland.

Third dish was salmon sushimi, which I absolutely love but again was underwhelmed by this time, a lack of flavour.

At this point we decided to leave, but still pay for the extra two dishes we'd already ordered but not received.

My partner paid for the dinner and drinks, voiced his opinion about the food, and this was when the barman decided it would be appropriate to give him his number.

Such a shame that a $245 experience was less impactful than a $15...

Visited Thursday 15th May - Dinner

Ordered: Leafy Green Salad and an entree, Seafood Fideos and Lamb Ribs as a mains to share, and an Orange Almond Cake for dessert

Drinks: Arrowtown IPA, glass of Coal Pit Rose, and Whisky Sour (Mystic Mycelium)

The lamb ribs contain a big portion complete for a sharing. It is very meaty and generous in size. Add a little bit of salt (condiments provided) and it will boost the taste of lamb

The seafood fideos is a bit too salty to our liking. The sauce looks similar to the ones used in Paella, creamy in texture and blends well with the seafood dish

The salad balances the saltiness of the seafood dish. A very refreshing dish to balance all the meat and seafood dishes

The whisky sour was amazing with a unique addition of Enoki mushroom, that you don't normally see elsewhere. There was definitely a lot of whisky

The dessert pairs well with the whisky. Had orange slices on a soft almond cake

Very friendly service and attentive service by...

An absolutely outstanding experience from start to finish - the culinary highlight of our 2 weeks in the Queenstown/Wanaka area. They were happy to accommodate our last minute booking, and on arrival our server Leo was excellent - he helpfully suggested that our initial order (of 4 tapas between 2) would likely be too large but offered to do 2 half portions of 2 of the tapas instead so we still got to try everything we wanted. This ended up being the perfect amount for us as the portion sizes were indeed very generous! We got the mariscos fritos, valencian rice, empanadas and monkfish, all of which were rich in flavour and well-balanced. They also have an excellent selection of wines which the waitstaff had good knowledge of so were able to give us recommendations. Overall a fantastic restaurant that we're already looking forward to returning to someday, and one worth travelling to from Queenstown for a night even if you're not staying...