Atelier — Restaurant in Waitematā

Very poor service. Had to make an effort for the waiters to notice us. Booked a table in advance and ended up sitting on the chairs with no back support. They swapped the chairs but at the beginning asking for the different chairs was responded with "I see what I can do" when there were heaps of available chairs around. Food took ages to come and our order came wrong (ordered vegetarian meal, waiter brought us dish based on the raw meat 😬). On the checkout it was pointed out to us that the food that was brought to us by mistake was actually more expensive than the one we ordered but they proudly said that they didn't charge us more (haha, thanks for not charging us for the wrong meal😅) Apparently, all the inconvenient situations stuff hides behind the jokes, not really professional in my opinion, but I guess this is the way they were...

What a fantastic place. Superb service, our Server was wonderful. He was knowledgeable, made recommendations, friendly. I had a cocktail to start, excellent. Was very impressed with how promptly all dishes were served but most importantly all the dishes were so tasty. Started with fresh oysters; charcuterie; smoked trevally rillettes (delishous); wild pork croquettes (yum, really tasty); smoked stracciatella/roasted toms/eggplant; then moved to Braised beef cheek; seared tuna with avo mousse; roasted camembert; and Kumara/caution/spinach/cashewnut/Millet salad. Fantastic combination. Everything complimented. Then finished with desert. Pretty full but had to try one of each.

So... would highly recommend. We were a party of 4 which was great as we got to try and enjoy a decent selection of dishes. Look forward to...

Not off to a great start when despite a large number of free tables for 2, I was initially directed to a table right next to the only other group on the 2 seaters and had to ask to be moved away. I do not know of any diners that enjoy being packed in like sardines unnecessarily. If no one has booked a specific 2 seater table along the right hand wall, it would make more sense to fill tables leaving a gap of one table in between to begin with. Next, my friend and I ordered the baguette, twice, and both times we were initially presented with the sourdough. I note the waitress was not using a notepad, perhaps something to consider in future? The final icing on the cake was when I was driving home, started to feel nauseous and threw up twice after visiting this restaurant. Not impressed and will not be...