Smoky Pallet Freehouse — Restaurant in Waikato

I came in with my father to celebrate a special achievement. I had looked on the website to decide ahead of time what to get as I am a vegetarian. However, it became clear that the menu online is not the same as the one that we were given. Sadly, the item that I had wanted was no longer an option. When I enquired as to why, the server said that the menu on the website appeared due to it being the most commonly viewed version... It made no sense.

My father ordered the fish and chips, and I ended up ordering dessert - cheesecake. I asked about the cream that came with it (as per the menu) and was told they didn't have any. I said that it said "Chantilly cream" and was then told that they would have it made.

When the meals came out, the cheesecake was topped with the most pathetic squirt of artificial, canned cream. And the "seasonal fruit" was a singular grape cut in half, with one half in the cream and the other in the ice cream.

I took the cheesecake to the server and asked where the Chantilly cream was - because this wasn't it. She said there wasn't any. I asked if the kitchen didn't have any single cream? Because at any rate, Chantilly cream is made, not squirted from a can. She took my plate and not 30 seconds later I hear cream being hand whipped in the kitchen. So I guess they had the ability the entire time - they were just too lazy to actually fulfill the menu as it was written.

When I received my cheesecake back, it was frozen solid and had zero grape ( I can't even say grapes because I was only given one). There was cream however. It wasn't Chantilly cream. It was overwhipped, over sweetened with zero vanilla. But even that is a million times better than the foamy cat puke of canned cream.

As for my father's meal... The fish batter was under done, and the coleslaw was bitter. This man is a total nut for cabbage, so for him to not enjoy a hearty slaw is unusual. He surmised that the slimy texture perhaps meant that it was a few days past being ready for composting. It certainly looked like those bagged salads after being left in a place of high humidity for too long.

And the atmosphere... The gaming rooms are appointed with yelling, shoeless folk. And you don't have to know where the bathrooms are... You can smell them. You can smell the piss as if it has permeated and soaked into the grimy floors. Truly a visceral memory of clubbing in my youth that I had not wished to revisit.

Truly an utter disappointment in every single area. The chefs should be embarrassed with their laziness and inability to cope with the basics during a time during a very quiet Thursday lunch. The server shouldn't even have bought the dessert to the table. And we won't ever return, nor will we encourage friends...

UPDATE: We walked in without a booking recently (August 2022) to give Smoky pallet another chance, and they were fully booked which looked like a good sign, and we were offered a leaner to order and eat at but we wouldn't have enjoyed that sort of seating - what spoilt it for us however was the incredibly sticky floor and the over-powering smell....the floor was absolutely revolting and has put me off ever returning again - the place also reeked of stale beer. A shame because their food reviews have been better lately. No complaints about the staff, except the cleaner responsible for the poor cleaning job. Original review: Our drinks orders were wrong to start with and whilst the basic meals of burgers and fish & chips were nice, the steak was incredibly chewy and some of the pork accompanying it was dry and chewy. The otherwise nice looking, and well cooked crispy chicken tacos were unfortunately ruined by a very overpowering acidic bbq sauce - the "taco wraps" were also unfortunately dried out. The pork belly was average. Oh and I looked up the menu online beforehand and the smoked salmon salad which sounded lovely online wasn't available on their...

Well, still waiting on the food after one hour in a restaurant that does not seem full. Wait staff are excellent, friendly and quick. The kitchen is very, very slow. Rough if you have kids that are hungry and tired from a day at the beach. Going for a quiet dinner to speak with your dinner companions? Not the place to be tonight The young lady singing had such a beautiful Stevie Nicks like voice but the amp was so loud it was distorted. I reckon an up and coming country singer on NZ's Got Talent.

This review started as a '2' but went up to a '4' if you can forego the wait and the noise. The venison came out dry as a bone but was happily replaced within 5 minutes with a beautiful plate of seared venison perfectly red and soft as butter. The salmon dish was simply amazing. The lamb was also a stunner. Even the veggies were great. Will go back but maybe without the...