New Zealand Herald

Reviews for Gables Speight’s Ale House

by Diane W.
29th May 2013

This business is a MenuMania SponsorOne of the Business' Favourite Reviews

Went here for the first time today for lunch. The atmosphere is fabulous, the staff are friendly and knowledgeable about the menu. Please do yourself a favour and try the mushroom polenta; it is truly memorable!

by Johnny H.
21st May 2013

We booked a table for mothers day, on arrival the ladies were greeted with a smile and a glass of bubbles by fantastic friendly staff, the children’s meal came nice and early allowing them then to watch the clown who performed for over an hour, this giving us adults peace and quiet to enjoy the day, The meals were great, plenty of variety and taste, i recommend the ribs!!! not for the faint hearted!! this was our first visit to The Gables and will definitely be back.

by Caroline
13th May 2013

Mother’s Day 12th May 2013.
Went to the Gables Speight’s Ale House because I saw somewhere that they were having a clown to entertain the children. This was a brilliant idea. We met friends and between us we had 6 children entertained for one and a half hours. We had a superb meal and the service could not have been better. The staff were attentive and the food was delicious. Definitely recommend this to anyone with children as they had a great children’s menu that wasn’t all deep fried. The glass of bubbles went down a treat.

by Fergus B.
2nd January 2013

We normally find the food/service excellent, however, on New Years eve we found the lamb shank dishes too dry and tough.
We experienced a lack of communication between the waiting staff – multiple staff served us, but they were not in sync as to the status of ordering. Also, we were informed too late as to several of the dessert items being out of stock. When paying the bill I attempted to provide some of this feedback to the reception, where instead of really taking onboard the feedback, it seemed as though they was more intent on making excuses. We look forward to a better evening next time, and put this down to a bad night

by Marietta
23rd December 2012

I dine here with my family for every special occasion. The staff is very attentive and we always enjoy our meals. Highly recommend the fish of the day. Always cooked to perfection! Our waitress was very attentive to our children. We enjoyed the free children meal promotion. A++

by Anna
15th November 2012

We came here for an early dinner with my son. The service was fantastic – friendly, efficient and attentive to the boy (goody bag was also a nice touch). He loved his wee man’s burger meal, and I enjoyed the scallops, very tender and tasty, but the other burgers we also ordered (one was a tasty chicken) were enormous and most went back to the kitchen. I would definitely come back here – the food was fine, not outstanding, but the service was great – 3 other families and children dining at the same early time on a Tuesday was evidence enough that this is a family friendly place.

by Jordan A.
30th October 2012

Dined here on Saturday 27th. Booked 5 days in advance by phone however when we turned up at 7.30 the “Maître d’ ” told me that he could not find our booking. After this he went on to say how it could not possibly have been their mistake as it is always recorded and then said we must have been lying to get in on rugby night (I didn’t even know there was a game on). After about 5 minutes of making us feel stupid in a near empty restaurant he said he might manage to find us a table in the bar part, which tuned out to be behind a pillar and near a blaring TV. After this the service by the waitress was OK, she was funny but couldn’t pronounce the menu and wasn’t too sure on a lot of things. Started with the bread and dips then for mains it was fish which was fine, overpriced for what and where it was. Didn’t feel like staying around so we left quickly without dessert. When we exited the places was still practically empty with a few diners in the restaurant portion of the place and the couches near the TV full. Won’t be going back here ever, there are so many better places in Auckland and with the service of their Maître d’, it’s obvious they don’t really want to take your money.

Comment from Gables S. of Gables Speight’s Ale House 7/11/2012    Hide »

Hi Jordan, thanks for your review, however mostly all of your…    More »

Hi Jordan, thanks for your review, however mostly all of your points of concern are in-correct. I will not go into detail and do a tit for tat message as that is pointless. You are entitled to your opinion and so are we. I will comment on your behaviour, it is not acceptable to treat any hospitality staff in any establishment like something you have on the bottom of your shoe.

by Sharon
15th October 2012

Had a lovely lunch here yesterday(Sun). Staff were great. Friendly and attentive, making sure we had everything we needed/wanted and we were happy with our food. Our lovely waitress was only too happy to offer assistance with what the meals offered, but it wasnt necessary as the menus are clear and easy to understand. The restaurant itself is very clean (including the bathrooms A1). The food was lovely. Meat tender, just fell of the bones. Those scallops were delicious, just as a previous diner mentioned. Only downside was the coffee. Unfortunately it was a bit cold but the flavour was just right. If it had been hot it would have been a perfect cup of moccachino for me. No hesitation in recommending. It is child friendly, even supplying toys for children to play with until their meals arrived. A nice touch.
Thank you for the opportunity to try, we will definitely consider those express meal deals, they look very good value. All the best.

Comment from Gables S. of Gables Speight’s Ale House 7/11/2012    Hide »

Thank you Sharon, I’m pleased you had a great experience, we hope…    More »

Thank you Sharon, I’m pleased you had a great experience, we hope to see you again soon.

by Isaak
19th September 2012

I turned up with friends last sunday to have a drink, I thought the layout of the place was great but was very disappointed with the rudeness of one of the staff, who was a middle aged maori man, He was extremely rude and abrubt almost to the point of coming across aggressive which all of my friends noticed as well. Other than this member of staff the place was great, but I dont think any of us would be back to enjoy a drink if we had to be served by this gentelman.

by Brent M.
23rd August 2012

The $25 Menu is Two Courses and a Pint or Glass of Wine.
I drive past here everyday and the sign out front spells this out.
We often go up to the Gables for Dinner and we find the meals are of a very high standard. The Scallops with Pork Belly is to die for.

by d h.
19th August 2012

Over priced by Ponsonby, Parnell and Viaduct standards. Over resourced with seemingly poor training. One beer and one brushetta $25 says it all. A long way from either a local pub or gastro-pub experience.
Plenty better in the area. Not much southern hospitality in this local. Very disappointed.

by Juku
9th June 2012

Beer was OK and so was the food. Unfortunately they don’t have the taster tray anymore (but haven’t updated it on their website or menu).

I’m sure they could do much better with the source of the meat – didn’t see anything mentioned if any is free range?

by duke m.
26th May 2012

Was a bit miffed by the situation we incurred. My partner rang earlier in the day to make a booking as the voucher instructed us to do, but was told on the phone that it was not busy and we would not need to book. Then we turned up and got told by our waitress that we couldn’t dine with vouchers as we did not have a booking! After telling the waitress that we had tried to book, she went off to ask and came back saying “we will allow you to dine today as we are not busy” which started the night off a bit sour, was not the best response seeing as how the error was on their part…. But the service the rest of the night was good. Had the ribs and the black cherry chicken with the kumara mash which were both delicious, but the steak was just average. I would come back for the food, but I would definitely book no matter what they said…

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

Another great visit to Gables Speight’s Ale House, the food is excellent, and the service is actually very impressive. We always take our friends and family here and it never fails. We really enjoy being able to sit in a sunny courtyard and get table service, this does not happen in many places anymore. Big ups to the management you staff are a credit to you.

by Graham R.
2nd April 2012

Voucher 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 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

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