Haukai Bistro And Bar — Restaurant in Taranaki

Short version: Substandard service, cold and average food with some being inedible. It’s mediocre at best, you could get better food at a pub. It is not fine dining as the prices may suggest. We would not recommend nor return - it would have to be one of the worst meals and dining experience that we have had.

Long version: We made the mistake of dining here yesterday evening. The actual setting is nice and modern but unfortunately that is where the positives end. The service was substandard. Minutes after being seated, we were rushed by the waiter to order drinks, entrée’s and mains in one go?! Half of our party of 8 were yet to look at the single drinks menu, let alone the dinner menu. Once orders were taken, staff set plates on the table for our entrees. These were dirty with left over food baked on. We then endured over an hour wait for 2 plates of the fried chicken, and 2 plates of the fried bread. Both items tasted fine, but were nothing special and definitely were not worth an hour wait. They were closer to pub food than “fine dining”. During our wait, staff continually toped up the water but never asked if we would like to order more drinks. Once asking to order another round, used glasses were not cleared off the table. We were seated close to the kitchen and could see plates sitting for 15-20 minutes dying under heat lamps. Food was leaving the kitchen at a snails pace. The restaurant was about half full (if that), so it was difficult to see why food was taking so incredibly long to come out of the kitchen. Our table was not alone in having to endure the painful wait, as almost all tables were served at the same pace. Many other diners also seemed fed up with the poor service. Following another 30 minute wait from the arrival of the entrees, our mains finally arrived. These were disappointing to say the least. The steak was average and tough (not what you would expect for a “prime” cut). The eggplant was cold and tough (to the point where it was difficult to cut). The lamb was also cold. We also had two burgers, which were arguably the best meal but still nothing special, It is pretty hard to stuff up a burger though. I ordered the pork belly - what a mistake that was. To begin with, it was the smallest dish out of all of them, with a slither of pork. The roast vegetables served along side were cold but at least edible. The pork had charcoal for crackle, but once cutting inside it was stone cold and pink; yikes! Called over the waiter and raised my concerns as I wasn’t too keen on a round of food poisoning. The dish was taken back and replaced, which by the time my dish came back everyone else in the party had finished their meals. What came back was NOT pork belly, it was 3 pork strips that were largely all fat and inedible. At least they were cooked I suppose. Rather than going through the hassle of getting the dish corrected again. We left skipping desert as we could not bear the thought of another hour wait for mediocre food. I left disappointed and hungry and had to get something edible from elsewhere. Given how many restaurants and eateries are in New Plymouth, I do not know why anyone would choose to spend their money and time here. It’s mediocre at best, you could get better food at a pub. It is not fine dining as the prices may suggest. We would not recommend nor return - it would have to be one of the worst meals and dining experience that...

Short Version: The service was poor, the full potential of the menu was not reached and the special occasion for a special person would have been ruined was it not for the excellent company she keeps.

Long Version: From start to end this was a forgettable 3 hour and 15 minute dining experience. Our group had booked well in advance and was not the largest group in the venue. The kitchen seemed out of depth with the numbers in the restaurant and the duty manager blamed us for the delay of the food (apparently waiting for members of our group to return from the toilet...despite being asked several times to please ensure our meals came out anyway). The drinks waitress was very attentive but needed to be asked to stop asking our 6 year if he wanted another drink - he is 6....of course he does....he will drink juice until he sweats it. He can start making those sort of decisions when he is paying for it.

The menu was quite minimalist but had a bit for everyone. My wife is GF and there was clear choices for her (hence the 2 starts). My venison starter had great potential as a dish but was delivered quite cool. I could see it waiting to be picked up and I think it might of been ok if I did not wait for it to come to me. My pork belly also had potential - it was warm and one piece was missing the pork, an essential part of the dish, I imagine.

I suspect they planned for a slow Tuesday evening and were caught off guard when someone actually looked at...

My wife and I visited Haukai Bistro for a wedding anniversary celebratory meal on the 1st of January and we were ushered to a window table. We both selected our drinks (Wairarapa Rose) and a main course of honeyed Duck, which sounded appealing. Drinks were brought to us followed by the "meal" about 15 minutes later. Considering Haukai is Maori for "Feast" we were rather aghast at the minimal food placed before us - two small pieces of chewy duck, two tube cut pieces of potato no more than 25mm in diameter, a small number of pea shoots, a thin piece of out-of-season asparagus, a very small rolled waffle and minimal garnish. All eaten within 10 minutes. Our Huakai!! We decided we would not venture into the realms of a desert, but made our feelings known when paying. A percentage discount was given, which we weren't actually asking for, so thank you for that at least. However, on checking the payment once home I discover that our wine was actually a more expensive French wine we had paid for. Whoops!! I followed up this experience with a private review the following day. Almost two weeks later and absolutely no response. Thus, I am now making our "Feast" experience public. Not a good look Haukai Bistro on so...