cool change bar & eatery

nice place with good variety of wines, tapas and mains. has a cool little bar out front with friendly service. we had a reasonably lengthy wait for our mains on a busy night butfoodwas really nice and all in all would recommend

needed a place to eat on a summery sunday night at 8pm and decided to book here. we had a cured salmon entree, pork loin and lamb mains. was honestly surprised at how good thefoodwas! truly delicious with high quality ingredients. the atmosphere and prices pretty good too. service was quite friendly and fast.

came here as a group after doing round the vines, despite booking during the week a table hadn’t been set up for us🤔 the staff moved a smaller group from a room they were sitting in (so rude!) and started jamming bar leaners into this small space. when coming back to take our orders we were told we could only have tapas despite been given the whole menu and this had not been mentioned, terrible service.. we decided to leave so i’m not sure what thefoodis like...

slow slow service. which is a good thing. means you have time for a pint of every tap beer before yourfoodturns up. tuatara beer. it’s worth trying all four because it’s great beer. your surf and turf will be just fantastic. i’ve had two over the summer both have been perfect. big fat prawns a juicy steak. the place is nice the people are nice martinborough is nice. slow slow service is perfect, believe me.

like several reviews will show - there aren't a lot of choices when you come to martinborough. having exhausted the options, we settled on cool change on a sunday night. it was lively enough, we were told that only tapas were on offer for the night.

first of all - they're not tapas. they are huge. maybe i don't want to labour the point of how things are named on a menu but if i'm having tapas i want spanish tapas.

we ordered the chicken wings, fries, beef and onion quesadilla and the lamb cutlets.

everything just needed a tiny bit of love and it would've been great. thefoodwas tasty enough but just really lacked any care whatsoever. here are my tips for the restaurant going forward:

chicken: calm down on the sauce in the bowl and crisp up those edges in the oven a bit. also a little five spice sprinkle maybe even some chilli kick wouldn't go amiss!

lamb: overlooked. way over cooked. it also wasn't in any way shape or form, crusted. do yourself a favour and make a gremolata or a chimichurri and serve it with that on top - please stop using that green oil.

fries: okay, well cooked - but too much. you can chill on the serving size. it's out of proportion. especially if you insist on calling it tapas.

quesadilla: a thin quesadilla served on a cold plate is going to come out cold. again, needs spice. flavour. come on! it's supposed to be mexican! where my spices at! this one needs the most punch and i didn't get it. also beetroot relish and caramelised onions do not go with this so don't serve it. make some salsa, get some jalapeños. do the right thing.

hopefully this place will take some care from now and stop skipping out on the flavour

the selection of open restaurants in martinborough at 8pm is limited. but that doesn't mean a good experience is out of the question. my friend and i stumbled upon cool change as we were walking around the silents streets of martinborough at night. what we discovered was a great evening out.

we were not sold on the limited menu but the staff seemed friendly, so we took the chance.

friendly staff was an understatement. we couldn't decide on a pinot noir so the waitress suggested we sample a selection of local options. she never rushed us and was happy to serve 2 glasses of our chosen wine.

thefoodwas equally as impressive. the pork terrine was devine but the apple jelly that accompanied it made the dish go from good to great. not a diet dish, but a cheat day treat anytime.

the pork belly lacked a crackled skin but was cooked to perfection. i can forgive this minor error as the flavours in the dish were heavenly. though i may have used the crackling crumb from the terrine to lift the texture of the dish. the accompanying sides were good but lacked imagination. it was essentially meat and three vege on a plate.

no dessert for me, but still on overall great dining experience.

warm and accomodating service, particularly given the late hour. thefoodwas well flavoured, and there is a wide selection available. definitely worth a detour on a long drive.

this is place is amazing! thefoodhere is so, so good and they have an impressive wine list. we ordered the charred bread, dips and warm olives to begin. yum! what is it about charredfoodthat is just so damn good? it tasted glorious with the good quality olive oil and flavoursome dips. the warm olives were divine. for main we both had the steak. it wasn’t the best steak i have ever had but it was very good. the accompaniments were delicious, especially the onion rings. would have loved a bit more hollandaise though, i can never get enough hollandaise! we passed on dessert but where given 2 giant jaffas with the bill, a cute touch. the service was excellent.

quite possibly the worst customer service i have ever experienced when dining out.  thefoodwas appalling and lacked flavour and imagination and was very over priced.  staff are rude and abrupt and i wonder if they even have a qualified chef working here.  my advice, avoid!

superb evening. went on the mexican night. (every thursday) $25 a head for a 3 course mexican meal. received a warm welcome.foodand atmosphere was great. i highly recommend this eatery to all. i had read earlier reviews about this restaurant and wanted to see for our self's what is was like and found it to be a fantastic place to eat and will certainly be booking our next meal out there very soon.

we dined at cool change a couple of weeks ago - for the fourth time - and once again enjoyed an excellent meal. thefoodwas well presented and delicious. we'll be back!

chose cool change after reading restaurant reviews. had a special weekend planned for my so and cc delivered.
food was excellent, the prawn cocktail had a novel twist and the rib eye steak was done exactly to my request (the rare side of medium rare). her lamb shank was superb, and i'm not normally a lamb fan. we drank wine by the glass to optimise food/wine matches. i ordered my red to accompany the rib eye just as thefoodarrived; the wine arrived about 30 seconds later. the two very attractive (female) wait persons couldn't be faulted. there were only the two of them to service a fully booked restaurant so full marks to the chef who delivered plates to the tables when they were busy. we will be back!

this would have to be one of my most memorable dining experiences of 2012.

from the uber cool decor and eclectic atmosphere to mouth watering taste sensations, cool change lives up to its name in every way! jimmy ensured we were primed up with plenty of bubbles in the bar and bree was a lovely, attentive and knowledgeable waitress.

i chowed down on cauliflower soup, chicken kiev and a delightful crème brulee while my wife choose pork belly followed by good old fashioned rhubarb crumble.

superb people, high qualityfoodat reasonable prices.

i can't wait to return!

we ate here for my birthday because david burton said the steak was fantastic. as it happens neither of us ate the steak but instead enjoyed squid, duck two ways, venison, pork belly and then wonderful desserts all accompanied with a great selection of drinks.

cool change is a warm, inviting place where thefoodis well made and delicious and the service is warm. the restaurant delivers upmarketfoodwith unpretentious service and a friendly vibe. we dressed up but others had come in off the street and were equally welcome.

absolutely recommend the chocolate mint pudding for a velvety, chocolate finish that isn't overwhelming. mine was warm and gooey and i could have happily fallen asleep in front of the open fire straight after.

we spent a relaxing 2.5 hours here - i particularly appreciated that there was a period of time before each course was served, which allowed for the last course to settle and for great conversation time. i never once felt hurried although the restaurant was busy.

we had a wonderful dinner on saturday night, atmosphere was great, the staff very helpful and offering ideas and quick service, andfoodwas wonderful. we had the lamb for two was exceptional. the dessert was especially good the chocolate mint pudding - we will definitely go back. great spot.