Lake Bar — Restaurant in South Island

We are visiting from Australia and the kids have had a day of skiing. We get to Wanaka at about 5 and park to get a better idea about the eating places. We walk across from our car and came to The Lake Bar, it was our daughters birthday and showed her the menu on the window and she decided it was a good place to eat. We enter, doesn’t give off a great friendly family vibe, we stop off at the bar and ask for a table, the lady behind the bar (I wish I could remember her name) was lovely. Greeted us with a huge smile on her face. I mentioned it was our daughters birthday and she wished DD a happy birthday and took us to our table after we ordered our drinks. The drinks came quickly with the menus. We ordered and the food didn’t take long to come out either. Halfway through the meal, the same bar lady that greeted us came over and stealthily handed me a bit of paper which said “Would the birthday girl like a chocolate brownie?”. I said sure. We finished our dinner and then the brownie came out. Not only had she organised a candle on top of the brownie, she had also organised other bar patrons to come over and sing Happy Birthday to DD. This made my DD day. She gobbled down the brownie with a grin on her face. While she was finishing off the brownie I went and paid to a different bar member. On our way out, the lovely lady who went above and beyond for us went another extra mile and gave us back the money for the brownie and said we weren’t meant to pay for that, that was a present for DD. So my experience at this bar was exceptional all due to one staff member who worked there. Thank you so much for making our dining...

First time here, was very excited to try the food as the menu looked great and the reviews were good, we had booked a table for 7pm for 2pax we’re seated promptly by a friendly server and drink orders taken , they came out quickly and that’s where the decent service ended. While waiting to have one of the 3 floor staff waiting on tables come to take our food order , we watched as 3 other customers came in to be seated, drinks ordered taken and food orders taken , 20 minutes of waiting for someone to take our order with our menus closed and aside on the table to indicate we are in fact and have been for sometime ready to place our order, both servers I could see time after time walked past our table several times only to go serve customers that had been seated after us , I have worked in the hospitality industry for over 20 years and never have I come across such poor customer service , absolute shocker . Highly disappointed and honestly quite embarrassed, clearly myself and my husband were not good enough to be served , we moved down to Wanaka from Auckland recently and have been excited to immerse ourselves into what Wanaka has to offer , sadly so far very subpar , but not surprising from a tiny, tiny town. Sadly will not know if the food is as good as it appeared on the menu , and will definitely not attempt to go back . Absolute Joke , I’ll be sure to inform anyway looking for recommendations where to eat in Wanaka to...

Trying to support local businesses in this trying time but tonight was a joke. We booked 3 days ago for a table of 17, was told that it was not an issue. Restaurant was fairly quiet except for a couple groups on the bar side and some smaller tables of diners. Our orders were taken within 15 minutes of arriving, which was fine. The hour and a half wait to get said meals was not.. we had 5 young children who were extremely hungry and couldn't understand why we hadn't gotten our food yet. No communication was made to let us know our meals would be delayed or maybe the children's meals should be brought out earlier than the adults. When the issue was brought up with the owner, we were met with nothing but arrogance. We understand times are tough and you are short staffed, but perhaps you shouldn't try and take on to many walk in customers. The owner then proceeded to continue arguing with 2 from our table about their attitudes even though the barman was laughing about the disagreement that was going on. Food was the saving grace in this... common courtesy...