New Zealand Herald

Reviews for Varanasi

by Emma
30th April 2013

I went to Varanasi last night for a friends birthday and it was terrible!
The food was pretty average, standard butter chicken, dense samosa and no rice!
But the main down fall was the service, possibly the worst I have ever encountered! We were the only table in the restaurant so you would expect that things would run smoothly. Alas, firstly our drinks were forgotten and when we asked for then the waiter denied we even ordered them off him! When they finally came some were wrong, others were missing.
When it came to ordering food, our waiter decided to pass on writing the order down and when we asked him to repeat it back to us he had it totally wrong, it appeared he just made it up!
But worst of all was the whole night he was playing with the music, skipping songs and erratically changing the volume from silent to so loud that we had to yell at one another.
Disaster, i would not recommend this restaurant and will definitely not be going back.

by Sonja B.
10th March 2013

We went to Varanasi last week while in Auckland. What an amazing find.
Indian shared plates – the best of two worlds – tapas and indian food.
It is hard to say what was the best from the many plates our group of 3 tried.
Foochkas – amazing
Braised Rabbit samosas with cherry jus dipping sauce – out of this world.
Tandoori duck sliders – don’t miss these.
Definitely leave some room for the dessert. We thought we would be game and try milk and white chocolate samosa – it was agreed by all these were an amazing end to a great meal.
I will definitely recommend this to everyone I know. I just wish they were also in Wellington.

by Melissa G.
21st February 2013

Wow – what a fantastic place !!

Perfect style of food (tapas) for a pre-theatre fast dinner!!!

Great food, and the service was exceptional – they care about their customers soooooo much!!

Please do add more wine to your wine list:-)

by Gemma B.
14th February 2013

Went to Varanasi yesterday and was so impressed with the vegetarian food. So many great flavours – the Fooshkas were delicious and indian tapa’s were a fun change for lunch.

Great decor, friendly staff and amazing food. Will definitely be going back on a regular basis!

by Dee
1st February 2013

Agree with the earlier reviews, the decor is fun and funky and the food tasty, there are interesting flavour combinations and vegetarian options. The drinks menu is small but well considered, and includes wine on tap, Rekorderlig cider, and even Thums Up Cola. The service is friendly and helpful. Useful to be told upfront how the concept works, eg most tapas come in servings of 3 to share. Like most ‘sharing plate’ menus, you do have to order quite a few to add up to a meal, and if your budget is light it might not satisfy a hungry tummy looking for something really substantial. But if you’re not budget-conscious you could quite happily go all out here. A great new alternative for pre-theatre and gig dinners

by Helen S.
29th January 2013

I’ve been back twice since my first review. Still excellent, still the best place in the city for casual, delicious, high-quality dining.

The decor again, adds the wow factor, and it looks as though they’re adding an out door seating area. Very cool and different for that part of town.

Definitely try the Fooshkas – puffy delights with intense dipping sauce, and the tandoori duck sliders are amazing.

by Richard W.
29th January 2013

This Indian Tapas is a brilliant concept.
We ordered a number of different plates for sharing and every one was simply delicious. They came out at regular intervals.
The staff were very attentive and helpful. Quite casual but very slick.
Drinks menu is quite original with plenty of interesting choice.

So good we can’t wait to go back.

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