southern cross garden bar restaurant

honestly, can't understand how this has a 4.1 review.... my and my partner sat down & felt like we were on a different planet for the lack of human interaction. after being thrown at a table that was pulled from what can best be described as the local rsa, we were constantly ignored & left to debate the worthiness of the over priced menu. we left after 20 minutes of being ignored we left and found somewhere else to eat and drink where waitstaff did their job to have an overall, enjoyable evening. to say the least, we were less than impressed. #pleaseletmeforget #boozehelpspeople

a pity one star rating is the minimum. really a zero or negative number is needed. the southern cross is very very anti vegetarian and vegan. requesting vegetarian or vegan food is met with hostility from staff. i went there on anzac day and was turfed out because they wouldnt as they insisted that food without meat and/or egg in it does not qualify as a "meal" and therefore i couldnt be on the premesis. vegetarians and vegans need to boycott this dive.

had dinner in the restaurant part of the southern cross. pleasant ambience. service was excellent. didn’t have to wait long for our dinner - so important after a hard days work. my dinner was the mushroom bolognese. mushroom and tomatoes were puréed. unfortunately that dish and salad was too vegetarian for me. otherwise everything was excellent. ...i forgot to ask my friend about her meal 😬 oops!

overall - nice place in good location. great food

food: good selection of cabinet and menu food. i dug into poached eggs on toast, a relatively sedate meal but nice.

service: we were told it would take a while as they were short staffed but it was a bit excessive. one of our group had to wait about 30 minutes for his coffee - he was desperately seeking a coffee to attempt to cure the previous nights affairs....

ambience: nice place, not noisy despite being busy

group of friends down here for wellington on a plate. ambience filled restaurant bar for everyone. kids area, outdoor garden area, seating in corner nooks, booths etc. eclectic trendy environment with great happy staff, good tucker and beverages. would come back here when in town.

i have always loved the vibe here but my most recent experience with kids was quite different. was stoked they had face painting, toys and board games available, super child friendly but the dish from the kids meal, a dragon bowl was a letdown. firstly it was the last dish to come out even though i ordered it first to avoid hangry meltdowns and when it came it looked sooo boring! i don't know any kids that would be excited and satisfied by chicken with a spoonful of black rice, a few lettuce leaves and carrot sticks. the chicken was tasty but there was just so little of it which was the same for all of our meals. i had a veganized burger and it was tasty but didn't satisfy. at least i had fries with it! same went for the tiny buddha bowl and beef cheeks, also tasty but tiny! we left feeling like we spent heaps but could go for another meal to feel satisfied. service was friendly but disorganized. it's a shame because apart from their meal, the kids had a great time

always fun coming here. the giant jenga is always a good party game! also the pork belly dish is excellent. great place to hang with friends and relax after a long week

what a nice place! the staffs were excellent and very helpful. the food was great, the eggs were cooked to perfection. would go here again for dinner next time!

vegetarians are not welcome at the southern cross.

i attended this morning. as required by law, one must purchase a meal to have coffee. thats fine. but not when they don't serve vegetarians.

there were no reasonable vegetarian options. so i asked if i could buy one of the lesser options. but no, thats not a meal apparently. so i asked if i could buy multiple. nope, apparently even if you eat more than what they call a meal, its not a meal.

i noticed one of the advertised meals had a vegan option and asked for that. but no, if you have the vegan option its not a meal apparently. so you can only order the vegan option if you order one of the non vegetarian options as well.

make sense? no. it doesn't. in short, you could only eat there today if you are not a vegetarian.  they may as well hang up a "vegetarians not welcome" sign out front. that kind of discrimination is disgusting.  i have encountered open hostility from staff for being vegetarian there on a previous occasion, so this should not have surprised me.

do they know that some religions are entirely vegetarian as well? so whole religions are being discriminated against as well. whats next? banning people based on ethnicity or sexual orientation? wouldn't surprise me.

way to bring a major downer to such an important day.

i will see to it that vegetarians and vegans far and wide are made aware of this establishment and its attitude towards us.

went for a monday night steak special 2 for $35. value for money but the steak was over cooked when we ask for medium rare and the sauce is a bit bland.

4.5/5 taste
4.5/5 display
4/5 quantity
4/5 customer service

very nice stonegrill for its value!

they have often have 1 plus 1 offers.
good atmosphere, good service, good quality

what a fantastic way to end our amazing weekend in wellington! the place is absolutely gorgeous, awesomely decorated and laid out and so comfortable, i could hang there all day and not tire of being there i’m sure. it’s gorgeous and has so many different areas that are equally as beautiful as the rest.

the staff are so wonderful! the girl that served us was a pure delight!! we all absolutely loved her.

i got the vegan portobello benedict with cashew hollandaise with added hash browns, which i didn’t need cause i was so full!!! but, hash browns, i couldn’t not right? the meal was so very delicious, like give a mouthgasm type delicious. and the hot sauce they have is amazing, i wish i’d taken a photo of the hot sauce because it made my hot sauce loving taste buds dance. it was pure perfection with my breakfast that’s one thing i know for certain.

my daughter made up a breakfast from the sides of giant beans (which she said were the best beans in the entire universe - i tasted them and said i think she’s right), hash browns and avocado with sourdough toast. she was so happy with her breakfast that she said she wanted to rewind and go there for breakfast yesterday too.

we were going to go there for dinner on saturday night as well but had decided not to for some ridiculous reason. boy did we regret that decision when we were there for breakfast.

i will be going back, every time i’m in wellington.

popped in for a family dinner, 4 adults and two kids. great relaxed atmosphere, plenty of seats, inside and out, heaters outside too and so welcoming for kids. brilliant so far. ordered eye fillet, two buddha bowls garlic breads, cheerios, stonegrill surf and turf, mini hotdogs, gluten free beers, nz whisky, lemoney lemonade and a couple of spiders.... phew! cant fault the food, great checking with allergies and adapting if needed, eye fillet was perfect and the stone grill is a real novelty! thoroughly enjoyed it, service was great too. would revisit and reckon you should try it if you are looking for a family spot.

have been a couple times and love this restaurant. cool vibes, love the movie nights. really good menu variety and well priced, love that it caters to dietary requirements too. recommend the stone grills, have had the marinated tofu and mushroom option, very good!

very rarely that i've had such poor service in wellington. sat at a table that still had someone else's plates left on it. after 15minutes i had to ask them to clear them away to which the waitress reacted rudely like it was quite a chore for her. she only grabbed some of the stuff, left the remainder and didn't even bother to wipe the table. food took a long time to come out and was very average for what we paid for it.
so after eating our overpriced average lunch on a dirty table surrounding by someone else's leftover dishes i can conclusively say that we won't be coming back!