Tekapo Restaurant and Bar — Restaurant in South Island

Disappointing Experience – Would Not Recommend

Tekapo is a beautiful little town, but it has limited dining options and unfortunately, Tekapo Restaurant & Bar is definitely not one of the good ones. Don’t be misled by its name; neither the food nor the service lives up to any decent standard.

My partner and I explore different restaurants every weekend, and this time we were in Tekapo. We both ordered the stir-fried beef noodles, I received a plate with just three tiny pieces of beef (lucky me!). I might’ve let that slide if the noodles were at least tasty, but sadly, the dish was bland and just plain bad.

As for the service, when I asked a staff member for assistance, she chose to respond by shouting from about two metres away instead of approaching our table. She stood there, repeatedly calling out to ask what I wanted, showing clear arrogance and a lack of professionalism. There was no offer to come over, no effort to engage politely, and no sign that she was actually interested in helping.

Later, when I managed to get her attention again and mentioned the lack of beef in my meal, her response was a laugh followed by, “I don’t know what to do,” and she simply blamed the chef. There was no apology, no attempt to resolve the issue, and absolutely no sense of customer care.

A little empathy, a basic apology, or even a respectful attitude could’ve made a big difference. Sadly, it was a thoroughly unpleasant experience from start to finish.

I wouldn’t return, and I definitely wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone looking for a decent meal in Tekapo. There are better options out there, don’t waste your time...

If you're thinking of going for dinner here, just don't. I came to this restaurant on my first visit to Tekapo on 31st January with my partner and her family, 6 of us in total. The atmosphere was non-existent, and a brief glance at the menu left much to be desired. We ordered 2 x roast lambs, 2 x fish, a sweet and sour pork and I had satay chicken.

The chicken was genuinely grey and chewy, so I ate basically none of it and the satay was bland. The pork was chewy, the lamb was tough as old boots and the fish tasted frozen. There was no flavour to any of the food and the whole table left at least half of their food on the plate. The service was perfectly fine, and when we brought this to the manager and hostesses attention they were very sympathetic, giving us a reduction on the price of the meal (removing one of the 6 meals from the bill). For what we were served, the food was way overpriced. We were all bitterly disappointed with the food and was left with a bad taste in my mouth, in more way than one.

We sent feedback to the restaurant on this, but no response was received (hence my review). I really hope that the management take this onboard and...

It's sad that there are so many 1 star reviews as I and my husband and sister absolutely loved it here! We came for breakfast originally as we hadn't tried here before and it was top notch! Bacon and eggs, pancakes, coffee, mocha, all of it was delicious and beautifully prepared and presented. We came back for the buffet dinner and that was beyond expectation. We kept coming back for breakfast as it was the best we found in Tekapo. The staff/owners of the restaurant are very friendly, approachable and have a great sense of humour (I walked out without paying one morning because I forgot to insert my brain!) and we had a good laugh at my expense :D We highly recommend this establishment because it's down to earth, very reasonably priced, friendly and if you take time to talk with the owners and staff, you'll find out how genuine and lovely they are. We...