gustav's

not a pleasant experience

on a wet friday lunch time we took friends from london (uk) to show them the wonderful and exciting tannery shopping centre and decided to have lunch at gustav’s kitchen and wine bar. we had to wait as it was very busy and were finally seated but we were abandoned without menus or even an enquiry if we required drinks. we gave up waiting and went to the bar to order drinks but were told we could not order at the bar and would have to wait until someone served us! eventually a waitress arrived to take our food order and realised that we had not been given menus so left to get some. we stopped her and asked if we could place our drinks order with her as we knew what we required. drinks arrived and she advised the lunch menu had been sold out and gave us the bar food snack menus (she could only find 4 menus - for party of 6!!).
food arrived but minus one meal and with no explanation why all 6 snacks were not served together. another waitress came and said they had sold out of the choice of the missing meal so that guest made a 2nd request. sometime later a 3rd waiter came out and advised that that choice had now also sold out! having made his 3rd choice it finally arrived but the rest of us had almost finished our food. the snacks were tasty however my choice of pork gordita was warm pork served on a cold stainless steel platter!
after we finished our ‘bar snacks’ we decided to leave as although the table behind us was offered the deserts menu we were not offered this service and neither were we offered coffee or even refills of our drinks.
such a nice environment but so disappointing to have such a bad experience and embarrassing for overseas visitors.

had a late lunch here with my mother, sister and brother today, as next door was too busy.
so disappointed. i've read other reviews and almost all suggest a front of house/manager - all of our issues today would have been avoided if they had one.
we found our own tables and menus, we went inside to place our order - tried 3 times with different staff until one said they would come take our orders. her vest was obviously dirty with sauce down the front.
the food promptly arrived but was disappointing. ribs were very fatty, cheeseboard plain and sandwiches bland. no one came to check on how our food was.
we went up to pay, waited 10 mins again. incredibly painful and such a disappointing experience and lunch. will not be back.

had good expectations, even though word about town seems to be divided over gustav's: many people very positive, but many less so, with this mainly relating to service. our booking was for 8-30pm - as the restaurant was busy earlier in the evening. arriving at the agreed time, our table was not immediately available for us, so we were directed to the bar. sure - that's fine too. no one came to tell us if our table was ready, so we eventually moved through to it anyway. we settled in, enjoyed our wine (huge range of wines available) and ordered - but by the time our mains came out an hour or so later, there was a feeling at this later stage of the evening, that the restaurant overall had started to run out of steam - service was pretty average, and several items on the menu were no longer available. food was ok - though my choice of kai moana as a main was not wise, as the contents of the hotpot were pretty minimal - would have made a good entre. for some reason, the dessert options are not listed in the menu or written down anywhere else - so it requires the wait-staff to continually repeat the options as they moved around our group of diners, and for the diners to have a good memory. then there was a pretty lengthy wait for the said desserts to actually turn up - meanwhile other staff are by now making obvious 'cleaning up for the night' noises around us...not very hospitable, from a restaurant whose decor and prices are positioning themselves as a 'high end' dining experience. wouldn't be rushing to go back....

to be honest i was expecting better service. i cannot fault the food. really impressed with the environment.
alas on arrival unable to grab any staff's attention to obtain a
drink. 10 minutes later served. advised the restaurant staff we had arrived and were having a quick drink at the bar. alas staff did not communicate and we were left for 15 to 20 minutes before being seated. food was stunning. however a shame we had to ask for our sides which arrived as the mains were finished. no refreshment of water and no pouring of the wine which may have resulted in another purchase for the table. all in all a very disappointing first impression of what should be an amazing place.

had christmas catch up with a friend. had to wait about 20mins before anyone came with menus or take drinks order. finally got tapas menu. we weren't told of the specials for main courses. we ordered eventually but then were told 2 tapas weren't available. chose again and were again told they were not available. on closer reading our menus were different.
the waitresses admitted they were new and we made allowances. we cancelled our order, finished our drinks and headed next door to a much more efficient operation.
the newbies could've been mentored with more experienced staff on hand especially with the run up to a very busy time.

gustav's definitely need to hire a dedicated front-of-house person, and have an area where people can line up in an orderly fashion before getting seated. oh, and have appropriate menus on display around that waiting area so people can decide if they actually want to eat there. don't have dinner menus sitting around at lunchtime.
currently it is rather chaotic, with waitresses dashing from a to b, and to get a table involves finding 1 of them at 1 of 2 different tills.
have a look and see how lone star deals with enormous queues of people waiting - if it is busy, they can put their name down and send them off into a bar area. surely something like that would be good for a *wine* bar?
if it is not busy, then people can line up in an orderly fashion.

the lunchtime meals taste great, but for us were at least 50% undersized. we actually had to go to another place and order another lunch as we were still hungry. probably won't return.

perhaps the food is nice - we never got a chance to find out. we were seated with a menu, the waitress came to introduce herself and pour the water - a good start, but instead of the customary "are you ready to order?" (which we were) we got "i'll let you look at the menu a bit longer" and she went away. and never came back. after a long time someone else came and apologised for the wait as the waitress was busy - 3 tables had arrived close together. then a further very long wait. then we caught her eye and finally she arrived to take the order. and then... yes one of the dishes we wanted was not available and no-one had bothered to take it off the menu or warn us before we ordered. at this point we walked out to seek food elsewhere. no point offering a nice handwritten menu if the customers can't get served!
pat mcintosh.

went here recently for some fairly late night tapas. it's no easy task finding somewhere delicious in chch that still has their kitchen open at about 10pm on a saturday, so gustav's was great. the maitre de was really helpful and made great menu suggestions. he also made a great frangelico sours! will definitely be going back as i'm keen to try the dinner menu and see the aga oven in action.

as a person who has worked in the hospitality industry i was appalled by the service at this restaurant. three of us including my 86 year old grandmother walked in and waited at the bar we were walked past and ignored by a staff member 3 times. we had tried to make a booking over the phone but after 2 days of unanswered phone calls we left a message asking if we could make a booking for lunch we did not hear back. when we finally were served by a staff member we were informed by a staff member that they do not do lunchtime bookings a fact which they neglect to convey in there phone message. needless to say we did not have lunch here instead we went to the brewery next door where despite being incredibly busy the staff were wonderful as was the food and atmosphere. i will not be returning to gustavs.

happy birthday to me!
but not if you were to dine at gustav's.
after my first mouthful of fish stew had me choking on bones 5cm long x 3 the maitre d suggested that i had been warned as he had placed the lid of the dish beside my plate for shells and bones????
everything was so over salted i could taste little else in both the main and side dishes (chose to leave the rest of the fish).
decades in the industry breaks my heart to see a great concept in dining destroyed by very average food and a bad attitude.
after my partner paid in full for our meal i returned voice my complaint but had to wait for the maitre d to return a text message on his cellphone before he looked up to see me waiting. during service? come on!!
our city deserves so much more.
p.s. have never posted a negative review prior to this (this was that bad)!

i had lunch at this establishment today.
in short i have worked in a few restaurants in my day and i feel this one came in well under par today.
i ordered a steak turned up after 35 minute wait on table only warm. cooked to order but steak was presented on small plate on top of a pile of french fries.
had to ask for a bigger plate.
in my time at table i had a drink order turn up which was not mine and one food order the same.
much work to do here but very nice setting.

visited gustav's kitchen for the first time today for lunch, with family. very friendly greeting by staff. loved the decor and lighting. table setting was very good with an uncluttered feel. all meals were simply delicious. loved the very extensive wine list. wait staff were very friendly and our service was excellent. a must for our next visit to christchurch.

heard through a friend that this place was rather good. went with family and the settings were really quite something! the lighting is intimate and the table arrangements were good. the open kitchen added to the experience to see how everything is prepared and to even talk with the chefs was great. now to the food we ordered a few entrees the blue vein crumble was amazing and easy to share as were most of the entrees. the mains were well portioned and tasted great the lamb melted in your mouth with a real sense of top quality home cooking and a nice gravy to go with it, i would recommend a main and a dessert depending on the size of the group. customer service spot on and they were always ready to help and give advice. would dine here again great surrounds, great food and an all round great night

what a lovely surprise.
on a whim drove from prebbleton over to the tannery. no booking. friendly welcome by the staff, excellent service and really really good food. leek and blue cheese entree was delicious. the lamb was divine, and the desserts were perfect. watching the chefs work in front of us was fascinating......
the blokes said the beer was top notch.
great night.

i have a friend that whenever he says 'try this place' i immediately book a table. his latest recommendation was gustav's. i arrived on a sunday at 6pm, as they take bookings in two sittings. i was sat immediately by what turned out would be our waiter, he introduced himself (kiwis don't don't do this enough as servers). he had a big table that needed an order and apologised saying he'd return asap. this gave us a chance to admire our surroundings... amazing! everything in oak, and the kitchen is completely open with a lovely old aga oven. the wine list was over 200 strong at least! our waiter (adam) returned and apologised for the (1minute if that) wait. on finding my partner had picked a bottle of rioja for us he immediately suggested a pastry entree saying in match the wine 'deliciously'. so we did. i, on the adams suggestion had the lamb and my better half had the fish stew, adam selling a chablis as a better match for the fish... guess i'm driving. our pastries arrived and i have to admit, the matched the wine without fault, the food itself was delicious and full of flavour. by this stage the restaurant is pretty full but the chefs and servers seemed pretty calm and the atmosphere was very relaxed. our mains came out and both were a presentation in themselves, old style enamel plates have a real country kitchen feel. the food was amazing, that's the only word for it. adam checked on us and brought the chablis, which again was an outstanding match. desert was not an option for either of us despite the waiters insistence it "tastes like happiness". all in all an outstanding evening, food, service, food, wine and food all stunning. i will be back for desert.