lone star

after most of our group registered for the hawkes bay half marathon and 10k, our focus turned to dinner so we crossed marine parade and found ourselves here. seated straight away we ordered a few drinks to tide us over until we figured out what mains to order. pretty much went with the classics - johnny cash stashes, ribs, steak, nachos and a burrito. judging by the empty plates soon after i'm guessing everyone was happy with their choices. did notice that the coleslaw they served was dressed better than the last time i'd eaten at alonestar so nice work there. front of house and the service team were friendly and working well so all in all a good night out.

i arrived there at 8:30pm on saturday night to be told they were no longer doing meals, only desserts.lonestar advertises itself as being open until late, which gives them flexibility, but 8:30 seems excessively early to be closing the kitchen on a saturday, and makes them an unreliable option to dine at. disappointed.

we had dinner here tonight.

we ordered our favourites, redneck ribs (porky pig's ribs blanched in honey and spices, blasted in thelonestar fire, piled high then smothered inlonestar famous hoisin, orange and sesame seed sauce) + buffalo chips andlonestar coleslaw, and johnny cash stash (chicken breast stuffed with mushroom, spinach, cheese, sundried tomatoes. herb crusted and oven baked, served with a chunky mushroom sauce, buffalo chips andlonestar coleslaw). both were very tasty and wonderfully flavoursome as usual.

the waiting staff were averagely friendly. comfortable and lively ambience as always.

food & beverage : 9/10
service : 5/10
price : 6/10
ambience : 9/10

great meals, great service. love thelonestar app as you can get free stuff plus earn reward points. will definitely be going back again and again.

i dined atlonestar queenstown 2 years back. and its become a trend to dine atlonestar at all places i visit. this time was no different. very relaxing ambience. amazing food. awesome pork ribs (the thing that got these guys popular). super fine chicken. juicy and succulent. the salad sides create a balance for all dishes. a delightful selection of desserrts. nothing too fancy, but something that no one should miss. not a fan of the cocktails though. if you guys are reading this; muddled kiwi and pineapple or for that matter any fruit, gets stuck in the straw and spoils the experience of the drink.

in the pics:
john lee for the drink
chicken with cranberry sauce
pork ribs
sticky date pudding with creme' anglaise

i would go back again and again and yet again
price wise: $70 for 2 including a drink each.

we went tolonestar on 2nd jan. it was pretty quite and therefore expected good food and quick service. the entree was ogood to start with, just the fries being a bit too thick.. we ordered the mains and there was overload of cheese. nothing seemed fresh. my mom had visited lonestar rototuna before and therefore we went again to have a meal with the family, but it was disappointing. the classic chicken meal we looked good, but tasted aweful. the chicken was not fresh, the veges in burritto and nachos were not fresh either. for the desert i orderd a banoffe pie which was so hard to break even with the knife and spoon which was provided. dont know why but the shortbread pastry was the disaapointing bit. the quantity vs. price was ok.. but the taste was not worth it!! :(

hubby and i went for dinner last night, first time visit tolonestar in napier (been to otherlonestars in other parts of the country) great layout of the venue and no prob with the service.
had a bit of a mishap with one of our meals but was dealt with well by the staff so thumbs up for that. generous meal size even for the med size so wont go home hungry.

visitedlonestar napier recently to celebrate a friend's birthday. my friend phoned ahead of time to make a reservation but was told they did not take reservations. when we arrived we were asked if we had a reservation????? we were a party of four adults. i knew as soon as my plate of food was placed in front of me that i was not going to eat it. kitchen staff need upskilling in presentation of food - particularly mains as i could not really fault the dessert which was offered free in place of the main that i did not eat. another member of our party was also disappointed in his meal and ate very little.

first impressions do count - especially with food. we do eat with our eyes in the first instance.

i don't mid paying good money for good food but quite frankly i felt that your prices were very high (around $30 for a main) and i expect a lot more than what you had to offer for that price. i enjoy eating out, but our night out at thelonestar, napier was definitely not enjoyable.

our family group of five, plus three children, dined in january and found the napierlonestar to be great .the venue was unique, parking easy, the service spot on ,the meal serve times perfect and the food absolutely superb. meal sizes were very generous. the kids were entertained and we all left happy, sure to return again. the "lassoo of hog and the redneck ribs ,"wow, fantastic.

i love visitinglonestar, they are always packed so wait times can be a little bit (for me usually between 20-40minutes) but it has never bothered me as the atmoshpere and lovely service always makes the night fly. food is wonderful i have never had a bad/bland or dissapointing anything from there and they do a wicked slushy cocktail that is only 4.50!!!
meals are huge! have only been able to make it to dessert 1nce but i intend to go just for dessert one time soon. it is one of my most favorite restaurants in napier. love it!

we ate at the restaurant on sat 7.6.08 and were very impressed with all aspects - friendly staff, prompt service, great food and reasonable cost.
keep up the good worklonestar.....

went for dinner and was not impressed.
1.phoned ahead to reserve a table for 5!
(response was; i'm sorry we don't do reservations)yeah right!
2.arrived and told there would be a half hour wait,and were asked if we had a reservation??
3.had to wait 15 minutes at bar to be served
(as only 1 member of staff on bar)
4.overall waited 20 minutes before we were seated for dinner.
5.then waited for 40 minutes for our mains,while being asked several times by waitresses if we would like more drinks!
6.the meal (the johnny cash stash) was burnt on the outside & the mushroom filling was bland!
this was my second visit, and to be honest, the food & service was 200% better the night that they opened.
thumbs down tolonestar, on this occasion i was highly disappointed!