Reviews for Mahurangi River Winery & Restaurant

by Fran D.
18th March 2012

I came across some reviews of the Mahurangi River Winery when I was seeking inspiration for somewhere different to eat in that area today. Most of the reviews were from 2010 so maybe there has been a change of ownership which might account for the dramatic downhill slide. Four of us had lunch there a few weeks ago and not ONE of our table had food that was acceptable at any price – and it wasn’t even cheap! Tough venison, salads that looked as though they had been recycled, supermarket-style bread…uurrgh. Untidy-looking staff. Even the coffee was poor. I can award one star for the setting – but it’s rather a shame that you need to stand up to view the attractive countryside – unbelievable. We will be giving this place a wide berth today. Such a shame.

by Terence
12th January 2012

Jan 12 2012. Setting….rustic with excellent views similar to parts of France. Wine….Chardonnay 2009, vibrant, fresh with an interesting finish would drink again. Food….plates are well dressed using fresh herbs and salads, good colours. Mahurangi oysters, large, fresh and fleshy. Platter for one would have done two people but no complaints here. Venison..cooked well, portions could have been sliced thinner, and the colour of the meat was lost in the abundance of salad, however all in all excellent food using local produce. Service was warm without being cloyingly sweet or false. Will be back.

by Margaret
31st December 2011

We went here today for lunch for my mother’s birthday. We were a party of seven plus a baby. There isn’t much to choose from up here so despite some bad reviews we’d decided to go here because it was close.

The winery/restaurant is in a lovely location, up an unsealed side road well off the main road, high on a hill looking out across a beautiful vista. It is a rustic barn-looking building but the inside is charming and airy.

From the start to the end our experience was perfect. Friendly, attentive wait-staff who brought across toys for our bub and quickly brought water etc. There were two younger wait staff and two older front of house staff who seemed to be the owners. All were welcoming and happy to help with various things.

We tried the bruschetta for starters and the flavours were delicate and unique. Blue cheese/mushrooms/olive paste, yum! Several of our party had the fish of the day and all raved about it. It was claimed to be the best they’d had and it was excellent to see that local Leigh fish had been used.
I had the squid which was cooked perfectly and two others had the venison which also received the seal of approval. They even had a baby platter for our little one.

Desert was also pronounced divine!

I was so glad we decided to come here and look forward to taking other visitors back in the future.

by MJ
14th August 2011

Dined here recently in the school holidays with my 8 year old.

I had my standard eggs benedict which I have everywhere I go, to judge the quality of the restaurant – eggs were cooked perfectly and the salmon was superb – so much so I had to ask where they got it – apparently sourced locally at Leigh. YUM

My 8 year old had a childrens platter and what a lovely selection on this – it is soooo good to go to a cafe that caters for children that DO like things other than chips and chicken nuggets. it had a wide variety of food on the plate and she was happy even happier when they brought out the divine homemade ice cream. Mum had to get a spoon!

Service was attentive, view stunning. really enjoyable visit. Wish I was there again in the sunshine instead of watching it snow in Dunedin.

Will certainly go back if I am ever back in the area.

by Sera C.
23rd February 2010

I too have dined there with my family and friends and have found the whole place a wonderful experience. If the new owners have just bought the place, why didn’t the previous owner(s) have the shading situation sorted out when the place was first built?

Were there table and chairs when it first opened with the original owners? I heard there was no garden before and that was the first thing the new owners decided to do first, beautify the place. What a fantastic garden walk. I noticed some vegetables growing too amongst the pretty flowers.

From my perception, it looks like everything is new, inside and outside furniture, I know the inside has changed, that is easy to see.

The menu prices are not Ponsonby or Via Duct prices at all, in fact they are cheap in comparison considering the cost of food, ingredients and prep time to prepare beforehand. If you had visited some of the other local eateries you would find there prices are more at Auckland prices as that is the market they are trying to capture and that is why they close during the winter months.

If the menu was dissected as suggested by the other review, it would be no wonder the children’s menu was overlooked as it would have been the most simplest dish to prepare and was forgotten as the other dishes had to be remade without it’s true ingredients. I would say an oversight on the kitchen’s part. Maybe in future phone ahead in advance and comment on allergy issues and the kitchen can prepare ahead of time and that way your dining experience would be pleasurable, especially with a large group.

As for the beer, you are very lucky they were serving beer, fruit juices and fizzy at all, one winery in particular will only serve their wine and grape juice. They will not cater for people who may have allergies to grapes, which I have a friend who does. Besides, the bar area seems pretty small to me, not much you can have behind there.

The water yes, maybe they should have offered bottled water, but it would be at your cost. It is unfortunate, their water pump decided to collapse in the middle of service and I’m sure it was rectified in no time as the kitchen would not be able to operate without it.

Hand sanitisers are more expense for any company to have which I’m sure they do have installed in the kitchen, as that is where it should be mainly. Carry your own little one like I do and others I have seen do. I can’t go anywhere without mine. I use it especially after handling shopping trundlers at the supermarket; you just don’t know what sort of germs you will pick up. They are never hosed down or sanitised.

Maybe next time with big groups, do it at home. I know from our big extended family we arrange to gather at one family members and then take along a plate of either hot, cold, desserts and own drinks. We have an absolutely fabulous time and the kids and grand kids wander off and do their own thing and no-one complains.

I feel sorry for the birthday person as that will be one birthday he/she will never forget. The guests should have let the birthday person’s day be a positive and wonderful experience to remember and I’m sure he/she would have, except for the odd idiosyncrasies.

I too experienced something similar when a friend invited a few of us (12 adults), out for her birthday dinner (60th), and one person made the whole night turn into a nightmare as he/she was so negative and everything and anything was not right. In the end, I had to tell him to be quiet, as it was not his night, he was not paying and to stop spoiling her day. I was praised by the other guests for doing so including the birthday girl.

The ideal venue for special occasions is at home with family and friends, nothing can go wrong and everyone will have enjoyed themselves.

I will keep going back for lunch maybe dinner too, once you get the politics sorted with your local council.

Bon appetite!!!

by Daphne W.
22nd February 2010

I have eaten at this restaurant and found the food very appetising.
I believe on the day this group were there, the waitress had to deal with quite a few queries with regards to the ingredients due to some guests having allergies, which meant the whole menu would require to be dissected to suit the customers needs missing out on a lot of the essential ingredients which would make the dish quintessential. This would be the main reason why it took so long to prepare.
It is always polite beforehand to phone ahead and point out certain allergies so that the kitchen can prepare dishes to suit customer requirements. I have no doubt this did not happen as I could see the waitress going backwards and forwards to the kitchen.
I totally enjoyed my meal until I saw a few people from that table move outside to have a cigarette and right in the entrance way.
We wanted to sit outside too, and it was explained to us why there were no umbrellas, the high winds had completely destroyed all the umbrellas they had purchased before opening and are now looking at ways to better accommodate outside shading. All is work in progress I’m sure for the new owners.
I have been back since and with a few friends and have had a fantastic day.
Keep it up. We do not wish to see the place close again….it would be ashame if it did, especially for a small community.

by Megan A.
9th February 2010

We went to this winery for a 50th birthday celebration. On arrival the sun was shining, the large windows wide open, the deck bathed in sunlight…. so it would be fair to say the location and place itself is absolutely stunning. It almost feels like your in Tuscany with the grapevines and rolling hills etc etc etc. However this is where the positive ends and the negative begins. Although the large deck was beautiful and sunny, there was no way we could sit outside as it was too hot and there were, surprisingly, no umbrellas or shade making it a suicide mission for your skin if you took the risk of sitting there. It took a little while to be seated even though they had had the booking for 14 people for over 4 weeks so our table was in no way ready for us. At the time and throughout the lunch the restaurant was never full…which was just as well as it took well over an hour and a half to get our meals. It had taken them a long time to even take our orders and despite ordering a drink for the 5 year old as we sat, they had to be reminded twice to get it for him. Actually every time we wanted something (like another bottle of wine) or to order the next course they seemed to have to be asked to come and take the order rather than preempting us. They seemed totally overwhelmed even though there was another table with 8 people (2 of which were children), and two other tables with 4 and 2 customers. There were many tables empty so I do wonder how they would have coped if it had been full at the time.

To the food…. The menu looked nice but reasonable pricey for lunch….more like Ponsonby prices. However the food itself was largely tasteless. It needed seasoning, even some salt would have been good. The meals varied with some being better than others. I had the Tuna Nicose salad which was $26 and consisted of a tough, almost overcooked, piece of tuna, 3 slices of potato (also unseasoned), a few beans, a bland ?garlic mayo and some lovely small olives. I thought it was quite expensive for what it was especially as i wasn’t cooked properly. The other meals varied from the lamb which was cooked nicely, to the Caesar salad which was very average. Some of the seafood smelled strange like it was on the turn so wasn’t eaten.

The children had ordered form the kids menu but were served after the adults had finished their mains. In fact the staff had to be asked where their food was so it was just as well we had also ordered some bowls of fries so they had something to eat as it was getting very late by then and they were very hungry. However when the food did arrive they complained about the chicken smelling strange. Sure enough it was most definitely OFF…great if they had eaten it and started vomiting!! To the staffs credit they also admitted it smelled off and we were not charged for those meals. This is all good however as a mother having to deal with a child who has food poisoning I would have been a lot less forgiving. I guess it’s just as well they had the presence of mind to not eat it!

We stayed for dessert but ordered it early as everything seemed to take so long to come out. The creme brulee was well overcooked. Although it tasted nice, it was far too firm rather than a proper creamy, just set texture. The chocolate tart was dry but the presentation lovely. The children had ice cream sundaes which they were very happy with.

Other things to mention is that they only had a few bottles of a variety of beer in the fridge so the order had to be changed, and the water pump had broken so there was no water either to drink or in the toilet to wash our hands with. They really needed to offer us an alternative to the water while we were waiting and have a back up like hand sanitiser for the toilets should this happen again.

This place is so visually beautiful it’s a pity the food and service did not make the grade therefore I would not return until they sort out these issues. You can only go on looks for so long then if the rest of the experience does not match up they will most certainly fail. This would be a huge pity as the potential here is huge.

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