New Zealand Herald

Reviews for Market Kitchen & Bar

by Anna G.
5th March 2013

I chose Market Kitchen & Bar to catch up with a group of my friends on a recent return trip to Auckland. I’ve consistently experienced great service and wonderful food at MKB, but on this particular night, they simply knocked it out of the park! The waiting staff were relaxed and handled it with panache when our table booking for 8 turned into a table heaving with 14; the service was impeccable – attentive without being intrusive (no empty glasses all night!); and we were enjoying the balmy Auckland night in the Courtyard and lingered well after dinner service and close to midnight (clearly enjoying ourselves too much!) but weren’t rushed out or made to feel like we were holding anyone up. And I haven’t even started on the food?! The current Market Kitchen & Bar menu is just so, so good – several of my friends had intended to stay only for a glass of wine, but (having glimpsed dishes being delivered to adjoining tables) everyone ended up staying for dinner (most of us indulging in *ahem* three courses. And those deliciously evil *twice cooked* chips I couldn’t stop eating?!). Everyone commented on what a perfect evening it had been, and I know many of my friends will be returning for a repeat performance – THANK YOU Market Kitchen & Bar for helping facilitate the perfect evening and making ME look good for having chosen such a great venue for a get together!

by Monica C.
7th January 2013

Tried here for dinner. It’s a cozy little restaurant with a nice vibe and very friendly, helpful staff who explained the meals nicely and patiently. Got a blackboard special of market pie with hand made chips which was quite delicious and a good size, the entree was also good. Only thing is is that it is on the more expensive side, but if you don’t mind paying, it’s well worth it.

by Sharon
24th October 2012

Had a lovely lunch here today. While a quieter day for them, the staff were attentive (giving a good description of the daily offerings), friendly and only too pleased to wait till you made up your mind Thank you. The food was great. Highly recommend the fillet steak, flavours awesome, cooked & seasoned perfectly, hats off to your chef. There was no need for any extra S&P as those flavours were so good. Salads were lovely. Noticed the $12 lunch specials on another table and they looked pretty good too. I have no hesitation in recommending and would be happy to dine here in the future. Many thanks for the opportunity to try your restaurant, its a really cool place.

by leannex
4th October 2012

What a great place for a long lunch! The staff are super friendly and efficient and the food is delicious and very reasonable. We had lunch on Friday and they were turning diners away, it was so full, but I could see why when I saw the menu – they have $12 lunch specials and there is nothing on the menu over $26.50. We started with Homemade Flat Bread @ $8.50 – one of each Garlic & polenta and Caramelised onion & cheddar and they were very large portions – sharing one between 2 would have been ample. My only suggestion would be to put a brighter light in the bathroom – it’s too dark to do a make-up touch up!

by Alistair R.
11th August 2012

“Are you in for a treat tonight? Are you ready to squeal in your gumboots? Are you greasing your butter dish?” Excitable, ambitious, passionate and non-pretentious (well, almost!). Welcome to Market Kitchen: The exuberance of your new best friend, Maitre d’ Matthew McAlpine will present it’s self with a candid smile, whilst he sits with you at your table and tells you about today’s specials, and how the buttery goodness of the Chardonnays will blow you away.

See the rest of this review at the Kiwi Food Wonders http://kiwifoodwonders…

by Suzi M.
3rd April 2012

Just had the BEST venison I have ever had last week at Market Kitchen & bar. Southern venison on wilted spinach, potato puree, lavender marscarpone, dark cherry & pinot jus. It was busy with a great bustling atmosphere and the service was great. Candice our waitress looked after us so well. Will definitely be back to this little gem in Newmarket

by Jonjon
19th March 2012

I went here with a discount voucher.

The service here was excellent and the waitress was approachable. The food here though I felt a bit bland.

The Soup of the day was very excellent though, but the bread, although looked fresh, tasted a bit bland…actually it was one of the worst breads that I have ever eaten.

The food was creative, but i felt that the different flavors did not homogenize well with each other.

by Joey J.
25th January 2012

Failed to honour a special offer posted on this website for a $10 lunch. The waitress made a big scene and had to phone the manager to authorise a $2 discount which was denied. The owner said MenuMania posted the lunch offer without his permission.

This restaurant is running several concurrent promotions on daily deal sites etc. As a result, the service is very pushy on extras like sparkling water, sides and desserts. Expect a hassle when you pay.

Food was average, portions were small.

*****In response to the owner’s comments below*****
We purchased the $12 lunches on the regular menu, which we expected to get for $10 each. We NEVER expected a $36 meal for $10. That’s totally ridiculous, we thought it would be $32. We clearly said, “if it is this much hassle, we will just pay the $4 and go back to MenuMania about the offer.”

I think perhaps in light of my negative review, you realise you overreacted, and are now trying to turn this around by suggesting I was unreasonable.

I notice the offer was removed before I got back to my desk.
I checked with MenuMania, it is your responsibility to maintain the offers on your listing. Next time, use an expiry date, and when confronted with a customer complaint, don’t resolve it by suggesting that myself or MenuMania are to blame. Thanks for the apology, but you can keep your free lunch.

Comment from Matthew M. of Market Kitchen & Bar 25/01/2012    Hide »

Hi Joey. Firstly, my apologies for your experience with this…    More »

Hi Joey.
Firstly, my apologies for your experience with this MenuMania “special offer”.
We use to have $10 lunches some years ago and clearly the MENUMANIA website has never been updated. It isn’t our website. Those $10 lunch items have been $12 lunches for quite a while (since the GST increase + absorbed cost increases over the years) and they are not so much “special offers” as available to everyone. These were available to you today also and you were most welcome to choose off that menu. My understanding was that you didn’t and instead chose more expensive dishes?
I think there may have been some confusion from here though on our part however. I had no problem with giving you $2 off each of your lunches today but my understanding was that you wanted everything that you had (i.e. $36) for $10 (which I couldn’t do in all fairness). So i think that was either my mistake or my staff’s as we didn’t realise you just wanted $2 off each of your meals.
I’m going to delete the menu from the MenuMania website and see if they can just replace it with a link to our actual website so MenuMania folk can go straight to the current listing to avoid confusion.
I don’t believe we are pushy on selling extra’s but I’m sorry if you felt that we were. I don’t believe there is usually any “hassle” when customers pay either but in your case there was and I again apologise.
I beg to differ on your criticism of our portions, quality and atmosphere but I suspect your opinion may have possibly been coloured given the issue with the “special offer”. If not, then you are certainly entitled to that view.
If that was the case however and to address your complaint with the “special offer”, as a gesture of goodwill, I am more than happy for you and your friend to return for lunch some time and I’ll shout you a couple of those $12 lunches on the house

by pia
23rd September 2011

A friend and I went for dinner here on Wednesday (Sept 2011) and the service (thanks Candace!) and the food were both top quality. Candace was exceedingly knowledgeable about the menu and wine choices and very friendly to boot! The food (lamb rump) was perfect and the wine list had a good price range to select from. Would definitely recommend and we will return!

by Jasmijn L.
24th May 2011

We went to Market K&B recently for our anniversary dinner, and had a wonderful evening. Beautiful cosy dining area with attentive staff and lovely atmosphere. We shared the scallops to start, beautifully presented, wrapped in prosciutto and with a delicious cream sauce. Eye fillet was perfectly cooked with a very nice red wine jus, portion size was perfect and even managed to squeeze in a side of creamy truffle mash.
Would definitely recommend Market K&B for a romantic dinner or with a small group of friends, we’ll be back!

by Michael W.
3rd February 2011

Great place for a few beers after work, though the bar snacks are a little pricey, wouldn’t mind if the serving size was a little more generous.

Lunch specials are the way to go, especially in summer.

Comment from Matthew M. of Market Kitchen & Bar 16/02/2011    Hide »

Hi Michael. Thanks for your comments. Chef Courtney is revamping…    More »

Hi Michael. Thanks for your comments. Chef Courtney is revamping our bar snack menu soon so come in and try the new stuff in March sometime and let us know what you think

by Harriet
22nd May 2010

I have been a few times and the service is great, the food is lovely and well presented, there is always something new with the specials – i highly recommend it. There is courtyard seating which is lovely in the summer and good in the winter with the heating etc. Never had a bad meal.

by Philippa
30th November 2009

My experience with Market was extremely disappointing. I waited a considerably long time for my lunch which was priced way out of proportion to the actual portion – what was pitched as a lunch item could only be described as a side salad. Would go back for drinks because the atmosphere is lovely, but wont be going back for a meal.

Comment from Matthew M. of Market Kitchen & Bar 27/10/2010    Hide »

I do hope you try us again Philippa and give us another chance to…    More »

I do hope you try us again Philippa and give us another chance to impress. New lunch menu just posted.

by Megan P.
11th November 2009

Could not recommend this restaurant highly enough.

I had the pleasure of enjoying every course at this restaurant.

Presentation of the food was elegant. Meal sizes were spot on. The atmosphere of the restaurant is lovely, upmarket yet relaxed. The staff are discretely vigilant in overseeing your dining experience with them.

I have to recommend the steak. A number of the diners I was with ordered medium rare Black Angus scotch fillet, spring onion champ, baby cress, romesco w roast garlic & red wine jus. This was cooked to perfection in every instance – a credit to the chef.

A restaurant I will definitely be returning to!

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