Reviews for Gables Speight’s Ale House

by Rekha S.
15th May 2012

Absolutely fantastic. The food was really great. I will definitely be going back for more. The ribs and the calamari were sure winners. The lamb shanks were not up to the standard and taste of our other meals. Looking forward to taking friends over as we are all big rib fans. Very generous portions and fantastic service from the staff.

by Brent
5th April 2012

We are Locals and go the Gables Speight’s Ale House very regularly and always find the staff very accomodating and the Meals to be of an excellent standard.
I would recommend to anyone of my friends

by Lee M.
3rd April 2012

Well, what can I say, we havn’t been here for a while and where very impressed with the new layout with the couches and soft chairs in the Restaurant.
The Meals very excellent as always, the service was very good,much better than our previous visit.
Well done Gables Speight’s Ale House we will most definitly be back.
Lee

by Graham
2nd April 2012

Grab One deal

Rubbish service, lousy food (a ‘medium rare’ sirloin grey and tough) offered a replacement but after a 40 minute wait for the first one asked for a refund instead. Denied! Kids running about everywhere, noisy and intrusive. Compared with Queenstown equivalent (excellent) unbelievably bad.

I feel sorry for the local residents, but at least they have a wonderful choice of alternatives near-by.

Never again.

by deborah g.
20th January 2012

OHH dear being a local and thinking that maybe I should give the re-born gables a go, oh boy what a mistake that was . I have to confess I have been here before for a quick bevvy and have found it OK a glorified beer bar with a lovely sun catching courtyard, but had never eaten here. Well last night after trying two of the entrees never again, the food is appalling, maybe my choices were bad, squid heavily spiced with Indian spices and Vietnamese spring rolls. Tender squid but coated in a soft gooey coating saturated in oil and over fried spring rolls, nothing like Vietnamese spring rolls more like commercial mini Chinese ones , bad ones at that. The service was friendly enough and quite fast. I think I will leave the Gables for bevvy drinking only.

Comment from Gables S. of Gables Speight’s Ale House 20/01/2012    Hide »

Hi Deborah Thank you for your feedback. Im sorry to hear your…    More »

Hi Deborah

Thank you for your feedback. Im sorry to hear your dining experience at the Gables Speights Ale House was less than satisfactory.

We wish you had let us know on the evening that the calamari was not to your liking. Our chefs are very accomodating and would have been happy to fix the meal so that it was to your taste. In regards to the spring rolls, while they are deep fried, it is the filling and salad that the meal is served with which justifies the Vietnemese description. Also we would like to reassure you that they not commercially made as all our meals are prepared from scratch on site.

We hope you will return for more than just a beverage in future!

Gables Speights Ale House Team

by mandie g.
5th July 2011

We come here for Lunch all the time and the food is awesome, thanks Gables Speight’s Ale House for doing better than Pub Grub. I recommend the Fish of the Day yum yum yum

by Lee M.
5th July 2011

I often frequent the Gables Speight’s Ale House, and always find the food fantastic and the service is adequate for a busy Bar Restaurant. I would highly recommend it to anyone

by kate M.
31st May 2011

Last Sunday we took our kids for a kids dinner here and also met some friends, who also had kids.
A Super Rugby game was on, which was part of the appeal for my husband. Our kids were outside playing and being noisy (their desserts took over 40 minutes after which we would be leaving). Eventually we were accosted by a rugby boofhead who said it was F@#$&n pub not a creche. I thought it was somewhat of a family restaurant but clearly like most places this is wishful thinking given their regular clientele…The food was good, so it is a shame but we won’t be coming back.

Comment from Gables S. of Gables Speight’s Ale House 19/01/2012    Hide »

Hi Kate Thank you for your comments, we apologise for the much…    More »

Hi Kate

Thank you for your comments, we apologise for the much delayed response.

We have spoken with our team regarding the night in question. Should the wait have been forty minutes for desserts this is unacceptable, and would definetly have been a first/one off event for us.

In regards to our clienteles treatment of your children. While swearing at other patrons is never condoned by our establishment on the evening in question multiple complaints had been made by patrons about the noise and activities of the children, and numerous attempts had been made by staff to approach yourselves in order to remedy the situation to the satisfaction of all. When this proved ineffective a customer resorted to approaching you himself. Although we pride ourselves on catering to families, as well as a variety of other kinds of other patrons, it is also our policy to ensure that no customers experience is negatively influenced by another.

We would not like you to feel that you could not return to the Gables Speights Ale House, especially as the food was to your enjoyment, and we hope to see you again in the future.

Gables Speights Ale House Team

by Mark B.
1st May 2011

I attended a couple of group dinners at Gables Speights Ale House while in Auckland for business. I have been a regular customer at the Hamilton restaurant and have always been impressed, but was fairly disappointed by this Auckland version.

The waiting staff were friendly but seemed to have their jobs made very difficult by bad upper management. Our waitress was suitably embarrassed to inform us that a number of the meals and wines we were interested in were not available on this night…. This is poor performance and has occurred on numerous occasions at this restaurant.

I was also put off by the duty manager being unnecessarily rude to his staff, maybe its not the staff but the systems at fault.

The food is good but the experience leaves a little to be desired.

Comment from Gables S. of Gables Speight’s Ale House 19/01/2012    Hide »

Hi Mark Thank you very much for your feedback, all your points…    More »

Hi Mark

Thank you very much for your feedback, all your points have been taken on board!

While occassionally in the past there have been occasions where we run out of items, sometimes due to ordering complications and regrettably occasionally as a result of an oversight on our part, we can assure you that we now take precautions to ensure that this will not happen again!

Im glad you found you waitress to be friendly as pride ourselves on our personal service, you are correct in saying that staff should not be spoken to poorly and in the time since your review was posted this matter has been firmly dealt with!

Now that our systems have been improved we hope that the next time you are in Auckland you will see fit to give us another visit!

Gables Speights Ale House Team

by zane
17th April 2011

Have been there twice, ok but first burger I got was full of lettuce, I mean really full. The other gripe that I have is that they asked if i want the pattie meidum? Um you can only cook mince well done and brown… not very good

Comment from Gables S. of Gables Speight’s Ale House 19/01/2012    Hide »

Hi Zane Thanks very much for your comments we always appreciate…    More »

Hi Zane

Thanks very much for your comments we always appreciate any feedback!

Although it may not be to your taste to have your burger cooked anything less than well done all our burgers are made from prime beef we are able to cook them to order the same way we would had they remained as the steaks used to be! However we understand this is not to everyones taste and our chefs would be more than happy to prepare your burger however you would prefer!

We look forward to seeing you again.

Gables Speights Ale House Team

by Craig
13th December 2010

Just been for lunch at the Gables and felt like I had to write how much of a great experience I had. Great beer, great food and the service was fantastic!
Will definitely be back!

by Nadie f.
7th December 2010

Food was alright but the big let down was the SERVICE, no welcoming greeting when you come in and staff often hanged out at the bar talking instead of checking to see if we were ready to order or whether our drinks needed topping up. We love to dine out and used to go the the Gables before it became Speights Ale House. The service was much better then. Its all about the ‘experience’ and unfortunately, it was very poor. We have dined at several other Speights Ale Houses ranging from Invercargill (best experience)to up here in Auckland.

Comment from Gables S. of Gables Speight’s Ale House 19/01/2012    Hide »

Hi Nadie Im sorry to hear that the service may not have been up…    More »

Hi Nadie

Im sorry to hear that the service may not have been up to its usual high standard when you came to dine with us. At the Gables Speights Ale House we understand that service plays an important part in the dining out “experience” as you say and our staff are all trained to provide happy, enthusiastic and knowledgeable service to all our patrons. That you feel this was not the case has been passed on to the team and we’d love for you to return and give us a chance to show you just how great our team can be!

Gables Speights Ale House Team

by Corinne G.
28th August 2010

Highlights: great beer and awesome service and knowledge from the Irish (maybe Scottish?) waitress.

Downsides: It would seem this restaurant is overly family friendly – highlighted by the multitude of kids sprinting round the bar in bare feet. Also the meals were heavy on the oil and salt.

Hoped it would be better. Might just go there for the beer from now on.

Comment from Gables S. of Gables Speight’s Ale House 19/01/2012    Hide »

Hi Corinne Firstly thank you so much for your great feedback on…    More »

Hi Corinne

Firstly thank you so much for your great feedback on one of our wonderful front of house team!!!

In regards to the overly family feel of the restaurant we do try to cater to those with children instead, as well as those without, however our staff are more than happy to ask parents to make sure their children dont upset the experience of other patrons!

Finally as mentioned below in the time since your review our new menu has been launched which has plenty of salads, mains and entrees which are lower in oil and salt than some of our more calorie laden treats!

We hope you will come try us again, for the food as well as the beer, and we’re certain we can make this worth your while!

Gables Speights Ale House Team

by christiaan A.
26th July 2010

Nice ambience but very average service and 2 out of 3 dinners were ok.

Comment from Gables S. of Gables Speight’s Ale House 19/01/2012    Hide »

Hi Christian Thank you very much for your feedback! In the time…    More »

Hi Christian

Thank you very much for your feedback! In the time since your review was placed we have taken your feedback on board and have worked with our front of house team to ensure that we provide top notch service to all our customers!
As for the food we have launched our new menu within the last six months with many new, and delicous options.
We hope you will give us another try and let us show you just how much we have taken your feedback on board!!!

Gables Speights Ale House Team

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