Nolita — Restaurant in Wellington

My brother and I were up from Christchurch and visited this place on New Year's Day with our two friends. They did not seem very busy and had plenty of staff on. We were seated and ordered coffees and food. All the staff seemed to be on a go-slow (perhaps hungover) and definitely like they did not want to be there. The coffees came within 10mins. Our two friends’ food arrived in another 15mins and they found it right-away to be luke-warm. Our food did not arrive, so after 10mins we enquired. We were told by the disinterested waiting person that it would not be long. Another 10mins and another inquiry with an equally dismissive “won’t be long”. 10mins later and we got a different, less interested, more arrogant, server, who explained they had taken our order to the wrong table so were starting again. Our two meals finally arrived 20mins after our friends had finished theirs. Mine was a truffled mushroom burger with Caesar salad. The salad was vile! The lettuce was all storks with the few green bits black on the edges where rot had started, and the “croutons” all soggy like they had been sitting in water. There was also no dressing I could see. The burger tasted like the mushrooms were also off and I only had two bites, as the taste and smell was awful. Looking at the large amount of food left on the other three plates it was obvious that no one’s meal was much better. I feel like I could make better meals with the contents of the skip out the back. Maybe that's where they get their ingredients! As we left the vacant person at the till uttered a “How was your meal” and when we told him of our terrible experience he just stared blankly at us. We paid, unhappily, and left. Seems like this joint is trading on it’s past reputation, not on what it delivers now. Sadly I cannot put Zero stars as that is what they deserve. Terrible food, atrocious staff and no reason to...

We had a nice time previously so came back for a special treat with the kids but regretted it and won't be back. The food was nice but the service was poor.

We'd understand if they were short staffed but when we arrived the restaurant was about half full and they appeared fully staffed - three waiters and bartender. No mention of staff shortage.

We were seated without a drinks menu. After waiting for 15 minutes for someone to take our order my wife approached the counter, the bartender gave her a drinks menu and said he'd send someone but didn't so after 5 more minutes we finally got the attention of a waiter. Kids were starving.

They were out of GF pizza bases leaving 3 GF mains. When the starters arrived they had forgotten one of them so this arrived much later.

We asked for tomato sauce for the fries and were given an empty sauce bottle and an empty sauce dish. By the time we realised, the waiter had disappeared so back to the counter where the bartender said he'd bring more "later". Then found a waiter who sorted this citing a national tomato sauce shortage.

The kids Fettuccine Napolitana arrived with a cheese (not tomato based) sauce. Our son was too hungry to send it back and thought he might like it but turned out he could only stomach half.

Table was small for the four of us and they were slow to clear so the table reservation sign caught fire as it was pushed up against the candle. Staff didn't notice.

When we went to pay we were told the total without being offered the bill. We checked and were charged for an adult pizza that we ordered from the kids menu.

We only dine out every few months and made a special trip from the Hutt so it was a big disappointment.

Perhaps the most surprising thing is that in spite of it all we enjoyed each...

I wouldn't have bothered to write a review but just got a prompt from the restaurant because we'd booked for a birthday lunch with our not-quite vegan daughter and vegan curious nephew who was about to return overseas. When we arrived, there was no table immediately ready and we had to wait while they set things up--not a big deal on a quiet day, but not an auspicious beginning. Orders were taken efficiently; we asked for the side of chips to be brought out as soon as it was ready as we were a bit hungry, and ordered three pizzas and an avo toast for my partner. After a while three pizzas arrived; mine wasn't especially hot and then the chips came, also lukewarm, as if they'd been sitting a bit and been forgotten. Pizzas were just average. When we were halfway through with them, there was still no avo toast, so I asked and it turned out it had been forgotten. To Nolita's credit, they were super apologetic, and didn't charge us for the toast, but it only arrived after the rest of the food was finished. Thumbs up on it, though; it was better than anything else we'd ordered even if prepared hastily - avocado sliced over sourdough bread with a sprinkling of cheese and a sauce. An overall mediocre experience, and a disappointment for a celebration. As always, your mileage may vary, and the server was kind even if there were...