Tanoshi Five Mile — Restaurant in South Island

The value for money is very low here. Atmosphere is good, relaxed casual bar-feel but portions were so small for the prices. The food presents well but in reality you only get 4-5 thin pieces of protein that sit on a pile of salad leaves for $22. In comparison, we ate at a fine dining steak house where you can get an entree sized grass fed steak tartare for $25 which was more substantial than the "tapas" here. We were also sat at the bar for not having a booking which was fair enough until you notice noone actually sat at any of the empty tables in the 2hours that we were there. The pork chasu on the ramen was cut so thick it was not enjoyable to bite into as the meaty inner part was not tender. Ramen portion was also small. A bit more noodles would have been great. Felt like a lot of short cuts on the food behind a trendy looking restaurant that has potential. The thai lady that served us was pleasant but the chefs seemed to be unorganized. One main came 25mins after the other main was served. Have also eaten at their Cow lane branch years ago and that was much worse - several plates of "tapas" and over $150 later excl drinks, the 2 of us were still hungry.

We have eaten japanese nearby on a different day, it had a more unassuming and modest setting but we left with our bellies much more satisfied than here...

(Edit) So we came back for the ramen a couple days later, and having tried it, I’d say just stick to the Trust the Chef menu at dinner time. The ramen was more a soup noodle than real ramen, noodle was pretty over cooked and had no crunch, broth was decent but very one-colour so you get bored of it pretty quick, and the usual ramen dressings were sadly lacking - eg. menma, nori, negi, tamago. And adding anything else to the meal like gyoza ($18) or the egg ($3.50) felt a little ridiculously overpriced especially compared to what you can easily get in Japan, or most other ramen shops in the world. I would only come back for the ramen if I really needed some hot soup, but that’s it :/

We were craving some hot soup after a cold, wet day out, and were really excited about trying this place when we saw the reviews. Unfortunately ramen is apparently a lunch-only menu item, so we decided to go with the omakase (Trust the Chef) at the recommendation of the staff, and - zero regrets! Everything was amazing, fresh, fried items were super light and crisp (サクサク！), even the misoshiru was fantastic. The staff were all lovey as well, and we had a fantastic time! We’re definitely going to have to come back and try the...

Highly recommended for a corporate group of 30 people for dinner. I was told that the food was fantastic, and for a large group who were all staying in the Frankton area, a venue in the vicinity was important. I'm so glad we booked here as the team made it great on so many levels.

Firstly the food. We went with the $65 per head 'trust the chef' set menu. It was fantastic. I lost count on how many dishes we were served but by the last course even the biggest eaters were topped out. There was also something there for everyone, including sashimi, tempura, seafood, delicious beef etc.

Secondly the service was on point. I imagine larger groups can be difficult to manage, however this didn't appear to be the case and we had only praise for the team that were looking after us. I don't think we waited more than 2 minutes for a fresh round of drinks, and that happened throughout the 3 hours we were there.

We were seated in the rear area across 3 large booth tables and 2 smaller tables. It made for a very social and fun experience, and the liveliness from the kitchen made it a bit exciting as well.

Would highly recommend...