Orbit 360° Dining — Restaurant in Waitematā

Top-notch experience.

After reading all the bad reviews, I would consider myself fortunate. Today, my daughter gave me a Christmas treat at the Orbit - a revolving restaurant at Sky Tower.

The scenery was breathtaking as it revolves about 360° in two hours. As we dine and enjoy the great view. I have no complaints when it comes to the food.

It is not the first time I had fine dining and we are a family that loves food. Gastronomical pleasure is what we strive for.

The bread served was not ideal as it seems to be an old bread steamed before serving. Worst then bread served on a plane.

The entrée was great. We had the scallops and pork belly. The pan-seared scallops was well done and not overcooked. The sauce blended just right to bring out the taste. The pork belly was great, crisp on the outside and the meat just melt inside my mouth. The sauce wasn't too salty and just right.

The main was a little tough to get perfection as my daughter ordered the salmon, and I got the beef. The salmon was not overcooked, but not sure about the sauce (hollandaise) that goes with it. I had the beef fillet and I know it is very hard to get medium rare all around. However, I was quite satisfied when the beef came, mostly Medium rare. Probably Gordon Ramsey may not agree but I'm happy with the chef. The potatoes gratin was great!

We like the dessert except I am not sure about the combination of raspberry jelly and raspberry shobert with dark chocolate. It seems that they crashes.

But the highlight of our meal experience was served by our wonderful, attentive and friendly waitress, Liz. She has displayed the right attitude towards her service and pleasant countenance to ensure those she served are well taken care of. She will definitely do well in the service industry and I hope she will consider that. Great service can really be a big plus tothe dining experience.

Therefore, I foresee myself coming back with my wife, and I even told Liz that I will certainly want her to be our waitress. I hope my review can challenge the restaurant to continue to provide Top-notch...

I want to start by saying we really enjoyed the food, beautiful views and great service. I have rated 1 star in hopes to draw the attention of the management team at Orbit 360 dining.

We dined nearly a month ago and were served by Toyana (Sorry if I spelt this wrong). She was bubbly, warm and attentive; we appreciated her service very much. For context, I do food reviews around Auckland (which is why I am using an anonymous account), and upon reviewing my footage last night, I recalled the horrendous and awkward atmosphere we were forced to eat our dinner in at Orbit 360. Half way through our dinner (when the main course arrived), an older staff (appears to be in her 40s) came and began arguing with our waitress Toyana. We were sat right in front of the service station, and this older lady continued to grill and argue with our waitress for nearly 15 minutes. I didn't really grasp what the conflict was about, but it was extremely awkward and we felt uncomfortable during and after their exchange.

I worked in hospitality for the majority of my younger years, and seeing a young girl like Toyana being bullied by a much older staff member struck a nerve. Only after reviewing the footage I took that night, I saw how condescending and rude the other staff was. It was very unprofessional. I am writing this review in hopes management will pick this up and address the issues with this staff member. It really hurt me to be forced to listen helplessly as a poor young waitress was blatantly bullied by a senior staff.

I don't know the name of the older staff I am making a complaint about, but she was a bigger, middle aged lady (maybe mid 40s) who wore a black blazer. She was the lady who sat us down at the beginning of our reservation.

Again, thank you Toyana for the fantastic service, and thank you team for the yummy food. I'm sorry this...

Frankly, we were incredibly disappointed. While the menu looked promising and we tempered our expectations of the quality knowing this is a large tourist attraction, the food was nearly inedible. So much so we only finished 1/6 plates. The sauces and purées accompanying most of the dishes were the best part and most edible of the dishes. The crab salad was the one dish that we finished, and that was the one dish that nothing had to be cooked. The bread was stale, so much so that even the servers, who cleaned the bread station out behind us at the end of the evening while we were still at our table, declined taking them home when asked and threw them in the trash. The scallops were chewy, gnocchi was paste and inedible, and the beef fillet was over cooked (this happens, so understandable), dry, and incredibly tough. The cocktails were subpar at best. The cocktail with Tropicale in the name tasted watered down and the he Eve’s drink tasted like a perfume shop and was honestly awful. We ordered the most expensive cognac at the end of the night (tradition from a visit a couple of decades ago) and not only did we have to point it out to our server on the menu, but then they came back and asked if we wanted it on ice or with coke to which we had to explain what neat was - neither ways an end of meal and expensive cognac should be served. Then, when the glass was delivered, the outside was dirty. Our service (still satisfactory at best - didn’t explain the menu, for example and I had to ask how everything worked) and the view was the best part, which is sad.

I hope this lands with someone who is in charge of quality control and has an interest in standards because for the price point, the food that came out of the kitchen was frankly embarrassing and our worst meal (yes worse than fish and chips take away) during our 3 weeks in...