Daphnes — Restaurant in Waitematā

I’ve never written a negative review or feel the need to reproach but this dining experience left me no choice. We went out as a family, for father's day hoping for it to be special.

We started with entrees that were all disappointing. The halloumi fingers? Drenched in so much honey, more than you would expect on a dessert, it was all you could taste. The marinated olives were so tiny they were just seeds with skins attached basically. And the focaccia was okay.

For the mains, three of us ordered steaks, one got the slow-cooked lamb, and another the market fish. Fries and mixed greens to accompany. When the food arrived, all of our steaks were cold. Cold. The butter on top was solid like it had just come out of the fridge, and the steaks themselves were so fatty and chewy, they were impossible to eat. We asked the waiter for fresh, hot food. The salmon was warm but since everyone else had sent their meals back, I asked for a fresh one too so we could all eat together. We expected they'd at least bring out the fries and greens while we waited and after asking three times, they never showed up.

After 15 mins the dishes came back. It was way too fast to be freshly cooked, and when we inspected them, we realised the hey had just reheated our original plates. Reheated. And not even correctly, because they clearly mixed up who had what, so we ended up with overcooked, dry, chewy steaks and reheated lamb. For a $50 medium-rare steak we got rubbery and overly well-done. They even reheated the salmon, which lost all its flavour at this point.

We told the manager that the food was unacceptable. She gave us attitude and smug dismissal. It was embarrassing for us to have to even explain why we didn't want them on father’s day, no less. They said they would take the food off the bill as if it were a favour. We refused to pay and ended up going across the road to BurgerFuel lol.

I’ve have dined here before a couple times prior, back when the management seemed better? Nothing to rave about but...

Overall disappointing experience. We were really excited to try Daphnes but we overall found the food disappointing. The portions were tiny considering the prices. For example the mushroom souvlaki, it was 8 small mushrooms with a bit of green sauce and the price was $22. I genuinely find it difficult to understand the pricing of this dish as I dont believe there would be a genuine reason to price 8 standard mushrooms with some sauce so highly. I would have expected to pay $12-14 for this dish, at most. Another example is the cheese dish, which was also $22 but was only about the size of a cracker, for that price I would expect a large slice of cheese with perhaps some bread to accompany, or alternatively reduce the price to reflect the size, say $14. Another disappointment was the pork papoutsaki. When it was served we believed we had the been served the wrong dish as what we received was half an eggplant covered in tomato sauce and cheese. Upon pulling it apart we found a tiny bit of pork mince underneath. It was just an extremely average, and again, overpriced dish. For $24 it was essentially half an eggplant and a tiny amount of pork smothered in tomato and a little bit of cheese. Wouldn't recommend this dish.

I'm not unhappy to pay these prices for food, but when I pay this amount I expect the portions and quality to better reflect the price. I will also note that the quality wasn't of the standard to justify the exuberant prices.

I just find it hard to understand why the dishes are priced this high. Its even more difficult considering the multitude of dining options around you that manage to be much more affordable.

On a positive note we really enjoyed the atmosphere and our waiter was really friendly. Also, the cocktails were really nice. I think the food menu really needs to be looked at and re-priced, or perhaps portion size increased alongside the dishes being tweaked. Sorry for the harsh review, but feeling a bit ripped off about the...

We visited Daphne's last night for a work dinner. I'd been eagerly anticipating dining here since seeing the striking new restaurant pop up and poking my head into the lovely interior. As always, Clare and Joost Van Den Berg have absolutely nailed it - to my mind, this is their best yet.

The menu is divided into starters, souvlakis (lamb, beef, chicken and octopus on skewers with accompanying sauces), three large shareable mains and sides like fried potatoes and salads.

We ordered a decent chunk of the menu (besides desserts). Here were the hits:

Saganaki - I'm not really huge on fried cheese, but our group was into it. It's rich, it's cheesy, it's mozarella-esque. Coupled with the house pita bread and hummus, it was a nice way to start off.

Octopus Souvaki - we didn't initially order this but our waiter insisted we get it. He was right - it was phenomenal. All the souvlakis were great - the lamb and rare wagyu beef were also must-tries.

Pork Knuckle - A very nice big meaty central dish for our party of 6.

Brussel Sprouts - who knew this unappealing vegetable could be delicious? Well, it can and it was.

Next time we'll try the Lamb Shoulder as our "main event". Based on the lamb souvlaki I have no doubt it will be a standout.

The only thing we didn't love was the Swordfish. Everything else was packed with flavour while the fish was just...fish.

Wait staff were attentive and gave excellent advice on how much to order and what to order.

The space itself is my new favourite - lovely exposed brick, lots of cool nooks and crannies for a drink with a friend or bigger tables like ours for a group dinner. Sound was really well done - music was at a perfect volume for atmosphere but we could easily chat.

Overall, Daphne's is an instant Ponsonby classic, alongside stalwarts like Prego and SPQR.

We...