The Stables Tavern & Restaurant — Restaurant in South Island

It is the night before our daughters fly back to their cities of residence, so a perfect opportunity to go out for a bite! We sat down and chatted out our options, and what each of us felt like eating (A common dilemma!) and through previous experience and some recommendations we came up with The Stables in Richmond. When we entered the venue we were greeted by a busy room, with a few people standing around enjoying their after work drinks. A good jovial atmosphere. There were also plenty of staff, and we were seated promptly. Once drinks were ordered we settled down to peruse the menu, and found a number of items which suited our moods for the night. Pork Ribs - These were very tender (perhaps a little too soft) and the sauce could have been a little sweeter, but overall these were enjoyed and the plate was left only containing bones. The side was a coleslaw. Smoked Chicken and Mushroom Carbonara - This was delicious. The pasta seemed to be made in the kitchen, and was cooked to perfection. The chicken and mushroom was flavoured well and cooked nicely. Perhaps a little more sauce, but this is a personal preference. Chicken Salad - This was a child sized serving, but was ample for an early 20s lady! The salad was really good with some amazing flavour and fresh vegetables. The chicken was cooked and flavoured well. Southern Chicken with Potatoes fried in Duck fat - The chicken was cooked well, being nice and moist, and the southern coating was good with a bit of fire from the pepper. The potatoes were a star of the night with all having a taste and smiling at the experience. We also had a seafood platter - this consisted of 4 Mussels, cooked well. A cold smoked salmon fillet. Salt and Pepper Calamari. Prawns in a seafood mayonnaise. Deep fried fish and a couple of sauces. This was a great starter with everything cooked well and with fresh produce. Overall it was a good pub meal experience. The price was good and the food was good. We...

Average dinner experience. Food was fine, what you’d expect from a pub meal. We had 3 different waitresses serving us. One of them was young and very friendly, polite and attentive. Another young girl that was fine, didn’t put in too much effort but no complaints. The third was older, rude and disinterested in our customer experience. She was the one who took our order and read it back to us CORRECTLY. But when our food came, a burger was missing. We started eating as we were starving and by time we had finished, I was still missing my burger. Flagged down the friendlier waitress to check on it and she apologised and said she would go check. The older one came back after 5 minutes with no apology and bluntly stated we hadn’t ordered a burger. I assured her that my partner had ordered it, which she replied with an attitude “I read back your order and you didn’t say anything”. We didn’t need to because she initially read it correctly. She asked if we still wanted it, which I did. Because I was starving and she said it would only take 5 minutes. The burger arrived within 10 and was fine but was unhappy with the fact that not only did she not apologise, but insinuated that it was our fault. This is the first time I’ve ever written a bad review. I work in customer service as a waitress myself and I know that things get missed sometimes. But you always apologise with a smile on your face. You do not blame the customer and have an attitude. We went to pay anticipating whoever was at the till would check how our food/service was but was not asked. I checked the bill and they had charged us for someone else’s double G&T. Usually when you mess up, you comp something, or offer a discount. Not charge for someone else’s drink. I’d suggest management run a refresher course in their customer service department. As a reminder to some of your older staff of proper protocol when dealing with mistakes...

Would like to start off with saying the service was great, we were attended to well and promptly and the server patiently catered to my partner's difficulties in choosing a seat. My partner also really enjoyed his seafood chowder. Unfortunately, the positives, more or less, end there. Our mains were mediocre, the mussels were dried out, rubbery and tasteless, my partner almost always orders mussels when out for dinner and these were the worst mussels he's eaten in his life. There is value for money, however, as the number of mussels must have been about two dozen but what is the point when they're so awful he could only get halfway through them. The pumpkin, brie and pinenut filo that came with some olives and basil pesto was just awful. The taste of olive had well and truly taken over everything, I could still smell olive when I hopped in the car to leave. The bottom of the filo was thick and chewy, quite unpleasant when filo is supposed to be a delicate pastry. I tried to get through the meal to be polite but I couldn't finish it, the overpowering olive taste was just gross. The chips were the best part of meal. The server did food check us but the food was so awful we were too embarrassed to even say anything. I would like to say we've had great burgers and ribs here in the past and we're quite sad with what a flop this meal was,...