BODA — Restaurant in Waitematā

Service, organisation and food needs to be addressed.

I’ve dined here 5 times, the first time was 9 months ago, it was exceptional then but it’s been progressively getting worse, with last night being the last time I’ll set foot in the restaurant.

Our starters came out at the same time as our mains, oysters coming out at the same time as lamb, we weren’t given the appropriate cutlery to cut red meat and veggies (chopsticks and spoons is all we had) or forks for our oysters until I went and asked for it, water glasses weren’t being refilled and sat empty, the tuna we were served was awful (nothing on the plate, poor presentation, poor taste), this was sent back and removed from the bill but not with a lot of resistance from the Maître D. And when it was time to pay the bill we waited for 10mn for them to play around on the screen, we thought they were kind enough to apply a $60 discount (on a ~400 bill for 4 people), but then as we were reviewing the bill, it was removed from under our noses and increased. Which was very odd, and we asked why this was, only to be told we weren’t entitled to a discount by the same Maître D… we didn’t ask for one in the first place? So strange. It made for another uncomfortable conversation, which was the 4th one during a 2 hour dinner.

I was left confused. I’m not the type of person to easily complain at a restaurant and have so much respect for hospitality, it’s a tough job, but if you’re expecting people to pay $100/head for a 2 course meal and you don’t get basic standards then I don’t know...

We went in as group of six, made booking online but there was nothing on the online reservation to select whether we are going for restaurant month or time restriction. But when we went in, they gave us a regular menu only, and when we asked for the restaurant month menu, they also said we were supposed to let them know.

Food was quite yum, really good value with the restaurant month deal and the portion size was also good. I had mushroom shoumai for entree and chicken for main. But main was literally just chicken and no carbs or vegetable on the side - neither were we offered even at additional cost. My husband had the beef shortrib stirfry which I thought it was really flavoursome and enjoyed it. For dessert (additional cost), we were told there was Sundae on offer, not told the price. We were quite full so I asked how much for just scoop of icecream. Which we were told "it's quite pricey, about $6 for one scoop so it's a better value to get sundae and share". all other desserts were about $12-15 so we expected the price to be about similar. And turns out to be MASSIVE and $22 per sundae. They had about 3 large scoop of ice cream and other toppings, but if we had known the price we would have just got the scoop as we didn't need such large dessert. Overall, I enjoyed the dinner, but not sure if I would be happy with the full price - service was not the best, location is great and food is good. But not quite up there as...

I thought we were the first guests tonight. But there were already people sitting at tables and enjoying drinks. The atmosphere was really moody and nice. And the reception was a little slow. Stood by the reception table for a bit until being noticed. But, it was all good👍 We were seated by a massive window seat with awesome view!😍 My wife and I were so ready what to order since we’ve studied the menu enough beforehand🤣🤣 Judging the food as a Korean, they were quite different from authentic Korean dishes. However, we, both, really enjoyed every single dishes. All of the dishes we ordered were just perfect!! Only a small dent of the whole night experience was the chicken skewer dish that we ordered wasn’t cooked properly. So, we requested to cook it a bit longer. But, the manager lady came with a new dish and apologised us. And offered us to take the dish out from the bill. Although, we’re happy to pay for the dish, she insisted not to. And she explained us everything kindly. My wife and I enjoyed dining there so much. And we decided to come back again👍 Tonight was just perfect night.

P.S : The server, Daniel, was super nice and responsive👍 if need anything, just ask him!! He will get you everything super fast!! 😄 Basically all of the staff there were...