It was getting dark on our way in to Otago and so we decided to stop off at Carnegies for dinner.nThe place only had two other guests but we took a table and were very pleased we did. Friendly service, nice dishes from a simple menu in a nice buildingnWe do recommend to others passing through Fairlie who want more than a pie
We ordered the half lamb rack and it was beautifully prepared with an assortment of fresh vegetables and potatoes. The lamb had great flavour and was well accompanied by a rich mint sauce. We were also very pleasantly surprised by the chicken salad with tender chicken slices. What an excellent meal on the first day of our trip to NZ.nnWe arrived at 7pm and were served by an incredible friendly and helpful crew serving customers right up to their close time at 8pm. We also loved the ambience of the gastropub with a woodfire oven for making pizzas.nnDefinitely recommend this place for a bite if you're passing by!
Rocked up at 7:15pm on a Monday evening, worried that they wouldn’t be serving food anymore but they were very welcoming even though they close at 8pm. The lamb rack was amazing and just what I needed on our first day in NZ, and the kids enjoyed their half and half pizza. Lovely ambience, old gastropub style, reminded me of pubs in the U.K.
As a world traveller, the customer service here was very baffling and definitely one of the worst experiences ever.nWe entered the restaurant and asked for a table and they told us there was only one table available next to the entrance where the door was wide open and it was freezing. The chairs were more like stools and it was extremely uncomfortable for my old mother and brother who were with me. They had to wear a down jacket the entire time. When I asked for another table as there were so many in the restaurant they told us they were “full” however there were maybe another 10 people and no one else came later on so no tables were “reserved” for a big group or anything. They could have easily offered us a better table with comfortable chairs. As other people have commented before me the staff are definitely racist towards foreigners as they treated their local customers noticeably better.nTo make matters worse they told us that for us the waiting time would be 1 HOUR?! As the town was very small and no other restaurant was open at that time we had no other choice but to wait. Locals came in after us and they got the table they wanted and they got their food very fast. It was absolutely appalling!nThere was one other couple in the restaurant that were foreigners and they also got the same treatment.nNever in all my travels have I ever encountered such racist and discrimination against tourists and btw we are white Europeans so I cannot imagine how they are with others. It is simply unacceptable to discriminate against tourists who bring in good revenue.nThe food was good but nothing spectacular and definitely not worth the wait of 1 hour + and not worth the money.nIf there is no other option its decent but expect if you are foreign to not get treated equally and expect a long wait for food. The worst part was being lied to about the table and them telling us “oh sorry it was so busy” when it was literally empty!
We came by for dinner at Carnegies as we stayed nearby, unfortunately for us it was Xmas season and the kitchen was packed with orders and overall the team was short staffed, food took quite a while to arrive 1.5 hours or so.nnThat said it was likely not the usual expectations of service just a bad luck on timing, the staff were highly apologetic and to be fair they did also caution us on long wait times.nnI am giving 5 stars for the really good service and food, the steak is pretty good being juicy and well charred with a good amount of sides, same can be said of the lamb and burgers.
Mount Hutt Chinese restaurant & Takeaway
125 meter
Mean as fish and chips, and the Chinese dishes are choice too. Fish was fresh with cr...
