Paddons Paddock — Restaurant in South Island

This could have been a better rating because we really enjoyed the tasting wine and platter. After a hot day this was a perfect place to rewind. However the lady behind the counter ruined the mood. We’re a group of 8 adults + 1 toddler (2yo). Because of the hot day, we chose to sit inside. There was a vase of silver fake flowers beside the wall from which my 2yo took 2 flowers from and dropped on the floor. Unfortunately none of our group noticed nor picked it up. I saw them on the floor but after beer and wine I could not make the connection at all and did not realize it’s not something belong to the floor. I went up to the counter to purchase some wine, and the lady (with a poker face and cold voice): “Do you mind picking it up?” I straight away went “of course!”, picked it up, put them back in the vase and apologise for my neglect. The lady then went on:” I saw you looked at it.” As if I intentionally not picked them up. I found this very rude customer service also she wasn’t performing her duty as a staff - unless she only deals with counter stuff therefore expect customers to tidy up mess. I expressed my disappointment but only got a very careless apology. To the owner: this really doesnt concern us too much because we’re sure we will go over this very quickly and move onto our next adventure. This is more concerning you, the owner and management, because this is surely not a sustainable attitude...

Beautiful setting but the wine tasting was really disappointing. We got a paddle of 4 wines and there was barely a sip in each glass, it really ruined our experience as we felt a bit ripped off. We have been to loads of other tastings in NZ that have the same deal… $15 - $20 for 4 wines and info about them. At all those other wine tastings we had bigger amounts in each glass. I’d recommend heading over to Maude Wines in Wanaka instead, at Maude they did a $20 tasting with 8 wines and the wine was impeccable. It also takes an hour, you stand around a barrel and hear all about the wines.

Management @ Paddons I’d recommend giving bigger servings for your wine tasting, especially because of the competition...

The lady behind the counter told me $10 for a wine tasting per person. When I was going to pay, the lady said the price increased to $15 per person. I pointed to her the menu showing $10 per person, she said it was an old menu and took it away. I looked at the counter, there were a pile of wine tasting menu, all saying $10. She said they were all old and hid them all. I decided not to argue with her for such a small amount. She then pour a few tiny drops in the glass. So few that a few lips with the tongue will finish them all. I have been to many wine tasting places, no one is...