THE GYOZA BAR — Restaurant in Waitematā

As visitors to Auckland/Ponsonby we ducked into Gyoza Bar for an early evening pre-dinner snack and drinks. My wife was keen to try it out as she was the bar manager at Auckland's first gyoza bar/restaurant in Ponsonby way back in 2005. Obviously geared towards late night drinkers, we found it took ages for the chef to make our veg gyoza. When they finally arrived they were delicious, as was the cold sake made in my wife's home town, Mito. We probably wouldn't bring the kids here again as the fizzy drink was an eye-watering $9 and the high, bench-type bar/tables are obviously oriented towards grownups. The counter person was a pleasant young woman but the Japanese people out the back showed no interest in the customers. What I loved about my wife's gyoza bar was that everyone got a traditional Japanese greeting and there was an air of conviviality and great Japanese manners, with the chefs often showing their cheery faces. Don't...

We did a Six-Course Japanese Dining Experience for Two People with a voucher from GrabOne and had a great time. There was so much food we were very full, Tapas were set and small servings but had great presentation. Mussel pot was a generous serving and were delicious possibly slightly overcooked but did not take away from the taste and flavour. Gyoza we had vegetable and they were great, the dipping sauces were great and very full of flavour. Mains were served on a platter, I thought they may of come with a sharing bowl of rice but they were tasty. Wine was good, we both had red and it was a normal expected serving.

We sat inside, host was great, music was fantastic (classic rock and hits) although it was a bit hot from the cooking we still...

Everything about this restaurant is perfect- the atmosphere is great for any occasion, the service was top tier, and every dish was bursting with fresh flavour. It was date night so we opted for the Ginza for 2, added a jug of Asahi and were set for the entire evening. Each plate was perfectly portioned and exploding with a variety of tastes as we worked our way through the tapas selection. We experienced a dozen different items including delicious salmon, perfectly prepared wagyu beef and traditional teriyaki chicken. The meal was finished with two whiskeys (included in the Ginza package) which was ideal to relax and unwind before wrapping up the night. Will be...