Sofi Bar & Grill — Restaurant in South Island

A truly incredible and unforgettable meal at sofi! We felt comfortable and well looked after from the get-go. The restaurant is beautifully situated, easy to find and has a very relaxed vibe. The staff were super welcoming and personable and know the menu inside out which is great for a newbie like me who wasn't really sure where to start. Alma in particular was incredibly polite and didn't make me feel silly for asking all sorts of questions. Despite a wonderfully concise menu it still took me a good while to choose simply because everything looked so good. Luckily the servers are also really patient and happy to recommend! Each dish arrived precisely when we were ready for it, no waiting, no cold dishes (unless intentional) - the entire meal flowed wonderfully. Amazing work indeed, considering we dined on New Years Eve, with a full restaurant and with sofi also being very new - clearly the communication between the kitchen and the servers is on point. Keep it up, all! The food was quite simply stunning. Everything we ordered was beautifully presented and full of flavour. Every plate is unique but they also compliment each other beautifully. You can have a forkful off each plate without one overpowering the other which is great if you're like me and get a bit excited to try it all. The beef tartare, falafel and whitebait pincho were some of my favourites and I honestly keep thinking about the entire meal. We can't wait to get back to sofi to experience it all again (and try some of the other options). Thank you all for an incredible meal, for making us feel so welcome and for helping us end 2024 full...

First of all was really excited to try out the new Mediterranean restaurant, we were sat relatively quickly, we ordered our drinks and soon after our food, when our food arrived we had pitas to start followed promptly with all our other food which we had ordered, which would have been great if we're a table of 6 or more but we were a table of two, by the time we had finished our cold plates the hot plates were cold, the squid was bland and if you were to say it was grilled you would expect grilled. The ceviche was so overpowered by the sauce, it questions if the fish was fresh, the beef tartar had gerkins and capers through it, perhaps refer to what beef tartar really is, the battered onion petals had the taste of oil, which is bazzare as you've been open a week, it feels as though you've rushed the concept of being fresh Mediterranean food, I'm just giving honest feedback as I reckon this place could be great. Happy to give you a second chance once...

We popped in the day before NYE to see if we could snag a last minute res for that night. Samm said they were fully booked but took our information to call if anything opened up. She reached out several times and told us to pop in and just see. The next day we did just that, and they were able to squeeze us in. Food was so fresh and tasty. Great drink options. Service was wonderful with multiple team members checking on us throughout the evening. We highly recommend Sofi! And shoutout to Samm for keeping in touch and making us feel so welcome even though we were last minute non-reserved guests! We appreciate the...