Star and Garter Restaurant

What a pleasure it was to eat here. The menu provided for variable sized servings. The roast of the day beef came in a small/medium/large option. We had the small serve and both of us could not finish our plates. A generous serving of meat along with a wide selection of roast and steamed vegetables in a delicious white sauce. The meat gravy was thick and flavoursome. All this for for a very rwasonable price. Staff were friendly and attentive. Will definitely return if in the area again.

We read other reviews about the amazing seafood chowder and after having basically a seafood chowder holiday around the South Island, we wondered how this would measure up for an early 10am brunch. Definitely first equal with one we had at Simes Cafe in Kaikōura which was a completely different recipe and taste. Absolutely loaded with seafood, and so thick the fabulous garlic toast stands upright in it order extra but without an overpowering saltiness or floury taste that we experienced with some others. Served in a deep bowl, it stayed hot right to the end and will fill us up for the day. The staff were great - proactive and super friendly. With a very cold day outside it was awesome sitting in the seats at the front in the sun enjoying this nourishing hot food. Great coffee and hot chocolate too. Highly recommend you stop here!

The dinner I came to after reading the reviews, the seafood soup is definitely one of the best I've ever had in my life, the ingredients are very full, and I really want to eat it again after finishing it. I also quite like the steak. It's very tender and large, a restaurant that makes delicious dishes.

Food was fine and portions were big, but here’s were the good ends.nnWe had to wait 10 minutes to get seated, 20 minutes for the staff to take our order and 1 hour and 10 minutes for the food to be served. I understand they might be overrun… but don’t take more guests if you can’t handle them.nnEven the tap water took 20 minutes and we had to insist several times.

We had a pretty disappointing experience. Our table was right next to the vacuum cleaner, which wasn’t exactly the view we expected - it would’ve been nice if they’d asked whether we were okay sitting there. The roast looked quite unappetising and the vegetables tasted like they’d been frozen and boiled without seasoning. The gravy was bland too. I was really looking forward to a good Sunday roast, but unfortunately this wasn’t it. For the price, we expected much more. We won’t be coming back, and honestly can’t understand how this place has such high ratings.