HI-SO Rooftop Bar — Restaurant in Waitematā

This bar used to be the best in AKL. I went often and organised 2 events for a group of 20 friends- and they were so flexible, and accommodating, and reasonably priced. Excellent staff. Everything was exceptional.

Now the cocktail menu has shrunk, and the menu skimpy, and they just don't care anymore.

It has changed hugely, since covid, especially, if you are organising an event. It is SO expensive and inflexible. (e.g. the big table at Harbour Society is now $20,000 min spend!!) If you take a group (e.g. 30 ppl), they expect you to pay for it ALL- all food and all drinks, and then split the huge bill later yourself. ALL food has to be pre-ordered and paid for in advance!!! You cant just go for casual drinks and bar food with a large group. Only good for big corporate events now.

It took 2 weeks to get the guy to reply, and then await replies to detail emails. Then, the answer to all my requests was 'NO'! I requested my special cocktail, that they did for me last time- but NO, wouldnt get the one ingredient they needed. (yet they had such a small cocktail menu now)

It was disorganised- the menus online were not correct (and had no indication of date, etc) They said online that 'minimum spend only applied to Fri &Sat nights', but they insisted initially that we had to spend $6000 on a Tuesday! (they reduced to $2000, to help us out!) They said was DJ on Tuesday- then later, no there wasnt. Badly organised!

I went to 2 other rooftop bars, and they said YES to everything, and it was all arranged in 10 minutes. and their view, food service was top shelf. Very slick, organised, fully informed staff. Such a huge contrast.

The message Hi-So they gave me, trying to bring 30 business/professional people to their bar was: Arrogance and 'we don't care'. I sent them this feedback in writing- but nobody even got back to me at all. So disappointing, as this was my absolute favourite place in...

Such a disappointment. This place is prime location and super cool interior but the service makes it one of the worst bars iv ever been too. Firstly it is almost impossible to find with no signage or access unless you know to go into the hotel. On arrival we were told not to order at the bar as it was table service only, then continued to see other people be served at the bar and get there drinks instantly. After a 10 minute wait to even be served, we continued to wait a further 45 to receive drinks. This is despite asking 2 seperate staff members to follow up for us, to which neither ever came back to the table. After finally receiving drinks, I asked to see the duty manager and enquired about the food we had also ordered (Fries and shrimp bites) to which he said he would ask the kitchen. 15 minutes later, 1 hour total now, we received our food. Also to add there was a rough total of 25-30 people in the bar and about 10 staff members. Most just standing around talking to each other. Too add to the astounding wait times, they staff spoke so quietly it was almost impossible to hear them outside. The DJ played the same...

Beautiful decor and a lovely view in all directions, but let down by service. Struggled to wave staff down every time we wanted another drink, and ordering anything other than exactly what was on the menu was a painful exercise in repetition. Drinks weren't particularly quick to arrive, but I'm more forgiving of that given all orders contained numerous cocktails. Glasses accumulated on our table, making it difficult to put down new drinks - solution: staff stand next to table and wait for us to make space ourselves. Had to ask for utensils for food. Food itself was simple but good. Was told "oh, don't worry about it" when we asked server to wipe up the massive pile of parmesan that had fallen out of the bottom of our fries (served in a roll of paper, of course everything fell out the bottom), so we did it ourselves while server looked on, apparently confused by our desire for clean surfaces.

Probably...