New Zealand Herald

Reviews for Annabelle’s Restaurant

by G P.
23rd September 2012

Went to this restaurant last night. The food was excellent. Had garlic bread, entrees, mains and desert. Everything tasted really good. Potatoe Gnocchi was particularly good as was the Haloumi cheese. Lovely service. Nice lighting, candle on table. Very little background noise but did arrive early. Restaurant was full by the time we left. Would recommend.

by Ros
11th May 2012

My husband and I have been going to Annabelles Restraunt for several years, and we have never been disappointed. The meals are very inexpensive considering the excellent quality – the view overlooking the waterfront is lovely…we prebook the window seat…. and the staff (all of them!) have always treated us in a warm and personal manner. I have no hesitation in reccomending this restaurant – and I’m just about to book it now for my Mother’s Day treat!

by Keith H.
8th April 2012

I went to Annabelles today for lunch with my brother. The food was great and the 2 young female waitresses were superb. The experience however was ruined by the manageress who portrayed an aggressive and less than friendly demeanour.
Reluctantly she agreed to accept the entertainment card that gives a discount of 25% inferring her staff had made a mistake agreeing to it’s acceptance as it was a holiday weekend.
Upon leaving I provided my credit card and some cash to settle the bill however cleverly the managaress deducted the cash from the gross amount of the bill and then applied the 25% discount to the balance instead of applying the discount first to the bill which would be correct and then accepting the cash as a part payment of the final net amount. The managaress clearly sought the opportunity to reduce the impact of the entertainment card discount.
Whilst the amount was insignificant the principle and attitude prevails and the experience leaves a sour taste in my mouth for a return visit or to refer the establishment to any friends thus tarnishing the brand.

by Sue S.
26th February 2012

Firstly I want to say that the food here is pretty GREAT and the waitresses are wonderful, especially the young girl who works weekends.However, the manager is absolutely shocking. I overheard her bullying her staff and getting them to give the ‘move along’ to patrons sitting on the outside table so she can free up the spots faster. The waitress said the customer was still having her coffee but the manageress insisted she go out and hurry her up again. I found her rude and totally off-putting. I had a coffee this morning and had barely sat down on a table outside when a group of 5 other customers came along, she asked me to get off the table I was sitting at and to sit on a table inside because she wanted the bigger group outside spending more money. I have been to Annabelle’s 3 times now in three weeks, (only just discovered it) my first experience was GREAT because this mean manageress was not there but my second time I noticed a bit of tension when she showed up…this being my third and final experience I will never go back. The young waitress came over and apologized to me for her manager literally kicking me off my table. I asked for my coffee to be put into a take away cup and I left without so much as an apology or an acknowledgement of any sort from the Manageress (Maybe she’s the owner I don’t know) What a shame. I understand businesses need to make money,I manage a business myself but this was so bad.

by Garrick H.
15th March 2011

Dined last Saturday evening and friend and I both enjoyed the experience. I had the pork belly on kumara mash topped with apple cider sauce and scallops, with heaps of crackling. Delicious and tender. Friend enjoyed the snapper which she said was tops. Service friendly and prompt. Good wine list. Eagerly await our next visit to this restaurant.

by jimmy
11th May 2010

We went there for breakfast as our local was full.
Eggs Benedict needs to have runny eggs no? every dish we ordered had hard pouched eggs, Shocking?
Funny enough I noticed at the other tables every other dish that came out after ours was the same and everyone noticed!, When i mentioned it to the wait staff whom had been walking around and would have seen this said “oh no really we will try and fix it” I would not be coming here for lunch or dinner, very disapointed that a chef can’t even pouch eggs???

by james
6th January 2010

I been living in Uk and US for last three years and came back home for holiday, I have to say I had the best sea food ever. Wife and I shared calamri which was just awesom and I had the chowder which is soo good that it blows Boston chowder away anyday and even my American wife loved it and she hates chowders. For main I had Snapper which was just out of this world with lemon sauce and wife had the lamb which she just loved. Will be back again no doubt and wish I can take this place with me back to US.
And the fine lady who served us was just a delite. Will be looking forward to coming back here before we live.

by Richard
5th January 2010

The food was good years ago when the owner started up. There are even awards on the wall, though I suspect these are given out fairly liberally. If you are only stopping for a glass of this or a cup of that then there is a place on either corner less than a minute away that will serve you better ( and I don’t even like Kahve! ). If you are hungry and you want to eat at the seaside get some fish and chips, you’ll not want to eat at the place next to the bus-stop. The dairy past the Westpac will do old fashioned icecreams in a cone with chocolate dipping. Anyway you look at it you have better options than stopping here.

by Garry
31st December 2009

Went there with the good reviews from MenuMania and hope for good food for the new year eve dinner with the wife.

Entree – dear and taste average. The award winning seafood chowder taste like from the super market. Sashimi is small portion but fish is fresh so 2 stars – Average

Main – ordered the Lamp Chop and Fish, no complain – wife recogn it is the best Lamp chop she had in New Zealand. The Fish I had is great very good fried but a little bit salty. 4 Stars

Service – very bad! The Boss or the Manager keep being mean to clients and staff. She is aggressive when I made the booking. Yelling at the old man beside us when he tried to get her to bring the bill to the table. Keep educating rudely the staff through out the night in front of the customers. Therefore we lost our mood to stay for the dessert. When we made the payment, she was really in-polite, keep telling off a staff at the same time and throw me my credit card, and never stop yelling at her staff.

Overall 2 stars + 4 stars + 0 star = average 2 stars.

Will never be back no matter how good is the food with that un-professional Manager.

by Henry H.
23rd April 2009

Excellent food. My father had a steak and I had a fish entre. Peaceful and relaxed ambience and decor.

by Rob
7th June 2008

We walked off the street (again).
A seafood platter entree was great (however I wouldn’t have put corn fritters into the platter). 4 out of 5.
The pork belly main was the best yet. Tender pork,crispy crackling, mashed with an apple sauce. Gorgeous!! 5 out of 5.
The service was efficient, friendly, and helpful. Good advice on the wines. thanks.

by Grant
24th March 2008

In a nutshell, the food was very good and the service was poor resulting in an overall experience that will not see us return.
My wife and I went to Annabelles for our wedding anniversary and despite trying hard to get the staff to give us a break between courses, they kept on bringing out the dishes one after the other and we were out of there in 60 minutes, by 8.00pm. One felt that they were wanting to close up shop early and get away ASAP. This ruined our evening to some extent and was unacceptable when the meal cost $140. I would suggest that only one course is ordered at a time – that might allow the diner to dictate the course of the evening a little better.
Despite the service we experienced, the food was very good. The garlic bread was some of the best we have ever had, the seafood chowder and tempura prawns were very nice and we both had their award winning lamb rack main course which was delicious.
A good menu, nice food but be warned about the service and make sure you are not out of there too quickly, unless that is what you want.

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