Ki Māha Restaurant Waiheke Island — Restaurant in Waiheke

My experience booking and dining here for our friends birthday dinner has been one of the most difficult and trying processes. I think this establishment seriously needs to remember they are in the business of hospo. We were a group of 12+ ppl, from the very start securing a booking was difficult. I had several back and forth’s with Lucie, on multiple occasions she told me one thing then days later changed her mind after speaking with the chefs. The birthday girl specially wanted to go here as Oysters were her only requirement & the view was gorgeous so we persisted. We were told for our group size we had to go with their $110 set menu. I had some concerns about the set menu for our group, a lot of us don’t eat pork or beef and we also aren’t dessert people. Plus their original set menu seemed quite bland compared to their standard menu. I went back and expressed my concerns. Lucie replied and said that we could order a la carte but food would take a bit longer or we could put together a custom set menu. I decided ordering a la carte would be best for us. Days later Lucie says this is no longer an option and doesn’t offer anything else. I go back and ask if the custom set menu is still an option, expressed our dietary concerns and that our group won’t take dessert but don’t worry we’re keen on ordering a few dozen oysters and drinks. I’m told we can go ahead with the custom menu. We then had to pay a $50 deposit per person totalling $600 to secure our booking. Which they forgot to take off of the final bill, I’d had a few drinks and almost missed this until my partner noticed. Back to the menu, they try to shove the dessert option at us, refusing to remove the dessert off of their menu and I just can’t quite understand their problem. We’re coming for a birthday I’ve already said we’ll be making up for the dessert in oysters and drinks. I ring the restaurant to actually verbally speak with someone as I was getting no where over email and would wait days for a response. It shouldn’t be this hard to place an accommodating booking for a large group. I thought they must be super busy during this time to be providing service like this (that’s what they said). Imagine my surprise when we arrive to our dining experience & they weren’t busy at all? The restaurant had a few other small tables but we were the only large group and by the time we left at 9pm one of two tables. After finally securing our booking and agreeing on a custom set menu of an entree and a main for $90. 2 weeks out from our booking Lucie and I confirm the custom set menu, I didn’t get a couple things I wanted but I’m happy overall finally it’s sorted. the the next email I receive from Lucie with no explanation just a direction that they have changed their menu and our new $90 menu for the evening will consist of completely different items, that included beef and pork. I had already been quite flexible with a couple options she insisted on but this was too far. To email a week out after all of the conversations we had had about the menu? With no explanation? I rung the restaurant super confused and hear that they are having supply problems and cannot serve certain things. The duck was removed and the market fish changed. However after I call up to complain I am offered the duck back on the menu? I thought there were supply issues? our dining evening comes and I already have quite a sour taste in my mouth. First thing that happens is they’ve run out of oysters. Not a good start. We had had multiple convos about how important they were and were only offered the simpler menu on the agreement we ordered oysters too. Funny after I express my concerns the wait staff magically source 24 oysters. Then we see oysters go to another table too? Food was overall fine but not worth the dramas I faced and mains were tiny portion sizes. Lastly they screwed up the bill a couple times, not removing the $600 deposit. The waiter had to talk with his manager multiple times and paying the bill took 15 minutes. Overall most painful restaurant experience. Pic...

My friends and I went to Ki Maha on our last day at Waiheke. Food was not bad, but service was absolutely terrible. Overall, we had a poor experience at this restaurant.

We had no one looking after us during our meal and had to ask for a staff to take our beverage, food and dessert orders. When we requested for a staff to help, we were told that the waitress looking after us would come to us very soon. However we ended up having a different waitress every time.

We were shocked that one staff threw the menu on our table.

The manager was very rude to us. Unlike how she was with the other tables, there were no smiles at all whenever she was at our table. She spoke to us in an impatient and commanding tone, it was as if we were not good enough to be there, which made us felt really unwelcomed.

While the manager was serving us wine, she did not even show the label of the bottle to any of us and just pour it without saying anything.

One staff even used words like “thank you for using your manners” when we said “thank you” and “please” to every service we received.

We gave our feedback before we left. Although the manager apologised and explained that they were “too busy and understaffed” or “the staff is about to leave so he didn’t care anymore”, she also used words such as “so what is it that you want?”. This was when we realised that she was dismissive and we should just go and stop wasting more time. We paid the bill in full, $82 per person, not an expensive bill. But the quality of the service we received was not equivalent to what we paid for. I won’t compare it with other fine dining experience, it was even far below the expectations of a normal casual restaurant.

My friends and I all agree that our experience at Ki Maha was THE WORST we have ever had in our lives. It was a big surprise that the manager was so much worse than the other staff as we would expect the senior staff member to be a lot more professional. To put it frankly, we felt we were being discriminated. We just wanted to enjoy the view and food however we lost our appetite by the time when desserts were served.

We visit Waiheke frequently and have always had a wonderful time at every place. We regret our decision of coming to Ki Maha on our last day of our new year trip in Waiheke. We do not recommend anyone to come and dine in here.

*There is a number of better restaurants, like Charlie Farleys and Three Seven Two, that are on the same street and has the same ocean view. And of course far...

Email correspondence and service from the establishment was poor. I had arranged to come to the restaurant with a group of 12 people for birthday drinks, we were staying only for an hour which was clearly communicated to the restaurant. The day before we were due to arrive, two of our friends had to pull out as they had Covid. Out of respect for the establishment, I called to let them know our number had changed to 10 people as 2 people tested positive for Covid. I was told they were going to charge me $100 ($50 per person) as I had let them know with less than 48 hours notice! I’m not sure how they expect me to tell them in advance that someone is going to test positive for Covid! The alternative option is that the 2 people come to the restaurant and infect everyone else! I asked to speak to management and she said that on this occasion they would wave the fee. A few weeks before we were due to arrive at the restaurant, I emailed management to ask if we could set up 5 separate tabs (one per couple) so we could all pay for what we had individually. I was told that there would be a 10% service fee added to the whole bill to set up separate tabs and that approval had to be given by management on the day of the event. I asked if they could seek approval in advance of us arriving so we could come prepared…. I didn’t receive a response back. I called the restaurant and asked for a reply and I was told management would get back to me….this didn’t happen. I emailed again and finally I had a reply saying they wouldn’t set up separate tabs for us as the restaurant was going to be full and too busy that day. When we arrived the restaurant was half empty. There wasn’t a single person sat inside, the restaurant could almost have been described as quiet. We thought that as the restaurant was so empty this might help in the staff setting up separate tabs for us. They told us they needed to call management on the phone to get approval?! Again, management said no. Therefore my husband was left to pay the whole bill and then we had to spend time getting payment from each of our friends which was a real...