The Lumsden Free House — Restaurant in Waitematā

curb your enthusiasm

I've been here about 5 times now and was only offered food once. They are quite happy to take my money for beer, but the vibe is very much "food and drink service" not "hospitality".

The signal attribute that leads to that conclusion is that the staff are glared at if they talk to a customer for more than a minute. This is not a CBD madhouse, but it can get busy.

And one acknowledges that rents and so on take a toll, but it is meant to be a pub, and a bit of chit-chat goes with the territory. Blame for this rests solidly on owner/manager and bar managers, not the staff doing the work.

As a venue, it's super generic, especially with the decor, which could have been dreamt up by an AI. but there's two pool tables, the toilets are nicely out the back, not in the food area, and there are multiple bar service areas.

There is also outdoor seating, some of which is covered. As a space , by itself, i'd give it 4.5 stars.

One of the staff has never smiled. The short one that smokes. The rest of them are attractive enough. But they never stop moving. Sort of like a London slave-house pub.

Having not tasted the food, I can say that the burgers smelled good, when someone else got them. I also saw a family have a pizza and a sharing plate and their 3 bottomless pits scoffed the lot. So, one good point, you can bring the kids here. Nothing pleases me more than kids running around a restaurant knocking things over, or fighting over the last rib. (that isn't sarcasm. )

Gosh, it's the 21st century, and this place needs a wakeup call. I can imagine this as a popular 'local', with people hanging out late into the evening , playing cards, live gigs, talkative staff, relationships, 'regulars', and yet it doesn't get there. it feels commercial above all, not local and friendly.

I think you can rely on this for a group booking, generic decor, generic food, sports on the projector, blah blah blah.

oh, and the beer selection is usually good, but again, nothing too adventurous. You won't find Malthouse(Wellington) flavour explosions. it's just mediocris taberna

But forget hospitality. Only 3 stars, and frankly, it breaks my heart to give such a rating. I would give a shout out to the staff who were nice to me, obviously they are genuine friendly people, but I fear there would be...

My rating is based on food, service, atmosphere.

We dined in on the 16th of July 2016. (My birthday)

Here is what we ordered from the menu and I will be giving our honest and open opinion.

We ordered "The famous buffalo wings" And for $24 they are definitely value for money! This is justification of 1 star.

Second from the menu was "Stone oven roast vege salad" $12. Seriously most disappointing salad ever! 3 pieces of undercooked potatoes with mushy boiled kumara, green salad tossed in balsamic not to mention no seasoning! Definitely no star! Roasted? I don't think so.

Third on the menu was "The lumsden Pork ribs" $28. Not only were they dry as hell they were warm! (Microwaved perhaps?) we ate 1 each and took the remaining 2 home for Stella our dog. I was expecting this to be the highlight dish of the night especially for the price! 4 ribs and 2 bones as there was no meat on the other 2! The coleslaw smelt like it had been sitting in the fridge for days, we did not dare taste it! Highlight of the dish was the chips! Definitely not recommended and no star for that either!

Lastly we ordered a fruity beer and a glass of red wine. The beer was devine! Exactly what I had requested and the service awesome! The atmosphere was great, just as we expected and the young gentleman who served us was a true gentleman. Hence the second star.

The food came out in a timely manner however more detail in the quality of produce and serving HOT food is extremely important.

We decided not to do dessert because we felt let down as highlight dish ended up being dry and cold.

The Lumsden, we traveled from south Auckland (Papakura) because we have eaten previously here. We feel that your chef's have let you down in this instance, because previously we have left satisfied and bragging about how great the food, drinks and service has been. If we wanted a mediocre meal we would have went to happy days or valentine's.

We hope you don't find this offensive and hopefully your chef's learn from what is being said. We will no longer be returning for meals however we will definitely be back for...

Just walked out and took my refund after being humiliated bullied and intimidated by the biz owner himself who had no respect no courtesy no customer service and very poor kindness and decency. He yelled across the restaurant to me standing outside with a cigarette in hand about 1m where the plant boxes are near the outdoor setting when I took a step toward my sister and my son who were sitting at the table talking to me because I couldn’t hear. We were the minority and only brown customers in the Lumsden at the time. I put my cigarette out and walked directly to the owner and asked him if he was the boss to which he said yes. I then told him I feel humiliated and I’m extremely offended he yelled at me across the restaurant from inside in front of all customers when he should have approached me respectfully and had a one on one chat he got defensive argumentative and told me he doesn’t care it’s a $2000 fine for him I told him I have mental health and he should treat customers with decency and respect he then told me if I don’t like it leave and I said I will to which he issued my refund and we left. I will never return to this business it is definitely not...