New Zealand Herald

Reviews for Lone Star Cafe & Bar

by Jackie
17th May 2013

I came here a few years ago and thought huh, its ok but nothing great, this time it was fantastic!

we had a couple of hiccups along the way but overall the food was fantastic and so was the service.

we had booked and had to wait for our table, so we had drinks at the bar. once getting our table we were told about specials etc, our loaf bread arrived promptly and was so warm and Delicious. We ordered mains, which apparently there was an issue with the kitchen printer so our mains got a little mixed up. we ordered three chicken and two ribs (9) and received the twelve ribs (which we were only charged for the nine). however the food was fantastic and the service from Shane was awesome, he was clear about the issue and went out of his way to apologise. we also had desserts which were fantastic if not completely correct. Which Shane attended to. also because we were there for a birthday they did an amazing surprise dessert.

definitely recommend this restaurant if you are after good food and good service.

by Rey
15th April 2013

The portions may be huge but you are paying $30 bucks for it, so the size versus cost ratio is not very favourable.

I’d stick to desserts if I was going here. Do not get the starters because they are miniscule in size.

Having said this, the food is cooked really well, I just think it should be cheaper.

Great service and atmosphere though!

by Tony M.
12th March 2013

Wickedly large portions, and awesome young staff.

This is where we have most of our work functions or meet up meals and drinks.

The Riccarton store is still my favorite at 5 stars, however the last time I was in the Newmarket store, it was just WAAAAAY too hot, got heat rash and was almost sweating…

If they can fix that, I have no complaints

by Samantha T.
16th February 2013

Despite what previous reviews have said about customer service we found that our experience was quite the opposite. We found the staff were very hospitable. We had made a provisional reservation for 7pm on Friday and were seated instantly. We had the delight of being waited on by Holly who was very quick and friendly. She checked on our table regularly and was very professional.

The restaurant was busy and had a great atmosphere. There were a mixture of tables and booths. It appeared to be family friendly.

We ordered fizzy drinks which were large in size. For our entree we had the Lone Star loaf and Mussels which was divine! There was just the right amount of wait time between the entree and main meals. For our mains we had the Prawn star and the Sirloin steak. Both my partner and I enjoyed our meal. We found the portions were huge and that we had difficulty finishing our drink, entrees and mains. We had no space for desert. We were so full it felt like Christmas day!

The mains ranged between $25-35 which was real value for money considering the size of the portions! Our bill came to around $86 which was decent. We used a voucher which entitled us to a free Lone Star loaf. All you needed to do was print it off this from their website. I assume the deals and specials vary from time to time on the website.

I was very pleased with our experience at the Lone Star Newmarket. We will definitely be back!!

by Bel n.
15th February 2013

The decor and atmosphere of Lone Star is nice, however they need to update their menu more often than never and perhaps consider adding a few more vegetarian options as currently there are only 4, with 3 of those being tortillas/nachos (basically the same meals in different form) and the other being salad (boring!).

We have been here with friends / family half a dozen times and each time we have had incorrect orders brought out, delays on one meal or things forgotten all together. Most recently my brother ordered cajun chicken and was given pork, and we all had to wait 10 minutes for the correct meal to come out before we could start eating our own.

Booking is a must if going on a Thursday/Friday/Saturday night.

by Monica C.
18th January 2013

Ate here for dinner and it was really let down by the service. The waitress that served us was friendly though a bit incompetent. It took ages just for water to arrive when we asked for it, my friend’s meal arrived 10 minutes after mine so it was pretty annoying waiting for the time in between with my food getting cold. We asked for some aioli and the waitress did not inform us it was $2 extra each, we only found out when we got the bill, otherwise I wouldn’t of asked for any. What was really a disappointment was the waitress on the till when we were paying the bill. She was rude when I asked about the aioli charge and not being informed about it. Then she overcharged us for our main meals. I pointed it out to her but she snapped at me, grabbed a menu and tried to prove me wrong. When she realised I was right it would have been okay if she had apologised or something however she just gave me a bad look and continued being rude while finally charging us the right price. In terms of food the portion size was good and the meal was hearty and pretty good. However I think Lone Star needs to hire some better/more competent/ friendlier staff. I will not be returning after that experience.

by Oliver A.
27th October 2012

I come to lone star fairly often for the food, which is always excellent, but the service varies between excellent and mediocre. Waiters are sometimes inattentive, and once one of the waiters’ shifts must have ended, and no-one else came to serve us in her place.

by Barbara S.
26th October 2012

My partner and I were in the area and decided to eat out, so he suggested trying Lone Star because I’d mentioned wanting to in the past. We both have been on a ribs kick, so it sounded like a good option. I ordered the ribs, he ordered a steak, and we shared The food was good enough, and it’s nice to have another place to add to our list where we can get good ribs! But sadly, the server was very forgetful, we waited at least 20minutes for our first drinks, which we had to order again when the food came because they’d obviously been forgotten. And then again had to wait a long time for her to take our dessert order after asking for the dessert menu… so long that was almost left without it, but I was too determined to get my Pav on :p Overall, we had decent food and slow, inattentive service (but that was one person’s fault, not the fault of the entire restaurant)

by Alison
25th August 2012

Came here for a special family meal. The staff were great and the food is excellent. It was extremely busy on a Saturday’s night but staff re obviously really well organized and were there to take orders, get more drinks etc whenever we needed them without feeling intrusive. We find it hard to find nice places in Auckland where children are welcome, this is definitely one to revisit.

by Tom O.
7th August 2012

Came here a couple of months back just for a casual dinner with the missus and her friends. The restaurant is BYO (love it) and the environment was so nice and busy. Unfortunately bookings were not allowed so we had to wait on the couches for about 10 minutes.
The waiter sat us in a nice cosy booth near the back of the restaurant. We were quick to order some steaks while we enjoyed our cheap red wine.
Even though we were near the corner of the restaurant and the waiter was obviously busy, he managed to give us quick check ups every now and then.
The steak I had was cooked to perfection and the portion of the whole meal was gigantic! A full grown man like myself could barely fit the entire thing in my stomach, as I walked out fulfilled and quite puzzled about how these skinny girls were able to fit dessert into their stomachs as well we were send off with a smile. Lovely place will be back!

by Jemma
14th July 2012

Good service all round

by Sarah
11th June 2012

Came here with a friend on Saturday night at about 6.30, the place was packed, people sitting waiting everywhere, we got told there would be a 15-20 minute wait to seat two people, we sat at the bar, 35-40 minutes later we got seated right in front of the place the staff enter all of the orders etc.. four times people walked past and hit my chair so we ended up moving the table ha ha restaurant is way too crowded! Hard to have a conversation that’s for sure! My friend ordered the ribs as a main, I asked our waiter if the mussels came as a main (thinking of a main size as I’ve ordered this as Manukau Lonestar) he said yes they did, my mussels arrived and there were probably about 6 mussels.. I hadn’t eaten since about 11am and really was looking forward to a full fulling meal, I asked another waiter if this was the main size and she said they don’t do a main size in mussels, so that was disappointing.. I used to really love Lonestars but they have definitely gone downhill!

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