TLV Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in South Island

We had been touring both the North and South Islands, and this was by far the worst experience in our entire trip. It all started at the front of the house where the host had the personality of a stone - no welcome. no smiles, and when we asked if we could sit outside it appeared that our question was an insult where upon he simply pointed to a table to his left. 'There - that is your table'..... he realized that his manner had upset us and tried to make it up by muttering that if an outside came available, we would be seated... Still no welcoming personality

One of the attractions about New Zealand is it wine. We chose a pinot noir off the menu, but was told by the server (who was very pleasant) that the restaurant was out of it - no problem, the waiter mentioned that they had just got a new pinot and we should try it.... only to learn that it was a Californian wine (if I had wanted a US wine, I wouldn't be drinking it in New Zealand).

My wife ordered steak and guided our waitress that she like it medium (not pink). However, when the steak arrived, it was clearly very well done, tough with no flavour. When the waitress returned, we discretely showed her the steak and how it had been cooked. She was willing to take it back to the kitchen, but because service had been slow, my wife opted to eat the vegetables that accompanied the steak. However - the non-engaging host arrived, bent down to look at the steak and stared at it for about 10 seconds... Again, no apology, but rather asked what we wanted to do, and we repeated the same thing as we had said to the waitress (who was also very good).

Finally, when I went to pay the bill, the non-personality host showed me the bill where he pointed out that he had taken 20% off the bill. However, 20% off the bill was considerably less than the price of the steak dish. I asked him why he didn't take off the steak dish off the bill and he replied " Your wife ate the vegetables"!. I chuckled because I couldn't believe him. I reminded him that the issue was the steak dish and that he should take that off the bill (even if my wife ate the small amount of a vegetable medley). He finally took off the price of the steak dish, returned the receipt and never talked.

First impressions are important - and the host broke that cardinal rule. He was simply terrible at being the face of the restaurant, his management skills are novice, and his communication abilities are non-existent. I am sure the restaurant has great potential, but we will never know thanks to the...

As much as I hate to say this; we were so disappointed we ended up leaving without eating our mains. We booked a table for 5 people at 7.30pm and were advised there was only outside seating available, which we were fine with. The starters arrived and were very tasty, however once the rain started there was no option of shelter apart from 2 umbrellas which the whole outside seating area (approx 8 tables) wanted to get under. Once the inside cleared a bit we managed to move inside but were still waiting on our mains (90 mins after our order was placed). We asked the waitress if they would be ready soon as we had a star gazing tour booked we needed to leave for soon, she said they were just plating up. 10 minutes later we asked the manager behind the desk if the mains would be arriving soon as there was still no sign and again we were told they were just plating up, and the reason for the delay was because we’d ordered starters. At the same time I asked about our mains I also saw two other separate tables complain also about their wait time. A table of two who had arrived at least 45 minutes after us was then served their mains and we decided at that point to leave. I’m so sad to have to walked out, and I’ve never done that before anywhere, however when the manager was trying to blame us for the wait time of over an hour and a half for mains due to the fact we ordered starters I don’t feel it’s acceptable. Our waiter from Czech Republic cannot be faulted; he was attentive and polite and said he had only been there for 1 month…the restaurant will be lucky to keep him for longer than one more shift if they continue the way they are. I’ve been in NZ for the whole lockdown and I understand hospitality has been stretched during this time but we ordered at 7.30, and by 9.10 there was still no meal so we left. Please pass on our thanks to the waiter, and our complaints to...

We went here last night and the atmosphere was instantly better than another local bar we’d recently been to. The room was warm, fire was glowing, the bar was very well decorated, the granite bar and benchtops, stuck out along with the light shades, and the glowing glass shaped lights above the counter. We grabbed a couple of drinks and chatted with the bar manager. He was super friendly. I had some questions about the decor and he did his very best to answer them, even getting in touch with the owner to provide the information. We ordered the scallops and cheesy garlic bread (just something light as we’d eaten already at the Hermitage earlier. The scallops were plated well, I didn’t think the taste came through as much as I thought they might (compared to their presentation) but they were better than just average. The cheesy garlic bread was very good. We grabbed a couple more drinks and upon viewing other patrons meals, decided we were going to get dessert (I was also regretting overeating earlier in the day as the table next to us had the duck and salmon which looked amazing). I had the poached pear (generous dessert and presented beautifully). Initially I thought it was a little sour, however by the end of the dessert I was not wanting it to finish. My Fiance had the Vanilla profiteroles, which she described as decadent. The dessert had me questioning my manhood as she was moaning with delight more than I had ever heard before. Overall we would highly recommend this restaurant in Lake Tekapo. Next time we’ll plan ahead and do the...