The Shelter Bar and Kitchen — Restaurant in South Island

I booked a table for 8 people at 7pm the day before we dined here. When we arrived for our booking the staff at the bar told us they close at 8pm, however, their opening hours are until 9pm. The staff said they could stay open to 8:30pm or 9pm for us, it was a weird initial interaction (it came across that the staff just wanted to finish early). The staff at the bar did not seem present and we thought they were spaced out during this interaction.

We gave our food and drinks orders but there was an issue with almost every order. For example, 4 of the 8 drink orders were incorrect and had to be changed or altered. The food overall was okay. However, one food order (the chicken burger) was forgotten and took another 15 minutes for his food to arrive at the table at which point everyone else had finished their food. Additionally, when the chicken burger arrived it was just chicken in a bun, missing all the salad, sauce, etc. Two of the people at the table had touched the burger and we brought the burger back to the kitchen to let them know the order was incorrect. We got a new plate and chicken burger, the existing burger (meant for another patron elsewhere in the establishment) was briskly taken to another table despite multiple people handling the burger. Furthermore, one burger was meant to have a pineapple ring within as a paid extra, this was missed, instead they gave a side of pineapple juice and charged for both the pineapple juice and the absent ring in the burger.

Finally when we went to settle up the bill, the staff had made a mess of how the orders were taken. So we had to initially pay for drinks in one transaction and food as another transaction. With us not realizing at the time each transaction had a 2% surcharge per transaction for paywave. No apologies from the staff for mucking up orders, delays in peoples food, overcharging etc.

I would recommend spending your money elsewhere and supporting other local...

My wife and I went to Shelter to have dinner one evening. We had a $80 voucher to use between the 2 of us given to us by our airline who had cancelled our flight and had put us up at a hotel down the road from the Shelter.

My first interaction was with the gentleman behind the bar who recommended a few beers to me and even gave me a few to taste. He was also quite knowledgeable about the beers he served. He later introduced himself as Saral, the manager of the establishment.

Although the place was busy because of the sudden surge of unexpected people due to the cancelled flight, service was prompt and efficient. The food was also really nice. We had the mussels for entree, and I had the steak for main. Both dishes were really nice. Saral also took the time out to come and chat to us at the end of our meal and take feedback on our experience. We also had a good chat about other things - he was really friendly and genuinely interested in his customers.

To top off the nice evening: Our bill came to a little over $100. Although we were happy to top up the balance over the $80 voucher we were given, Saral voluntarily waived the top-up amount. This gesture was really really sweet and gave a really nice end to the night for a really tired couple. Thank you Saral.

I would recommend this restaurant...

The night we went (Monday 9th June) it was really quiet. It was really cold outside and unfortunately inside too. We didn't realize just how cold it was when we sat down and ordered, but we soon had our coats back on. We soon realized the wait staff were wearing their outdoor coats. I really hope this is was a one off issue as it totally spoilt the meal.

Being cold, we both wanted hot drinks (coffee), but we're told that station was already closed. This was early evening???? Strike 1

I had the fettuccine bolognaise, husband had a pizza. Fettuccine was nice and tasty, pizza pretty tastless. Unfortunately because of the temperature the food went cold really quickly and became unpleasant. Strike 2

If this has been a one off issue with heating we would have appreciated being told when we arrived, especially as I made a point of saying I needed to get warm. Strike 3.

Sorry but I can only give stars on my experience and this was a really poor experience. Never to...