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I have never eaten at this place, (and never will) so not commenting on food. I was staying at accommodation next door to this restaurant and found my key would not let me into my room. Reception was closed and my cellphone was in my room. Being an older female on my own in a new place, I was disappointed that the staff refused to open the door or let me use the phone. Luckily 2 lovely young ladies walking past made a call to motel management for me!
Only docked 1 star on the service as they brought the wrong wine to the table. Easily sorted. Food great atmosphere great and they managed to squeeze us in without a booking ????
My last night in New Plymouth I booked a table in what appeared to be an intimate fine dining restaurant. Looks can be very deceiving! A friendly young waitress pointed to my table across the room. I pulled my chair out to discover such worn out unpholstery, I paused with shock! It was appaling the condition of the upholstery on the chairs. I looked up at the tacky blue lit tacky fairy light stapled in the middle of the ceiling. I actually like delicate very small golden fairy lights, but these were large with a large gap between each blue fairy light. They looked cheap and had zero romamtic ambience! The waiteress came over to take my drink order. I felt like a glass of Cab Sav, but the only one on the menu was by bottle only. I then looked at the Italian rosso options. I asked the waitress which Italian red would be similar to a bold cab sav from the Barossa Valley in Australia? She said she didn't know much about wine. (At least she was honest!). So I asked if I could speak to someone who did know about wine? She told me I could tell her what I wanted and she would ask for recommendations. It was painful explaining what I liked, as it went over her head. She didn't know what a Cabernet Savignon was. She came back with a recommendation of a Chianti. It sounded too light for what I wanted. So I decided to taste the Chianti and one of my choosing that was described on the menu as being full bodied. The Chianti was a poor recommendation. It was light in colour and was more like a Pinot Noir. My choice fitted my needs. From the moment I sat down there was a group of 8 women on the far side of the restaurant. Their very loud cackling and shouting was extremely irritating. It never ceased....For 45 minutes I winched, frowned and watched other patrons do the same who glanced at the group of women also looking irritated with their inconsiderate behaviour. They should have been in a noisy bar not a restaurant. I couldn't edure it anymore and asked the waitress if she could get the manager for me. Another waitress came over and I explained how irritating and inconsiderate the group of women were. Then the manager came over. I explained how I was fine with people having a good time but the level of noise coming from the table of women was ruining my evening and that I could see all the other patrons were irritated by them too. That they should be at the Roof Top Bar down the road not in a restaurant. She then went over and talked with them. They were quiet while she was talking to them, then they made belittling comments and gestures about the manager. They left soon after and the loudest one shouted at the whole restaurant as she walked through the middle of the patrons and said in a condenscending voice "See ya! Have a good evening!". The fact the manager didn't read the room from her patrons body language and not addressing these womens oboxious behaviour earlier, caused patrons to leave quickly and ruined the ambience of the whole restaurant. Very poor management on her part. I asked if their was any GF pasta as I couldn't see a reference to any on the menu. The waitress told me there wasn't any and only GF on the other mains part of the menu. I really felt like pasta and was one of the reason's I chose to dine at an Italian restaurant. There are many GF pasta's available, so not having any on their menu was not progressive in the culinary world of today. I had no choice but order a non pasta dish. I ordered the chicken parmigiana, which came out within a reasonable time.
