The Oyster Inn — Restaurant in Waiheke

UPDATE:

Helen Emmet contacted me personally to explain the events of the evening and offer a sincere apology from herself and the team, and by way of apology gave us a voucher for their new restaurant in Auckland. It was good to talk through the issues and hopefully others will have an experience at the Oyster Inn more in line with the other reviews.

This is the email I sent to Josh Emmett and the Oyster Inn after my experience outlined and haven't heard anything back from either: "Hi , My partner took me to the Oyster Inn on Waiheke last weekend as a celebration of her quitting a job she hated and starting something better. she is a huge fan of yours and has been keen to try the Oyster Inn for a while, and is being on Waiheke with a reason to celebrate was the perfect excuse. but it was really disappointing. I understand that Friday at a busy restaurant will be busy, but we had an 8.15 booking, which when we arrived we were told our table was almost ready, and would we mind having a drink. The people in front of us who arrived at the same time for their 8.15 booking also got asked to have a drink, and were shown a table almost straight away gave us confidence that we would be inside soon too. We waited about 20 minutes for someone to take our drink order, which then came about 5 mins apart, which is fine too, pouring a beer and a glass of wine take different time, but then we were forgotten it felt like. After a 45 minute wait outside I asked the person who was at the front desk when we arrived, if we might have a table soon. They did find us a table outside within about 10 minutes of that, but I dont think it was where people are meant to eat, easily the most brightly lit table in the place, directly under an outside light. We were moved and sat down without cutlery or menus and again, sort of forgotten. At this point I would have left, but my partner, who again, loves your food, was just really frustrated and disappointed, and despite all this, still wanted to stay, asked if I could please ask for another table. Which I did and within 15 minutes we were sitting inside. We managed to order our food, as the people who had also arrived for their 8.15 booking were just finishing their coffees. Once we were inside and ordered, the food and service were great, really excellent seafood, but the start of our evening left a bad taste in our mouths and I think I am off the Oyster Inn forever because of it. I am not writing this to try and get anything free or dob in the staff, just to let you know that someone who loves your restaurant had a bad time because of the service, and that maybe it needs to be looked...

I don’t know why the blonde lady in the front desk is treating us like this. We are just walking in and wait here and the lady is serving a couple in front of us very nicely. When it was our turn she just turned the smiling face into an annoyed face and say they didn’t have any table for us and walked away. When we tried to ask a sir if we could book a dinner for tonight she just came back and cut in, telling us to book online rather than serve here directly. I didn’t understand why we were standing here and still need to be back to book dinner online for tonight. It is so much easier for them to just check the appointments directly on the machine while there weren’t so many people around and two staff (including the lady) with a machine were standing in front of us!

More importantly, when she was talking she just seemed to be too busy to talk and didn’t want to waste her time to us, which was just so rude and look down upon us. Was it because we are a group of Asian? Otherwise I couldn’t think of any reasons for treating us totally differently than others. If it was this case then she was so racist and rude. Any Asian were not welcomed to this restaurant. I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone because of the rude attitude and racist behavior. If I can give a zero star then I wouldn’t give one star at all. It was an awful experience and ruined our Waiheke tour totally. Shame on you!

UPDATE: After a whole day, the restaurant has replied that they were just too busy so we couldn’t walk in. However I want to point out that it is the bad and racist attitude that makes us angry rather than unable to book in. We have also been turned away by some other restaurants on that day due to full reservations. However, no one treated us with such bad attitude like this restaurant, which is totally unacceptable and unarguable. All of us (not only me!) feel uncomfortable and could sense the arrogance from the lady at the front desk. She just didn’t want to talk with us. The total different before and after attitude was really hurting us. There’s no excuse for treating us like we are nothing and different than others. My friend recommended us to eat here so we came with really high expectations, unfortunately we were so disappointed. After this, I kept thinking and tried to ask myself if there was anything wrong for being Asian and started to feel anxious to talk with strangers. I would say maybe food would be good but some staff really need better training, realizing that everyone is equal in the world and arrogance & racism...

Absolutely Perfect in every way. My husband and I had two nights in room 2 (middle of the 3 rooms) at the Oyster Inn in January 2024. We had read the reviews and decided this ticked all the boxes and it sure did. Location, location, location. |A quick bus trip from the ferry terminal (3 minutes) up the hill to Oneroa. Then a short walk to the Inn. The Inn is right in the heart of the small town of Oneroa with lots of restaurants and shops right there. Across the road is the 4 square, small supermarket for any supplies.|A quick easy check in from a very friendly staff member, who also serves your breakfast. Lovely spacious room - all white walls and ceilings etc make it feel very beachy and summery. Lots of natural light. A small deck which overlooks the back street of the town, and some views to another bay (unsure which one). We found the room to be reasonably quiet, being right in the town, and above shops and right next to the restaurant. You will hear (very faintly) the bins being emptied in the streets in the morning, but its not noisy by any means.|The bed was huge and comfy. Lovely quality linen including big fluffy towels. Nice bathroom - not the greatest lighting in the bathroom if thats important to you.|Theres free cold water in the little fridge, and they even have free snacks on arrival including fruit, chocolate and chippies. |Breakfast is included in the stay and is excellent. Choose from about 5 or 6 options. We both had the eggs both mornings - I had poached eggs with the salmon option which was delicious and my husband had all of the options along with his eggs! He was more than satisfied. Great start to the day. And of course the view is perfect in the small breakfast dining area. With only 3 rooms, theres always a great table available and if youre lucky you will be right in the front table overlooking the street.|Beach towels are provided in the room and the beach is a short 5 minutes walk down hill - so thats an uphill walk back lol. The beach is perfect here so no real need to go to any other beaches, but we did take the bus to some other areas.|There are several very good restaurants right across the road and next door. And of course the Oyster Inn itself has one of the best restaurants on the island.|As you can tell we absolutely loved our time on the island and especially at the Oyster Inn. Highly recommend and...