orca restaurant & bar

we took my partners mum out to dinner on the sunday evening, we opted to sit outside as it was quite busy. we were served quickly and without any issues. the food waslovelyand enjoyed by all three of us, however, i did notice that my partners mum meal seemed a little lacking but in other times i have been to the orca they have been very good. overall, i would recommend to others who are visiting raglan.

my son gave me a gift voucher for this restaurant so we made a weekend of it and stayed overnight. we were seated at a good table overlooking the ocean. there was nothing really appealing on the entrée menu so we had a main and a dessert. i couldn't decide which bottle of wine to have with dinner so the waitress let us try the two we were looking at. i chose steak and my husband chose lamb. the steak was a little bit gristly, but still very enjoyable and cooked perfectly. my husband enjoyed his lamb. we then both had the apple tart tatan and this waslovelyas well. the waitress (morgan) was great. she gave us excellent service without being obtrusive. a very pleasant dining experience. we will definitely come back.

we arrived in raglan hoping for brunch at the pub. couldn't get in the back where we parked so ended up in orca. what a nice place and the lady who served us i cannot remember her name sorry, she waslovelyand helpful. more credit to her please i wish i knew her name, i asked her about scattering my parents ashes and she didn't look at me as if i was crazy. so i may have forgotten your name but will not forget you. thank you. yummy food and the best mocha mmmmm thank you

i often go to orca as the outlook is lovely, the option for a bar or restaurant environment is inviting, the staff are friendly and hospitable, and the food is tasty!! from pate or chowder to a sumptuous steak, i have not yet been disappointed. good value for money,lovelywines. and what a special building. well done orca, great to see the building on the corner living and thriving with good food and wine and friendly local knowledge.

we had a great dining experience at orca.

the table location was where we expected, having booked ahead. this is always a good sign as some restaurants put advance bookings in the worst spots, reserving the best tables for walk ins. the welcome was friendly and the young woman who served us most of the evening was genuinely delightful, striking a nice balance of being attentive but not fussing too much. the décor was bright and open but we still felt like we had our own little corner. it was a busy evening, but staff seemed to be on top of it all.

the food was what we had come for of course, and we weren’t disappointed. we had already discussed the menu when we booked and were really pleased to see an imaginative vegetarian entrée and main. sure, there could always be more choices, but orca steered well away from those tired old clichés, fettuccine alfredo and vegetarian lasagne! other restaurants take note! we can cook this stuff at home! the dishes were elegant without being pretentious and were a taste sensation, especially the mushroom entrée. the gnocchi dish waslovelytoo. i suspect it was done in a skillet instead of simply being boiled. venturing into meat territory once in a while, i had lamb which was very good indeed.

we had three courses with wine and the quality and presentation were excellent. there was just the right amount of time between courses too, so you never felt either rushed or neglected. a big test of an evening is when the dessert menu is presented. many restaurants either shove it your face as an afterthought or leave it so long that you simply go off the idea. no problems here. we had alovelytart tatin and gratefully accepted a dessert wine suggestion. it was all rounded off with a good coffee.

so all in all we had a very pleasant evening.lovelystaff, great food and definitely somewhere we would recommend.

a friend and i went to orca looking forward to alovelymeal overlooking the ocean, but instead experienced the worst customer service of our lives. after walking in the door, no one showed us to a table so we found an empty one in the corner. 10 minutes went by trying to flag down one of the waitresses, who kept walking past our table and seemingly deliberately ignoring us. finally one came over and said, "i can't take your order for another 20 minutes, is that ok?" with no explanation as to why this was the case. we said no and left. i cannot begin to understand the logic of this, since it was reasonably early and the restaurant had several empty tables. a very insulting experience.