The Burnt Place Bar & Kitchen — Restaurant in Taranaki

Asked the waitress about how big the steak was. About this big with hands flailing in the air. Asked about the bruschetta. 3 bits. Ordered bruschetta for a starter and the steak as a main. Both turned up at the same time. Bruschetta was cold and covered in diced tomatoes and red onion with a dollop of kewpie mayonnaise. At one end of the plate was a bare streak of what I assume was meant to be balsamic reduction. No prosciutto,no mozzarella, cold toast with no olive oil. Meanwhile my "about this big" steak is going cold. The steak, although cold by now,was cooked perfectly. Unfortunately it came with garlic,red onion, capsicum and mushrooms straight out of a can and simmered to utter blandness. Buy vegetables and roast them before destroying them in a flavourless brown water thing for your own sake!!!! I expected sweet,charred vegetables in a syrupy reduction. Got things out of a can in a brown, flavourless fluid.Offered dessert, not a risk worth taking. Best part of the disaster was the local IPA. Thank God I will never have to eat here ever again, disappointed that you can't give minus...

Had a surreal experience here last night with a friend. We thought we would pop in for dinner as it looked good and wasn't overly busy. Once seated we were ignored until we finally went and ordered our drinks from the bar. When they eventually decided to come and see if we were ready to order food, we had by then decided we would just finish our drinks and go somewhere else. A little while later a different waitress came and asked us if we were ready to order, we again said we would not be eating there after all. She visibly rolled her eyes and scowled as she walked away. Once we finished our drinks (these were actually quite good) we went to pay and asked to see the manager. Turns out the manager was our initial waitress who was shocked we hadn't enjoyed our experience and asked us to elaborate. We described our visit as cold and uninviting. She did apologise and did comp our drinks however we still left hungry knowing we would never be returning here, also wondering what the heck we had just experienced. Were we being punked? Unfortunately...

A most enjoyable lunch. Good clean, fresh, flavourful food. The menu is not extensive but provides some lovely choices. Prices reflect the quality and presentation of both food and surroundings which were spacious, with good comfortable furnishings and decoration. Excellent service, attentive but not annoying. Great coffee and desert to finish. Standouts for me were the salads and baked NY cheesecake desert. Everyone at our table echo the same positive comments concerning their meals. Will be dining here again, definitely wanting to try the dinner...