The Cow Pizza & Spaghetti House — Restaurant in South Island

Arrived and no table available so were asked if we wanted to wait at the bar where we were encouraged to look at drinks menu and have a drink while waiting. In meantime more people arrived. When table became available we were asked if we minded sharing with couple who arrived after us, initially said yes only to discover it was a booth which would have been awkward so said no. Assuming it was the manager who then confronted us and said we had to share or go to back of the queue or leave which is what we did without paying for our drinks. A member of staff came after us saying we had to pay for our drinks, but we would have left immediately and not bought them if they has told us we would have to share a table with anyone turning up after us. They are clearly trying to maximise revenue and don’t care about the customer at all. Avoid this place like the plague, worst customer service experience I have had in years.

Seen your reply, you must be a Trump fan, given the “alternative” facts you have presented.

They were not ahead of us they arrived after us and we were first in the queue It was big enough to share, what made it awkward was that it was a booth not a table as we were told, your staff member asked which side of the booth we wanted and that felt even more awkward. When you confronted us you said we had to share or go to the back of queue because that is what you do when it’s busy, not wait for the next table. I specifically asked you if there were any circumstances we could have our own table and you said no not when you are busy, that’s when we decided to leave. We would have left at the start and not bought drinks to go with our pizza if your staff had told us that, but at that point you didn’t know another couple would arrive behind us, and more after them, so you kept that quiet. I certainly said sue me, but no rude gestures were made. There were no other staff outside, by saying all woodys staff were there you stretch credibility beyond breaking point, what the cook as well! Shouldn’t they be slaving over a hot pizza oven if you were so busy? Happy to provide list of 5 other Wanaka restaurants we have been to that provided excellent customer service, even though they were very busy too, and would no doubt think we were excellent customers, particularly when it comes to tipping.

I look forward to your next set of...

A group of locals from Hawea came in last night for dinner. We were welcomed into the building by the manager, greeted by the warmth of the fire. We were asked to see the lovely girl at the bar if we wanted to wait for a table. We were advised by the manager that there would be a wait time of around 20 minutes, but if we so desired we could get a drink from the bar and sit by the fantastic open fire for this period. After only around 10 minutes the manager approached us again and told us that our table was ready. He gave us a very indepth run down of the menu, brought the table tap water and left us to chat between ourselves. He came over again around 5 minutes later and took our order which we felt was the enough time with feeli g pressurize. He was very attentive all night ensuring we were topped up with wine and beer. I must say my party and I were very impressed with the cow, the service was excellent and attentive considering how busy they were and nothing was too much of an issue. The food was out of this world, best pizza in town by far and the advised garlic bread starter was to die for. We will 100% be back and will be telling our friends about...

This restaurant is really downgrading. Most of my family's orders were inaccurate and we didn't get the chance to enjoy the food. It also seems that "The Cow" has a bit of false advertisement. The pizza dough did not taste fresh whatsoever and was pre packaged, the chef would just throw on the ingredients and place it in the oven. The garlic bread, which is meant to be "The Cow's" signature came out cold and had to be re-made as it wasn't in an consumable condition. My other family members ordered a large pizza of two halfes consisting of two different pizzas and that also came out wrong since the pizza had completely wrong toppings. We also ordered a seafood spaghetti and that was extremely sour. Finally, I ordered a prosciutto pizza and it doesn't even come with prosciutto, in fact just chunks of ham. It's truly a shame that a restaurant with such great ambience doesn't deliver. Even though the atmosphere is cosy and the service isn't so bad, I wouldn't recommend as it isn't worth your...