gustav's

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. notgoodvalue 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 verygoodcan't fault nice people. i will be back.

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 notgoodenough. 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.

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 alsogoodvalue. 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!

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 fairlygoodcooks.
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 agoodreview.
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.

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 lookedgoodso 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.

hadgoodexpectations, 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 agoodentre. 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 agoodmemory. 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....

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 begoodfor 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 - agoodstart, 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.

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 verygoodwith 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.

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 reallygoodfood. 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.

food wasgood- although they need to learn how to cater for their customers or they won't be in business much longer!

no normal coffee!!! shock horror......the have very funky filter coffee...which they told us was so i could taste their food - hello, this is woolston, christchurch guys not ny (population 8mill!) i have eaten in some of the nicest restaurants in the world and have had a coffee and can taste their food fine!

we went to visit the brewery next door but they were overflowing with people inside and out - gustav's was quiet - now i know why....

while we sat and ate without a coffee and honestly that was all we wanted!
i watched staff send groups! couples! and parents with toddlers out the door (recommending they go to the brewery for a coffee)

they must have sent 20 groups away unbelievable!!
ps. they also told the parents they didn't cater for children - they are a wine bar (the parents were so embarrassed they didn't say anything, just walked out the door!!
awkward!

sorry gustav's but until you are able to serve normal lattes and long blacks (what my husband asked for and was turned down) we won't be back!

sad - because the food was good.

phoned on a sat to make a booking for 3 pax & was told they don't take bookings but if we came after 8pm we shouldn't have a problem, we could have a drink then a table wouldn't be too far away. showed up at 8.15pm & the bar & restaurant was packed. waitress said she had a table, walked us over and it had no chairs, she then disappeared & we were left stranded standing in the middle of tables full of diners. we asked another passing waitress if she could help get some chairs, there were tables around us with extra chairs. some with coats over them but no people.

her words were "you can ask, i've got more important things to do."

i was gobsmacked and said "i'm the customer & you're the waitress i think this is your job". begrudgingly she then did go & ask people at a table if their chairs were spare, they said 'no' - i think they thought we wanted to join them not move the spare chairs to another table.

we were mortified at all of this, still standing stranded in the middle of diners & thought this wasn't agoodomen so just left. went next door to cassell's brewery (same owners), also packed but immediately got a table, quick service & great meal & drinks served by a friendly, helpful waiter.

can i suggest gustav's invest in a front of house / maitre' d who can take care of seating guests, maintaining a wait list, seating logistics & then the surly waitresses can get on with waiting on staff & serving food to guests. some customer service training for staff wouldn't go amiss.

not sure if i want to give gustav's another chance based on this terrible experience.

came for lunch on monday with my mother.

we were both immediately impressed with the decor and ambiance of gustav's. the wooden tables, copper beer taps and slightly art deco style bar back mirror are lovely and although a large venue the feeling is relatively intimate.

we especially liked the fact that the chairs have arms on them. a small detail i know but important to comfort levels.

the wine list by the glass is extensive and it is so refreshing to go somewhere that offers a selection of different varietals and not just the standard chardonnay, sav blanc and pinot gris! the waiter we had was knowledgeable about the list and suggested a few different options for my second glass, also happy to offer tastes.

the food was prompt and delicious. we shared a variety of tapas. the baked mushrooms with goats cheese has convinced me that i am actually a fan of mushrooms when done as well as that.
the pork tacos were tasty, the slow cocked pork tender and succulent and the corn tortillas had agoodrich flavor. the only small note was that perhaps less filling would make them slightly easier and more delicate to eat.
the chicken karaage was juicy and flavorsome and the fries were some of the best i have had in a long time. crisp, salty and moorish.

service was very helpful and friendly.

all in all a great lunch time experience and a venue i recommend and shall be back to soon.