iTi — Restaurant in Waitākere Ranges

It was a very quiet Friday night when we went, with no more than two other groups there. The service was pretty quick at the beginning, and i appreciated that we were told there was no fish straight away, as many of the meals rely on it. The menu options now sizeably diminished, i selected a small plate of calamari and beer battered chips for the table. My companions selected the steak salad and the chicken tacos (but had wanted the fish). I didn't get the drink I ordered, but it was very quickly remedied. My friend had a cocktail, which looked delicious. They also do $25 jugs of beer. The chips were divine, super crunchy, and perfectly cooked, a real highlight. My calamari was nice and was accompanied by a small lemon heavy type coleslaw. Don't order just this if you're hungry, though, as there wasn't a lot of it for $18. The steak salad was presented as a warm presliced steak, with a salad on the same plate. Not what I'd call a salad. But the meat was well cooked and the eater was happy. The tacos looked reliably good, and a bargain at $10. The only downfall really was that there wasn't a great atmosphere, which may be due to the slump of the summer weather being rain and cloud for days, meaning that diners were low, but I feel like it was the staff. We didn't get one single smile, not one. In fact, I've seen happier servers at a wake. The server we had was downright solemn and made me feel a bit depressed. I left thinking perhaps they had facial muscle disorder that prevented them from being able to change their expression. Unfortunately, even if they did, it is still received as massive indifference and rudeness. They obviously hadn't heard the expression 'Service...

From Bad, to worse, to downright questionable. Your menu needs work and clarification. First order was beer batter fish and chips Gluten free. Now the option usually entails using corn flour or other gf flour for a batter. There was No batter. This was two small tiny bits of Pan Fried fish. Pan fried. No batter. Disappointing. Also there was a mountain of shoestring fries, not beer batter thick fries as stated on the menu, these had no salt. Slaw was inedible. Don't put the option labelled GF if it's not going to be what it says as it's disappointing. FYI There is only one deep fryer as well so not totally gf for those with allergies. Second order was a burger which the patty has Clearly been frozen then thawed on the microwave before quickly throwing it on the grill. So much water came out of the burger patty the chips were soggy from it. Chips also had no salt and not as described on the menu. Finally. The jug of Sangria. I read the drinks menu over and over and nowhere did it mention putting THYME in a drink. Thyme. We even asked about it as it was so odd and the taste was so bad perhaps it was a mistake but the taste of thyme was on purpose.. As a garnish.. Squished in to the bottom of the jug.. Ruined the taste!!! You can't be serious. Bad food bad drinks.. Won't mention...

My recent experience at this restaurant was unfortunately disappointing. The food lacked flavor, and the chargrilled scotch fillet didn't match its description on the menu—it lacked the caramelized onions and summer vegetables, only accompanied by potatoes and a few broccoli florets. Additionally, the ribs we ordered were tasty but a bit dry and lacked the promised Titirangi pickles. The sticky date pudding was disappointingly solid and dense, resembling it had been taken straight from the freezer. Unsure if this was intentional, as previous sticky date puddings I've had were cakey and warm. On a positive note, the 'All about chocolate' dessert and the fried chicken was delicious and the highlights of dining experience. Despite these disappointments, it's worth mentioning that the atmosphere was pleasant, contributing to an overall enjoyable dining experience. However, it's important to note that the restaurant appeared to be short-staffed, possibly due to it being a Sunday. While understandable, this didn't fully compensate for the shortcomings in the...