on a recent saturday night we four mature diners had dinner at kingi. we had booked for 6pm, a week in advance and were all really looking forward to trying out this new and well talked about eatery. upon entering, up the windy freezing cold alley way, we were impressed with the decor - minimal factory style with the most amazing fish scale glass hanging from the ceiling. we were first shown to a table which had a view of the empty freezer/food cabinet belonging to the shop next door (we presume). bad start. so we asked if we could possibly have the “table over there” only to be told that this particular table was reserved and that the people who had reserved it specifically asked for this table! eventually two tables were joined together for us and down we sat.....in a draft that was so strong we two ladies had our hair blowing in the wind....not to mention the chill factor. it took an hour to finally convince staff to light one of the gas heaters that were sitting there - this made a slight difference in that the breeze was now not quite so chilly - thank goodness for the warm blankets that were supplied!
we were served drinks reasonably promptly, but, then to get to order our food took a lot longer. we started with a serving of the fresh sardine,(which was amazing) and the hot smoked hapuka (which could have been any smoked fish) along with the amazing sourdough bread. for the mains we ordered : 2 x flounder (which were judged excellent) 1 x cod wings (which were a joke) and 1 x cray roll (which wasn’t even an excuse). i must admit here, that we weren’t charged for this cray roll - so thank you for that. the bread roll and cray salad had obviously been in the fridge for some time as it was all very very cold, the salad had soaked into the bread roll making it soggy - there were a few scraps of cray and lots of pickled vegetables. so, i certainly would not recommend the cray roll, or the cod wings for that matter. i got the feeling that perhaps we were eating leftover scraps!
the staff were not at all helpful, in fact everyone we spoke to were almost sullen and insolent - certainly not a happy crowd. and to top it off they committed the cardinal sin when being a wait person - removing plates from the table before everyone was finished eating their food! we departed around 8pm - and just as we were leaving “that table over there” had just had it’s guests arrive! we easily could have used this table and would not have minded being told that we had to vacate by 8pm - this would have made our visit a bit more enjoyable we thought. on leaving the restaurant and looking at other tables we decided that most of the food didn’t look appetising - it all looked dark and certainly not attractive. would we go again - no. perhaps as they are new they are still finding their feet, but i don’t want to be the guineapig please. all in all, minimal food at maximum price. a first for me, left feeling like i needed to stop off for a meal on the way home!