dux dine

our visit this last saturday rewarded us with very good food. we had been previously last year and wasn't as impressed. maybe they were 'bedding in' the kitchen staff/waitstaffwhen they opened. very good food and prompt service now.

fish is uniformly excellent. not the cheapest, but fish is fresh. good option of ordering 250ml wine when your table can't decide on a bottle to share. better value than 150ml wine.

recommend what we had. we had the fried squid to start and seafood pasta main. cost for two with wine was $100. ($71 food and $29 for 2 x 250ml wine). filling, fresh and tasty.

dined here with my family for my daughters birthday.  lovely setting, greatstaffwho know their stuff.  nice relaxing vibe plus the food was wonderful, very fresh and well presented.  every course we chose different things and the food was faultless.  definately recommended, will be back.

lunching here on a lovely sunny chch day is quite a treat. the cooking was excellent & we thoroughly enjoyed the calamari & the caramelised beetroot pizza. waitstaffwere a teensy bit disorganised but that may have been lack of experience. they made up for it with being friendly & helpful. definitely recommend dux dine!

only a tuesday night and it was very busy. always a good sign and proved to be true. a group of five we shared a range of entrees and all were very good. the squid was extremely good followed by the dumplings.

for mains we all had a range and the gurnard and blue cod dishes were excellent.

although thestaffwere a little slow to start with once the restaurant began to quieten a little they were very attentive. it was a very busy night with hardly a table free.

we were seated outside but the evening was warm. all of us commented that we would be returning.

second day in christchurch, happily found this café on zomato with good reviews! the interior design is beautiful .. so many ducks!

if you were sitting in the corner or outside the café, don't expect thestaffwill come to you.. even if they said they would come back to you in a minute, they r actually not coming back to you •_• !! they were obviously not busy since i only saw few customers ...

so i walked to the counter and ordered the food by myself. portobello mushroom with slow roasted tomato on side. the food was good!

just experienced an average dinner.staffwere friendly & helpful. we were shifted tables to a quieter area in a very agreeable way. food was well presented and tasty but then came the big disappointment of the evening. we were recommended a different wine for both of our seafood dishes but decided to go for a cmpromise wine that would suit both of them, thinking that any wine left over we would take home. when we asked about that, (after the bottle was opened) we were told that under no circumstances could we take any left over wine home due to some licensing law, even though we'd paid for it. this curtailed our spending on desserts consequently and made it a very average dining experience from what could have been a great dining experience for our 32nd wedding anniversary.

things that were good.... good wine and beer selection, perfectly cooked grouper and terikihi and calamari
things that wern't so good..... floury tasting coating on calamari, general lack of seasoning in just about everything, grotty truck stop salt and pepper shakers, dirty beer glasses,staffin dirty shirts and aprons and iodised salt instead of some nice flaked sea salt.
in summary the experience was disappointing and could have been a lot better with a little attention to detail. the new dux dine has the potential to be a great dining location and as we get more choices in christchurch places that don't hit the mark won't survive. i hope that with the history that dux has it doesn't become one of those places that we used to go to.

this is my third visit to the dux dine. on previous visits i was very happy with the food & service. the thought the decor and layout well done.
hostess andstafffriendly and helpful.
on the down side, i felt that their policy on having to get your own water and take your orders up -if dinning outside, was odd. half of the veranda area was included in the dine in area and 1/2 the outside! we felt that the outside area was close enough to be serviced. it makes no difference to the number of patrons forstaffto take orders from outside. as guests will leave an empty table in side. maybe they need to increasestafflevels? however there appeared to be plenty. (i have worked in this industry for many years on the floor & management)
my seafood chowder was nice but had been sitting prior to being brought out to the table. the soup had a skin on and was just hot! yes i could have sent it back and next time i will.
these are just little things that can be easily fixed and hope you think about our comments, with a positive approach. i would give the dux dine another go - if joining others but won't rush on my own accord.

first visit in the new location. we (7 of us) walked in off the street and were quickly seated.

the waitstaffwere very polite and attentive, mains took about 25 minutes to arrive despite a large party already being there before we arrived.

i had the massaman curry. i'm not a huge fan of tofu but it was cooked nice and crispy, the rest of the dish was quite flavoursome and perfectly seasoned. quite a large meal as well, we all left feeling well satisfied.

overall, we were very impressed. the food is delicious, thestaffabove average and all at a reasonable price as well.

will definitely be returning.

went today and yes - 3 salads and bread still there. fantastic surroundings and compartmentalised as of old. loved the potager. seemed to be a bigger helping than usual with the same bread too. we found thestaffto be very helpful. definitely back on the agenda. of course not in the hub of the city, but hey, you have fought hard to be there! congratulations richard - you can't keep a good man down.

we used to be regulars at the dux de lux. dux dine was very disappointing.

paid too much for food which was bland and disappointing. eg, flat bread was 18 dollars, for that price you would expect more than what was presented as a pizza base with some butter, garlic and a few dips in ramekins.

table service non-existent, except if you are sitting at thestafftable. who were enjoying fantastic service while the rest of us went to the bar to order.

we won't be going back, and recommend staying away until they get some good management.