Vault 21 — Restaurant in South Island

I am writing to express my deep disappointment with the experience my family and I had at your restaurant on the evening of 12th October. We had made a reservation in advance to celebrate my husband's birthday, and we were eagerly looking forward to a memorable dining experience. Unfortunately, our visit did not live up to our expectations.

Upon arrival I personally mentioned the special request again to the person before being seated, after that the prawn dumplings appetizer and drinks was served in a timely manner. However, after that, our evening took a frustrating turn. We waited for our main course for over ONE hour, despite inquiring with the server thrice about its status. It was disheartening to witness nearly all the others who had dined with us finish their meals and leave while we were still waiting.

The long wait for our food had a significant impact on the overall experience, especially for our 4-year-old daughter, who was well past her bedtime and became extremely cranky.

In our reservation, we had also made a request for a small piece of cake and a candle to celebrate my husband's birthday. We understand that the availability of such items may vary, but it would have been appreciated if the restaurant had communicated the status of this request when confirming our booking. This oversight added to the disappointment as we hoped to make the celebration memorable, and it felt like an opportunity missed.

We understand that every establishment can have occasional challenges, and we believe in giving feedback to help improve services. It is disheartening to write this review, as we had heard great things about your restaurant. However, our experience fell significantly short of those expectations, and it had a notable impact on our celebration.

We hope that you take this feedback constructively and work on enhancing the dining experience for your patrons. We would like to think that this unfortunate experience was an anomaly and look forward to the opportunity of revisiting your establishment in the future for a more...

It was still early by the time we finished our tour of Royal Albatross Centre in Otago Peninsular. We even spent some time stopping by at a small community playground on our way back to Dunedin city. I had to meet my friends, Fergus & Audrey (whom I knew since my Otago days) at the famous Cobb & Co and we still have more than an hour to kill. The kids were hungry too so I decided to stop at the Octagon for a quick bite.

The establishment was spacious with their own bar and tables + chairs.. enough to cater to big crowd. A vault-like room at one corner filled with wines for those looking for a good night out, but one thing that got me excited was the Speight's beer. Nothing brings back sweet memories that the beer that I consumed the most during my time in Dunedin. ◾Vault 21 Award Winning Dumplings NZ$12 - prawn, coriander, chilly & lime dressing ◾Fries NZ$10 - a huge basket of perfectly fried fries with spicy salt and chilly mayo ◾Korean Fried Chicken NZ$15 with gochujang chilly dipping sauce ◾Smoked pork spare ribs NZ$20 - grilled upon marination with sticky sauce, with chilly and crushed macadamia ◾Bang Bang Chicken Bowl NZ$25 - Korean fried chicken, broccoli, green beans, lettuce, sesame, peanut dressing, chilly jam and steamed rice ◾Fish & Chips ◾Dunedin's famous Speight's beer - a pride of this city, and it was as good as I remember it. Even she commented that the beer was smooth and flavourful.

We like most of the food here, plus the service was impeccable despite my kids making noises. So good that we came back the very next day, our last lunch before heading to the airport to catch our plane to Auckland enroute...

Great spot right on the Octagon and very nice interior design. The best was the heated concrete seats right by the window, which was definitely welcomed on a very cold night. Was pleasantly surprised with the Asian fusion menu selection. We had the Korean Fried Chicken and Halloumi as starters, which were yum. Then the Yuzu Miso Salmon and Southern Ocean Fish as mains with charred broccoli side dish. The mains were delicious, but probably a tad over-priced for what was on the plate (fish, rice and salad for $32-38). For desserts we had the coconut sticky rice and the sticky date pudding, which were beautfully presented and very tasty. The only reason I'm not giving a 5 star review was the terrible customer service at the end of the night. It was good to begin with, but when we wanted to order dessert around 9pm the waiter told us the kitchen was closed and all diners had to leave as the restaurant was converting into a late night bar on Sat night. I was shocked! I thought that was very rude to be kicking us out and not wanting our business if we wanted desserts. Eventually the waiter got permission from the manager to let us order dessert, but we had no pre-warning about the time the kitchen was closing and about diners needing to leave by a certain time to clear tables for bar revellers. Surely in these tough times the restaurant would want this extra business from diners?...