Cassia — Restaurant in Waitematā

Not one to review places but the experience was so bad it needs to be documented. While the food was fine and most team members were polite, a particular staff member, perhaps the manager (given the difference in uniform and attitude) provided the worst service possible. It might pay for the junior staff to train her instead because they were absolutely amazing and really tried to cover up for how uncomfortable she made us feel. To begin with, we entered while she was perched up at the bar, assuming she was a paying customer. She saw us approaching while we made our way to the till but didn’t care to come up to us till we looked lost thinking no front staff was around. There was no greeting just “a table for two?” followed by seating us down and walking away. We were not handed any menus until we asked a junior uniformed staff member to help us out. Bear in mind, this is 6pm on a Wednesday evening where only another table of 2 is present. We thought that would have been the end of that as the rest of the team was prompt and far more welcoming. Now I shouldn’t need to disclose mine or my friend’s identity but this experience was so contrasting than others that it really calls for an explanation. I attended with an Indian friend who shared love for this place, however, to see the restaurant fill up with more Europeans like myself and them being treated flawlessly by this same manager was just appalling. I felt so embarrassed to be attending with my friend who was made to feel out of place and uncomfortable mid-meal. 2 diners sat next to us were chatting away about their day with this manager and were explained the entire menu by her elaborately on her own accord while we were avoided even when we even asked for some help. It’s funny to think that this happened at a well-esteemed restaurant like Cassia which maybe fusion but still is considered an indian restaurant that prides on indian flavours. Might be a good idea to leave customer service roles if blatant racism is offered. Would go back if discrimination wasn’t served...

When we first arrived, the bartender welcomed us and offered us a drinks menu. He was really nice and friendly. We asked if there was a table for two and he advised to wait at the bar whilst a waiter attends to us. We had a drink and went to the bathroom which was outside the restaurant and in the hotel next door. We spent almost 30 minutes until we asked if we can be seated to eat. He advised to go to the counter and ask. So we did and got a table straight away. We found it odd that we were placed at the bar to order drinks for a while. We sat at the table and was offered more drinks, I had to ask for the food menu as we were hungry. We were given the menu to figure out ourselves. We struggled for a good 10 minutes till the waiter approached us and I asked to explain the menu. We went for the $120 per person option which came with a starter, enteee, main and dessert. We waited 15 minutes for the food which wasn’t that bad. It started off good with the starter and entree (first 7 photos), however, the two mains (duck and lamb curry, next 5 photos) were very spicy and salty with no authentic Indian spices and herbs. Followed by the not so pleasant dessert as the barfi (orange squares in the next 2 photos) stuck to our upper mouth and was just disgusting. The chocolate dessert was also unpleasant as something tasted burnt in it. The good thing about it was that we could takeaway the leftovers for our dogs to enjoy the next day. We were disappointed as usually at an Indian restaurant we leave satisfied but we left this place grossed out and hungry for actual food food. Will not return and will not recommend, but good to experience a hit and miss at a...

My partner and I walked in to the beautiful restaurant which got us excited for the experience. From there it just went extremely down hill. The First Lady was so nice and professional but the young Indian man that served our table most of the time was not professional at all. We ordered the vegetarian set menu and he went through the substitutes of the meat dishes verbally but when the entree came out, it was a massive ball of goats cheese between some plain white bread which he didn’t mention ‘goats cheese’ when he went through the menu at the start. I said to him, I unfortunately can’t eat goats cheese and he said back to me “You should’ve told me you don’t have Goats Cheese” and I said “ Sorry, I thought you might’ve mentioned goat cheese as it’s the main part of the entree when explaining the menu” he then said “ Oh sorry, More for your partner to eat it and then walked off”.

Also, they bring out a shell thing that they filled with liquid to start off your dining experience and it was absolutely awful. We were told to eat it in one mouthful which was way too much and it was extremely salty and would never choose to experience this again!

And then the mains came out and we Aren’t normally too bad with spice, but we Could only eat the smallest amount because they were extremely hot. Again, He didn’t think to tell us or ask us if we were okay with Really hot food. Last but not least we had the desert on the same menu and it had absolutely no flavour to it whatsoever.

So was a very disappointing...