Smoke Rolleston — Restaurant in South Island

3 of us had dinner last Friday evening

Parking; Out back there is ample parking space, but it was raining and there was no rear entrance so we had to get a little wet walking from the carpark to the restaurant

Location; The signage is inadequate I googled and that sent me five minutes up the road away from the restaurant Fortunately I knew the vacinity of where it should have been so I drove up and down the street a few times before i finally noticed the small (not obvious) sign to the restaurant

Booking; I booked online very easily, and the restaurant were ready for our small party once we arrived. On the booking I had flagged the meal was for a birthday dinner but this was not acknowledged at all during the dinner so don't know why it is an option they have when booking

The restaurant; Was family orientated, clean, well decorated with their theme and up market

The staff; They were very friendly and attentive They allowed me to change tables when I asked and also brought me more napkins when i asked They accommodated our request to have entree at the same time as mains Top marks for the staff, give them all a pay rise, front and back house staff!

The atmosphere; The restaurant lighting was minimal and we all commented to each other that we couldn't see very well I think this was because there are large windows along the entire entrance wall spanning the width of the room that glares from the daylight They should be tinted to reduce the glare and make the indoor outdoor transition easier on the eyes

The food; Very nicely cooked and timely, fresh mostly The menu offered was enough variety for us all to each try something different and share tasters

We ordered; The buffalo wings entree (6 inconsistent sized wings) Unfortunately these were dry, over cooked and chewy The buffalo sauce on the wings was nice though, along with the side sauce The salmon main The cook on the good sized salmon fillet was perfect, not oily and full of flavor The accompanying salad complimented the salmon well The smashed burger Huge bun and the yummy creamy mushrooms, bacon and chicken flavor was very satisfying The cup of fries were a nice touch but pretty average The prawns main Around 6 or 8 king prawns (i think) and these were also beautifully cooked The salad and rice where also tasty and refreshing Not really sure what the burnt lemon slices were for but there were only 2 thin slices I squeezed it over everything yet I felt the dish was still a little dry The water Was warm and tasted like it just came out of the tap We requested a glass full of ice so we could cool our drinks down

Overall; I'm generally happy and would go back, but only really to try the dishes we hadn't had that night. I certainly wouldn't order/pay for those buffalo wings again I would be more prepared of what I would order of there is a next time, as I think the prices for each dish are a couple dollars dearer than they are worth

There's my 2 cents worth

Thank you Get...

Went there 26 May 2021 in a group of 11. The service was very good and fast especially considering how busy it was. We had a couple of messed up drinks orders but nothing to bad (it was busy) I ordered the platter with beef brisket and chicken. The brisket looked nice but was very wet? and was like cutting a steak most definitely didn't fall apart, i usually expect smoked brisket to be less wet and for the meat to just fall apart. It also tasted very fatty. I have ordered and had smoked beef brisket from many others places and from friends with home smokers which didn't come out like this. So maybe its just be and maybe its just how this place likes to cook it, but the man i talked to about it seemed to think that's how its supposed to be. I did tell the person taking payment t the end of the night but i feel like that fell on deaf ears. Another thing to note is when you order chicken it comes with bones in, a couple of us really didn't expect that and while its not a deal breaker for me if i had known i certainty wouldn't have ordered it. Others ordered the salmon, burgers, and steaks and they all really enjoyed there meal. The mac and cheese balls looked great as well Another thing to note was the paper matt they put on the trays under your platter it just pointless if the meat is going to be wet and hard to cut as all that happens is the paper ends up getting all mashed up into your brisket while your cutting it. Over all it was a good experience, maybe ill get the...

Very Disappointed - Ran out of food on a Friday night!

Having heard good things, a group of us decided to check out Smoke's menu as first timers. We booked for the second sitting (7:30pm) looking forward to Smoke's main featured menu item - the smoked meat platter. Only to be told that 3 of the 6 meats had run out, leaving only 3 types, 2 being my absolute least favorite choices. We were all gutted!. Then another ordered the shrimps, only to be told that they had also run out!

How can a restaurant with a fixed number of covers, two sittings per night and a good history of customer choices mismanage the portions so badly??

We called the manager over to point out the obvious failings and he was apologetic but not willing to do anything about it. Only after we pointed out our disappointment several more times did he (to his eventual credit) promise to cover our first round of drinks.

Their reluctance to try and recover from this service failure was perhaps even more disappointing.

In the end I ordered the pork ribs (after being assured that yes this menu item was indeed available). They were dry and over cooked, but the bbq sauce was nice. The coleslaw was tasteless and had no discernable dressing. The chips were great, but oh so salty.

We won't be going back...