cobb & co. rotorua

hubby and i were visiting rotorua and came across this classic bar and grill (seeing as we are from auckland we hadn't seen one in quite sometime) so we just walked in and even though they were fully booked the most polite hostess assured us a table within 30mins so we were kindly asked to wait in the bar area. not too long later we were called to a table and served straight away but another very polite waitress. she took our order promptly and within a few minutes we were already served our starter. we had the buffalo wings (not so big but still yummy) and soon after our mains came to the table. both hubby and i had the rump steak. cooked to perfection and the mushroom sauce was so delicious. we looked over at our neighbors dishes and they had ordered theribswhich looked amazing and huge! (must try next time. we really enjoyed our meals and they were super filling. would totally recommend this iconic restaurant. if i had to point out any flaws it would only be the presentation of our steak meals however all the other dishes we saw looked pretty good to us. thumbs up cobb & co. rotorua. your service was exceptional.

i've never been to cobb & co in its heyday in the 90's so i was super excited to go. i went to cobb & co in july last year and came back raving it so dragged the bf back to cobb & co over the easter weekend. the experience over the easter was pretty disappointing compared to my first time and the bf, who's also never been to a cobb & co, came out with an underwhelmed "is that it?".

the restaurant seemed very understaffed for a busy holiday weekend with only one waitress, who's often nowhere to be found. we ordered a roast, ribs, a chicken blt burger and a cobb loaf. the roast was mediocre, about the same quality as you'd get from a retirement home. theribswere pretty good, but then again it seems like rotorua is a town that really knows how to do ribs. the cobb loaf took forever to arrive and what should have been a starter ended up as a dessert. not gonna lie, the cobb loaf was probably the only thing that keeps me coming back.

we weren't told of a public holiday surcharge of 15% until we paid (seriously, who does that these days?!), then there's a surcharge on credit card payments! surcharge on surcharge should be made illegal.

i always order theribsfor my grandpa, now if you know my grandpa, you would know that he is quite picky at times but theseribshave him hooked! delivery is also very efficient!

we are actually looking for a different kind of lunch in rotorua, we normally go to good old fast food places. we ordered the fettuccini with chicken and bacon, southern smokedribswith fries. the fettuccini was really cheesy and tasty while theribsare great with their homemade sauce. although theribshas a bit less meat but still “sweet as”. we also ordered chocolate sundae which is alot for one and potato wedges which is too much after finishing the ribs.

came here from auckland and i had never been!
food - theribswere ok not the best i have tasted and a bit overpriced compared to how tasty it was.

i ordered the apricot chicken with baked potato (with sour cream) and salad and a side of mushroom sauce
pro’s - would definitely come back here only for the mushroom sauce it was the best thing i ordered and the salad was dressed well also which was nice.
cons - i didn’t like the baked potato i think mash would go better with the dish.
chicken was ok but probably not order it again.

ambience -
this place is definitely family friendly there is a game space the kids can play in until the meals arrived and the waitresses were always smiling and really friendly to the kids which is so nice. the desserts were ok i loved the chocolate cake.

my review is based on the service, whether it was family friendly and how quick the food arrived (under 30mins and it was a full house!) if anything was wrong with the above i would of given a 3

outstanding service from all the lovely ladies for our recent dinner meal here. the two ladies looking after us consistently checked in during the course of our meal, cleared plates promptly and provided great recommendations. chips with the meal were cooked to perfection. steaks cooked well but you will need to add pepper and salt - it also could have been rested more before being served.ribswere tasty and big, was so good. the stand out were their sticky date pudding dessert and toblerone cocktail drink. i was very pleased with my meal here.

just drove into rotorua after a tiring 3.5 hour drive from auckland and the carnivore in me was on the prowl looking for some fresh carcass to feed on and i had my cross-hairs set on some angus beef or some fine porkribsand that's when i stumbled upon "cobb & co".

a bar painted in matt-black, reminiscent of some texan bar & grill i had been to; this place was quiet (at least during the time i chose to visit) and the server was eager to assist, in helping me choose the best available wine and since i had already made up my mind about what i wanted to devour; imagine my delight when i found the confluence of both the steak andribsarriving as one combo. as always, i elected for my steak to be done "medium-well" and owing to my restricted carb intake diet paradigm, i relinquished my fries and voted for the steamed veggies in lieu thereof. the steak was beautifully done with that mild pink at its center and i must admit that i was compelled to unashamedly order 2 additional helpings of their mushroom-pepper sauce to douse my steak with, which to say the least would have one make a beeline straight to the confessional, since it was so sinfully delicious. the restaurant server (rohan was his name if my ever-deteriorating memory serves me right) who doubled up as my sommelier; informed me that "volcanic hills" was one of the best available local reds (pinot noir) that rotorua had to offer and was indeed worth trying and boy was he "spot on". purported to exude a bouquet of dark berries, cherries & spices, i could perceive more of the berries and cherries and none of the spice; but i got to admit that there was a rich creamy mouthfeel reminiscent of butter and albeit a tad too dry; the fruity notes of the berries stood out and overall the wine was quite well-balanced.

the dramatis personæ that ended up on our platter are as set out below;

1. cobb carnivore (angus beef with mushroom pepper sauce & porkribsin bbq sauce with frisée lettuce salad & steamed veggies on the side
2. buffalo wings
3. wedges with the works
4. roast of the day (pork)
5. coconut chicken with coconut sauce.
6. coach burger

from amongst the foregoing, the chef d'oeuvre was undoubtedly the "cobb carnivore" followed closely by the "coconut chicken". in essence, this is a "must-visit feeding ground", if you swing by rotorua... that is... and is for the self-indulgent carnivore looking for quality fodder.

well done... cobb & co... bravo...!!!

2nd time at this place and i must say i was extremely disappointed and disgusted with the food and service. we had made reservations and got there on time and had to wait 40 minutes for them to get our table ready which means they hadn't even reserved our table. we finally got seated. the waiter came an additional 15 mins later we ordered the buffalo wings. nothing special with taste and took 45 mins to come out. the waiter then came back to check on our food and we ordered mains. we then waited nearly 1 and a half hours for our food !!!!! the whole time our waiter never brought us water or asked if we would like anything else to drink. my partner finally went to the bar and ordered some water and a drink which came out 20 mins later just as our mains came out after our long wait. i got the prawn and parmesan steak medium with mash. it came out luke warm. the steak was absolutely murdered and was overdone and dry, prawns over cooked and it came with chips not mash. yuck! my partner ordered theribsmedium size and half of them were burnt and didn't fall off the bone like it should, his mash was yuck and luke warm. i am disgusted that we paid 86$ for shit service and food. will never be back. the last time we were here we couldn't wait to come back but now we will
never be back. we got our drinks paid for from them for the long wait to be seated but this does not make up for our money spent and time wasted at this place. i know they were busy but if you are going to charge that much jesus! work it out. offer discounts when customers aren't happy. check on them every once and a while and learn some customer service! total disappointment!!!!

we arrived at cobb and co rotorua with our 3 kids without a reservation. the host at the counter said they were fully booked but he had a table "just in case" set aside. this was fantastic! they were so busy but our orders were all correct and timely and the waitresses were great. however, we found the food very average. the kids butter chickens arrived so fast we wondered if it was out of a packet. fast arrival of food is great but it was within 5 mins of placing the order. the kids had finished their mains well before ours arrived. when you have 3 young kids, this causes several issues. my partners "medium" steak was undercooked, myribswere very over cooked and dry (all the sauce was at the bottom of the plate and theribson top with no sauce on them. the wedges were bland and we were charged $3 for sour cream. really?..wedges without sour cream?..come on. all in all the service was brilliant...the food however was not.