Reviews for Black Salt Bar & Eatery

by Ryana
4th April 2012

Have been in the past and food was great! BUT, they have changed their Salt and Pepper Squid from a beautifully presented and tasting salad, to a few bits of Salt n Pepper Squid on a plate, which was a huge disspointment!
Also the Foreshore and Seabed meal was NOT as discribed, and was very very dissapointing; on the menu it is discribed as haveing PrawnS and Scallops .. well, yes it did come with both, but only ONE Prawn, and 2 – 3 barely legal sized Scallops, so a bit of false advertising on their menu, and rather disapointing to get served that especially for the price paid!
Waiters there are fairly friendly though, however we were there with another large group, and I dont think the staff know how to handle having large groups there, as to about 30 people, there was only ONE waiter taking all their orders, which lead to, by the time one half of the group had eaten all their meals, the other half was only just being brought out theirs, which we thought was silly, one would think with a large grouping the staff would allocate at least 2 waiters to them? and it was not as if the place had many of us patrons in it (besides that large group) so there were extra staff available, and I am sure they would have known in fair amount of time how many were turning up that night due to having to book for dinners.
All in all, I dont think we will be back in a hurry, as it just doesnt seem to have the same atmosphere it once had, and the food grading has really gone downhill in the past year or so, not to mention alot of their Stones for the Stone Grills are cracked, and I noticed with our meals, we had some ‘grit’ on the meats from the cracks on the stones, which was not very pleasent to say the least.

by faye m.
3rd March 2012

Found the service to be efficient and friendly. Food of a high standard and although the “Stone Cooking” was a new experience for me, it was most enjoyable. A very pleasant environment to meet with friends in a well presented setting.

by Annelies c.
21st October 2011

This is the best place to eat in the whole of west auckland, we come here at least once a month and the food and service are always excellent. The price is definatly vallue for money.

If you want exclususive cuisine go somewhere else but if you like to do stonegrilling wich is great with just 2 people but also with groups or some nice pub food this is the place to go.

The atmosphere and service is always great and on saturday they have live music. Whitout a doubt a 5 star rating.

by Angela
6th September 2011

Sat in the sun at Black Salt yesterday and enjoyed a beer with my Stonegrill Foreshore & Seabed. Yummy!
So needed a relaxing lunch!

Thanks for picking my day up Black Salt!

by Chris
3rd June 2011

Worst restaurant in Auckland!

Why is Black Salt in New Lynn the worst restaurant in Auckland?

Reservations – It took us 3 attempts to eat here. The first time they booked on the wrong day and said we would have to wait ‘a long time’ before they could accommodate us. The second time they had just seated a large table and it was going to be about 1 1/2 hrs to serve us. The third time they had us booked for the wrong day again, but this time the restaurant was so empty it wasn’t a problem.

Noise – the music was so loud we couldn’t hold a conversation or hear the waitress recite the menu specials. When we asked the waitress to move us further away from the singer it was a ‘difficult’ request, despite the restaurant being empty – they had positioned the truly awful singer in the restaurant area right next to the patrons! When the singer thankfully stopped they cranked up the sound system to an equally inappropriate volume.

Food – I left the restaurant hungry. My steak was served on a hot stone accompanied by some very small side panels for the rest of the meal. The menu is very limited and most the meals you have to cook at the table using the ridiculous hot stone concept they have – if I wanted to cook my own food I could stay at home.

Staff – everything was a hassle for the staff. I asked for my steak to be cooked rare after struggling with raw meat on a hot stone but I was told they couldn’t do it despite having a kitchen and a bored chef within my vision. When the 12 year old manager asked me if I enjoyed my meal at the end I made the mistake of answering politely but truthfully and she ended up arguing with me and I had to insist on just being able to pay my bill and leave.

Do not eat here, it is absolutely awful.

If you are thinking of setting up a restaurant in New Lynn keep an eye on this place as I doubt they will be in business for long, you’ll get a good building at a cheap price and there’s no decent competition in the area.

by Laurel
20th April 2011

Last November my husband and I tried to have a meal here but they were packed and wanted us to sit outside in the rain to wait for a table. Ahh, no! So that time we went to the Acacia Cafe instead. A couple of weeks ago we decided to give Black salt another go…. Wish we didn’t. The bread and dips had shrunk. I had the Stone Grill Foreshore & Seabed with a few tiny baby potatoes and a tiny salad. I could do better at home, the steak needed some extra flavour. My husband had the Chicken Breast with Chorizo and Beetroot Jelly with some odd rosti thing too lol. He didn’t enjoy his meal either and said it looked like they used left overs from other meals to make his meal. We didn’t bother with dessert. They were busy and seemed like they couldn’t handle that ammount of customers. Glad we had a buy 1 get 1 free main voucher because that certainly wasn’t worth full price and was not up to restaurant standards, maybe Dennys standards lol. When Black salt orginally opened my husband and I dined there and enjoyed our meals. Seems such a waste they have let their standards slip.

by steph
23rd March 2011

The best thing about our visit to Black Salt tonight was the lovely service and nice venue. The food however was a real let-down. Bland. Dry old mash potatoes. Rubber rosti. The waiter did not ask us if we enjoyed our meal – although she was very friendly and knew her job – which left me thinking she didn’t really want to know the answer. Wise choice on her part – we won’t be back again. Kitchen cowboys need to eat their own food and honestly appraise it for improvement (ever heard of salt and pepper guys?)

by arp976
26th January 2011

This restaurant is very stylish – inside it has a very different but enhancing curved wooden slat wall and ceiling which makes the large space more “cosy”. The outside has some nice tables – though, as usual, they were taken by smokers.

The menu has a nice selection of dishes. We ordered two mains – the chicken and market fish. Whilst the dishes were presented and cooked perfectly, we were disappointed that they just had the potato and no greens which would have complimented the dish.

For $27 we thought the mains were over-priced and left us wanting desert.

by Wade N.
19th December 2010

Went for late lunch. Had the venision, over cooked and lacked any real flavour, for a empty restaurant food was delayed for what we had ordered. Service was ok, nothing stood out that would make me return,priced little highly for quality of food recieved

by Bobbi K.
18th October 2010

Quiz night Wednesdays – fantastic. The place is packed and we still got great service and had loads of fun. Best quiz night we’ve had ever. Be back again. The food was great, loads to choose from but best of all the staff are so friendly and welcoming.Didn’t win any of the prizes but was well worth going.Cool place

by Michael S.
18th October 2010

Been to Blacksalt several times now. Great place! The food is great with a wide selection to choose from. Healthy option with the stonegrill, yummy fondues and a good selection of ala carte. Deserts have improved big time – finally!
The service was outstanding as always, but wow….what a surprise, one of the staff came out from the kitchen and sang Opera. Outstanding!!!!

by grey
11th September 2010

one word…horrible!

The service was RUDE and the food was disgusting!
Food was overpriced slop, under cooked meat and the side salad was a few bits of lettuce!
The desert was a joke! The chocolate fondue tasted like Budget No Frills hot chocolate with a few tiny bits of fruit to dip with.
The waiter would stand arm crossed and staring down at tables as if he wanted to close shop early, he hastily grabbed an ashtray at another table and the ash went all over a woman. She looked shocked but he continued on without apologising.

An absolute shocker!!! Of a bar and restaurant.
No redeeming qualities at all…..except for the exit door!

by haylee
11th September 2010

**Buyer beware**
The worst place ever!! If you like terrible service and overpriced rubbish food this is the place for you. The steak wasn’t cooked properly, the seafood chowder was watery and hardly had any seafood inside, the drinks were watered down too plus the service was horrible! Very rude waiter that acted like he couldn’t wait for everyone to leave. Very snappy and impatient. highly recommend to enemies!

by Corinne G.
30th August 2010

I love Black Salt – consistently great service, great food and great atmosphere here.

We’ve had almost everything on the menu, portions are generous and the flavours are amazing.

The staff take their time out to answer our questions, offer us suggestions and socialise with us when they can.

Can’t wait for summer again, to sit outside in the last of the afternoon sun

by tania
19th July 2010

Had a wonderful dinner here. Order the stone grilled steak with prawns and scallops. It was alot pricer than the lighter options which is about the same serving size. Place was fully booked at the time as there was a game on but wouldn’t hesitate to go again, staff were helpful and service was fast.

by Cherry
10th April 2010

Been twice now, disappointing eggs bene the first time, went for the lite stone-grill the second. Stone-grill wasn’t too bad – pity the side salad wasn’t as fresh as it should be and drenched in dressing. My partner got the side of fries which were better.
One coffee was dismal, the other was pretty good so it seems it depends on who you have making your coffee.
Service was friendly on both visits.

by noel k.
27th March 2010

Manager tried to take my childs meal off price of my birthday voucher which states birthday person..me..eats free.
Even waitress said it was wrong.
When I told him this was wrong he tried to say he thought it was the same as the Entertainment book.where cheapest meal was taken off price….good try.surely he has had loads of these vouchers!!!!!He was then rude.Also my meal was uncooked and my daughters kids meal was bigger!!!What a joke my lamb consisted of an uncooked piece of tough meat with a tiny bit of cabbage and 10 or so pinenuts..Worst dining experience We have ever had.Would never go there again.Manager was a joke!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Unprofessional.never asked how meal was or anything. prices way over the top for slop!!!!!!

by xtr
2nd January 2010

This was the worst dining experience I have ever come across.

How hard is it to have a side of vegetables on the menu?

Very overpriced – food was atrocious.
I had lamb shank – very over cooked & dried out (very small shank – must have been a very young lamb).

Service was equally atrocious.

by PJ
28th July 2009

Service was slow. Food was bad.
Go into the CBD for a fun night.
Staff serving drunk guests….. not a good look.

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