gustav's

went here as part of the jazz festival, so it was a different experience, set menu etc. very expensive at $150 a head, ( including matched wines and 4 courses) but it was a special occasion. i had never eaten there before and was a little nervous about paying this kind of money as the place has got lots of bad reviews. the food was excellent- the steak was huge and melt in your mouth. the service was fantastic. i wasn't so sure about the lay out of the restaurant- it is so long and parts of it seem very detached form others. this was different as it was a private function but we were sitting right in front of the 'stage' and it was great. i would have been annoyed if i had paid all that money to go to a jazz show and not see the performers.

it was my sister's 40th birthday and we went with a group of 13 ladies for lunch. our wines all arrived at different times and it took ages for our meals to arrive. i had ravioli and although it was nice, the portion was very small - more an entrée size. the waitress had no idea who ordered what and had to ask every time that she brought something out. the food all came at different times and some people had finished by the time others got theirs. the worst part and the bit that upsets me the most is that my sister's friend had someone make a birthday cake and gustovs charged us $2.50 ea person to have a piece of the cake that we supplied. so the person that had the cake made had to pay for that and for 13 of us to have a piece. this i feel is shameful as we all ordered wine and food and embarrassed my sister on her special day. none of us will return.

very disappointing. waitress was rather snotty, service took too long and although the venison 'osso bucco' was very nice the portions were miserly. the risotto was barely three to four tablespoons and the osso bucco were tiny. not good value at all. we visit christchurch from kerikeri fairly frequently but will not go back to gustav's at any price. and they don't cater for children, which is appalling.

i like this place a lot, disappointed the tapa menu is gone (was great last time i ventured over this side of town). woolston platter nice, but needed spreads and more bread for $30 but nice all the same. service very good can't fault nice people. i will be back.

went for dinner last night and was very disappointed. originally booked wine bar but our guests wanted to try the kitchen - were told very bluntly that we couldn't eat off the kitchen menu in the wine bar so we asked to move. ordered duck, steak and pork belly - they'd run out of lamb. steak and duck were ok but nothing to get excited about. pork belly was ok but crackling was cold. our side dishes were forgotten and after waiting ages we had to go and ask the waitress. so they arrived as we were finishing our mains. yorkshire puddings were cold, hard and inedible, potato lyonnaise was greasy and unappealing. we complained about the food and after some time were offered a free dessert - we hadn't enjoyed the main so why would order a dessert?? 2 waitresses - neither were attentive or particularly helpful - one was obviously over-stretched and really didn't look like she was enjoying her job. no sign of chef or manager to attend to our complaint. poor food, poor customer service. will definitely not eat there again.

went here for a late lunch today after hearing some nice things. told to sit at the table for two by the door which was "pointed" out to us. we went and seated ourselves and like the little girl on the world vision ad - we waited ... after approx 15 mins could've been more we tired of waiting on a waiter or even the maitre d to acknowledge our presence we walked out, past the afore mentioned maitre d and another staff member who had been standing having a lovely old chat behind the bar. they didn't even acknowledge we were there or that we were walking out for obvious reasons.
wouldn't waste my time going back there.
however we did lunch at the brewery next door as we often do and the service there was as always fantastic along with the atmosphere and food. when we discussed our dilemma we were advised they had been busy due to the public holiday. yes the brewery was still humming but gustav's was not!
#dissappointed #notrated #dontgothere hannah falconer

mixed experience here. the steak was overdone, but other elements  of the dish were quite nice. however, one coeliac member of our group had issues ordering. the waitress seemed very disinterested in helping, and simply 'guessed' what was gluten free on the menu, and did not go talk to the kitchen, even when it was made clear a simple 'guess' was not good enough. she also chewed gum the entire time. ended up going with the risotto, which the waitress said was probably gluten free, but she'd write gf on the docket anyway, so 'hopefully' the chef would accommodate. overall, the experience could have been a lot better if only the staff seemed to care more.

this is my second visit to the kitchen - the first was with two workmates and i enjoyed it so much i took my wife for an anniversary dinner.i requested the table next to the aga stove so we could watch the chefs prepare the meals in the open kitchen which added to our experience(table 55 if you want to reserve it)
the food is not cheap but the staff are very knowledgeable about how it has been prepared - my venison osso bucco had being cooking for 17 hours and it was a pleasure to eat.the depth and variety of flavours in their food is amazing.
it is not a place for a quick meal rather a place to enjoy you food and the atmosphere.it is a classy place and certainly not suitable for children.i will be recommending this place to my friends who want a special night out

seated reasonably quickly then sat for 5 mins before being asked if we wanted the menu !!! no offer of a drink until we flagged down the waitress. waitress was not educated in what the menu item actually was so we ordered badly .luckily a more mature waiter was able to halt the order and so we were saved.the meal took 85 mins to come. we were then offered water !!! hot drinks we were advised came from"down the walk way and no set time as to when we would get them
the meal itself was ok but we wolfed it down as by then we were hungry so not a pleasant experience.
won't be returning

took out of town guests there early saturday afternoon.
our non smiling waitress originally gave us the evening menu and then replaced it with the brunch menu several minutes later. we weren't offered a bar menu and assumed there wasn't one, so only two of us ordered full sized meals from the brunch menu. other parties had obviously been given the bar menu judging by the fries etc that came out from the kitchen. we would have ordered more if we had been given the bar menu also.

we had a long wait trying to place our order as staff ignored us. after finally ordering we waited and waited. eventually i stopped our passing waitress and asked if we could have our drinks before the food arrived. we waited again and eventually the food came out. we asked for our drinks again and still they didn't come. the two people eating had almost finished their meals when the first 3 drinks arrived. a few more minutes passed before the last two drinks arrived, including the easiest drink of all to organize - a glass of wine in a wine bar. if we had received out drinks earlier may well have ordered a second round.

service was slow and appeared chaotic and staff were completely sullen. a waitress dropped cutlery on the floor near our table and looked at it and then just carried on leaving it lying in the middle of the floor which sums up the level of enthusiasm amongst the staff.

great location, nice decor but terrible service. i'm not planning on returning and certainly would not recommend taking any guests there. such a wasted opportunity.

service was brilliant, the waitress & maître d were a brilliant pair, funny, helpful & informative. the chefs worked away nearby on the big aga and were also good value. the atmosphere was very good, i felt the decor a little thin, but the view to the hills, the open kitchen easily compensated. i had the beef rib roast, it was huge & magic, the horse radish (we think) was fabulous. the pop corn creme brûlée was very good. love the beer except they were out of exactly what i wanted , the price of popularity i suppose. all up, great night, not overly expensive, excellent food, brilliant service happy man!

my wife and i plus another couple visited gustavs kitchen between christmas 2013 and new year for dinner. i was reluctant given some of the reviews i had read regarding this establishment.
all i can say is that all four of us were extremely impressed with both the service and the food. i consider myself to be a bit of a connoisseur when it comes to preparation and cooking of steak. the slow cooked aged steak i had that night was without a doubt the best i have ever experienced in my life, my wife and friends felt the same about their meals.
the service was exemplary. our waitress, anne marie, could not have been more attentive, friendly, or helpful. following our meal we moved through to the bar area and enjoyed our evening further with a couple of cocktails, ports and coffee, still experiencing the professional friendly service that we enjoyed in the restaurant.
i suggest to those who take time to read the reviews on this site prior to deciding whether or not to dine at gustav's, that you visit and experience the service and food for yourself. our party will most certainly be returning to gustav's and we will be telling our friends of our experience and recommending that they also visit.

a group of four of us went to gustavs for an early evening meal in early dec 2013, we arrived at 5:30pm and taken through to the restaurant almost straight away it is a very nice area where one can see the food being cooked on an agar stove and this appealed to us as we fancy ourselves as fairly good cooks.
the waiter approached us and he was accompanied by a waitress in training he made us feel very welcome and explained the menu thoroughly, the vegetables are served and priced seperately to the mains something which i am always suspicious of as it really can make the the mains very expensive but he did explain that one serving of vegetables is enough for two.
i chose the fish pie and shared a salad with a friend, the fish pie was delicious and a really hearty serving it would have been enough on its own as it did have peas in it and the topping was the fluffiest melt in your mouth mashed potato.
the fish soup/broth and the lamb that was the choice of two of the other's was given a good review.
the other's in the group had desserts and they looked beautiful and tasted delicious i am not a dessert person but the fish pie and gorgeous salad was more than enough to fill me up.
gustavs is a wonderful restaurant and a lovely place to visit for a special occasion we would visit again.

visited the woolston tannery on a very wet saturday afternoon (29th dec) and were amazed at the number of people there. spotted gustav's at the end of the venue so decided to try it out. my husband and i were seated almost immediately. menu's were produced after 5 minutes and were explained in detail by the waitress when she found out it was our first visit. we ordered wine which arrived promptly and was followed by the chilli & lime lamb - while the lamb was slightly fatty it was well cooked and verrrry tasty. we followed that with the blat and ravioli which were both enjoyed but thank heavens there was some chilli oil on the table as we needed the spice to add flavor after the lamb dish. i ordered a second glass of wine when our mains arrived but never received it. we were never offered a dessert menu so made our way to the till to pay. had to wait to pay????? when i read the previous reviews i now understand the issues with the staff. it did not appear to be as bad as the reviews make out but maybe larger groups have more problems. hope the management sorts out their staffing issues as we would like to try the venue again soon

as a much talked about new venue in christchurch we were pretty excited to be going for lunch, mid december.
arrived and waited around the end of the bar as there was a till there and seemed to also be the area where the staff were congregating.
there was 4 of us and after being passed several times by staff we wondered what we were to do as nobody acknowledged us.
there were 2 waitresses behind the bar in deep discussion and eventually we caught the eye of one of them.
she held up a finger to indicate hang on. which we did.
eventually they split with one going one way and the other sailed right past us without a word.
there were some random menus on the counter so we thought, what the hey, grabbed them and took a seat!
after viewing the menu we felt the choices looked good so then waited for table service. this took 12 minutes before we had the company of a waitress and this was because one rob went to the bar to get service.
eventually we were served our drinks but then it was another long wait - 17 minutes before our orders were taken.
after about 20 minutes a waitress came back to say they had run out of 2 of the dishes we had chosen.
by now we were wondering if we were in some kind of comedy or something!
during this time, no water was poured, or offered, and our drinks were not refreshed.
amateur hour in abundance.
we saw some waitresses working very hard and also some spending plenty of time behind the bar ignoring customers!!
our meals arrived after about a 50 minute wait and by this time we had finished our drinks but not asked if we wanted more.
decided not to have dessert as just too painful to go through all that again.
gustavs is a nice place but is strongly let down by the staff, their lack of expertise, training and attention to customer detail.
it looked to us as if they were understaffed and as previous reviewers have stated, they need a leader/front of house manager.
overall they could have made a lot more money out of us with a little more attention to the customer and our needs.