southern cross garden bar restaurant

the fish was dry, the chips were cold and overly crispy, the coleslaw was haphazard (no love). 3 sirloins all came out well done, such a waste. the staff however were friendly and they had agoodbeer selection.

came here for a friend's birthday party. although the dinner menu was a special catering menu, it wasgoodfood. portions weregoodand the service was amazing, complimented the party well. the lighting was a little dim for a large group catering but there is enough space for large groups which is good. (we had a group of around 20, which they had a private room around the back behind the bar).
7/10

honestly one of the worst experiences i’ve ever had at a restaurant. we were part of a booking that a family member made at the restaurant and showed up only to find out that the manager that took our booking didn’t even write it down and they didn’t have a table for us. to make things worse that manager wasn’t on that night so the other manager tried to call him only to have him ignore and not pick up any calls. in the end they ended up giving us a function room but from here things only got worse. of course i felt bad for the waitress that was serving us since it was just her waiting on 20 or more people and she seemed quite panicked but honestly the wait for food as just not on. we wearied so long for entrees and mains only to have them all bland, dry and very gross honestly the onlygoodthings we had was the water and soda the garlic bread was alright but it’s safe to say that my family and i won’t ever return. it’s such a pricey place for food like that and even the fact that the manager messed up our booking left a very bad impression on all us. it’s hard to believe how this place has 4.1 stars when it doesn’t live up to that at all. my suggestion is save your money and go somewhere else that’s much more worth than this place

overall - nice place ingoodlocation. great food

food:goodselection 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,goodtucker and beverages. would come back here when in town.

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

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, goodservice,goodquality

have been a couple times and love this restaurant. cool vibes, love the movie nights. reallygoodmenu 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!

great atmosphere and service with agoodand varied selection of food, so every one is catered for. while lunch was fine evening meals have been served cold.

hi, i am currently sitting in the garden bar, the last time i was here was around a couple of years ago, that visit was pleasing. this one however was shocking. one plate of brussel balls came out and were black and over cooked, the corn balls under cooked, the staff that serevd us all had different responses to "can i order a drink out here in the garden bar."
eating out in nz is expensive, eating out in wellington is 9 times out of 10 agoodexperience, and if it isn't for the customer then they won't go back because of the amount of other options.
i grew up in hospitality and understand the pressure that can be under with customers, but in this case there were too many short falls, which leads me to this write up.
sort it out please! i'd like to come back and not have the same again.

this is quite a large restaurant with different seating options, more relaxed bar area, restaurant area and a large courtyard area. it seems very family friendly,goodeven for small kids. the food is more thangoodand as a bonus they do tim tam slams!

my bf and i came here for drinks and dinner last night (a tuesday) and i can only describe the whole experience as abysmal. the staff were trying their best, but this is a big place and was very obviously understaffed.the girls on the bar were clearly struggling with the amount of people to serve and dirty glasses and plates sat piled on the end of most tables. my $16 mojito arrived after a 20min wait and was downright offensive. two mint leaves, lime cordial, soda, and i assume some rum. i didn't know a mojito could be defaced so badly, but hey you learn something new everyday. after over an hour wait our burgers arrived. sadly they had zero flavour and were dry as were the accompanying cardboard-esque chips. i've never been so thankful for tomato sauce as a saviour for that whole meal situation. while the bar has pretty cool décor and the staff are nice, it really feels like the southern cross management know they have agoodthing going for them and don't feel the need to try anymore.

this is hands down my favourite place to go in wellington for agoodmeal that you know you're not going to be disappointed with. we went in the evening and the fairy lights and decor create a lovely atmosphere.
i ordered the chicken skewers, roasted veg and garlic bread. the chicken was amazing!! fell off the bone, tons of flavour. the roasted vegetables were fresh and not overdone. garlic bread wasn't great but still tasty.
my bf ordered the lentil dish and said it was incredible. if you have room the desserts in the cabinet are also worth getting!

came to have brunch with a bunch of friends. the menu lookedgoodand the place was warm that day.

by the door the staff mentioned there would be a 30mins wait for food, which thought was pretty normal in wellington.

we sat down and ordered straight away. the waitress came and mentioned the wait was actually 45 mins. since we were already sited so we just ordered the food.

it didn't come until the next hour and a half. every time we asked any of the waitress they kept mentioning how busy the kitchen is, without even helping to look how far our food was. very unhelpful.

by the time we received our order we have finished our coffee and felt far beyond hungry and tired. the whole brunch experience became dull.

not recommending this place for breakfast or lunch. bad service and kitchen management. only gave enough stars because the food was fine, still nothing special.

went to southern cross over the holiday period while the location is a winner and the venue great. overall alittle disappointed with outing.

service was really lacking they were very eager to take drink orders from the get go i ordered a juice, said juice didn't come till some 30mins later . repeated requested to understand where the juice was were meet by its coming it's going to be here soon. in the end the juice arrived after everyone had all but finished their meals which were ordered after the drink :( at no point to staff say how sorry they were or that they should have warned us on the problem they gave with juices.

food was prettygoodhowever if paying $22 for a big breakfast to get store brought hash browns is a rip.

i'm sure i'll be back for beers some time, maybe just not brunch