speight's ale house

i used to dine at speights in petone on a regular basis and we went in today expexcting the same quality of food....however we were very disappointed.  when ourmealarrived i thought there had been a potato famine with a very small amount of fries on my plate.  for the price i would have expected much more plus my meat had a weird taste to it which made it almost inedible.  will no longer dine there as i feel its gone backwards

what a disappointment.
rather than make a fuss and ruin a birthday treat we finished our meals and headed home.
the caesar salad was expensive, small, and littered with hard, over cooked, tasteless chicken. the croutons were like small cubes of wood.
the seafood chowder as a main was very ordinary and expensive.
the chicken salad had very little chicken and was also very expensive for what it was.
as for the child's bangers and mash - really? you seriously think it is ok to serve dry, over cooked sausages on a lumpy mash?

the only positive was the mud cake.
add two beers and you have a substandardmealof three mains and a child's 'meal' at $108
lesson learned, we won't be back.

three of us had ameal, , not very good value for the price, judging from my own dish i ordered, battered fish, only glad i ordered the largemealas the piece of fish was about 5inches by 3inches,x2, , in the smallmealthere was only one piece,,
and nothing wonderful, feel ripped off,,,

had a lovelymealat speights ale house nelson this evening. the staff were very friendly and the small this are important as they brought a small taster of their new beer with my first pint.

the starter of beef rolls and chicken bitter bites were nice. the filing lacked seasoning so missed the umph in flavor but overall it was ok. my main of pork and cracking was very nice. pork maybe a tiny over but i am being very picky.

the ambience is the same as most of the speights houses, to dark for my liking but must be a look they are going for.

overall a lovelymealand would go back.

i celebrated my birthday here today, we booked well in advance.
there were 19 adults and 8 children including a baby requiring a high chair which was no problem for them.
because i was more down one end of the table i don't know what everyone had but where i was four of us had chicken with black cherry sauce, it was just so delicious and one of our party wants us to come back with her for her birthday so she can have it again. three had the lamb shanks which they said was very nice. there were burgers, big breakfasts further down the table and heard nothing negative. one person who had twice cooked pork belly said its not the best she had ever had but was still not complaining. my husband who enjoys chips with anymealsaid they are among the best hes had.
we bought our drinks ourselves from the bar which suited us all. the people serving behind the bar were very nice and friendly. not being a big beer drinker but being in an 'ale' house i felt i should have a beer, with help from the staff i selected a beer that was very enjoyable. i heard some complaints about the wine glasses or lack of them but my sister who has been in the uk said thats the type of glasses for wine being used in europe so when i catch up with my friends i will let them know.
the staff brought out my birthday cake taken to them by my daughter and they brought it out to the table.
i found the staff to be very good and attentive but although there was no room left , none of us were offered desserts, ( a minor oversight )
i would not hesitate to return to the restaurant or recommend it.

great big portions of good pub food.

this place was busy , very busy for a wednesday night. i was dining with a group of my neighbours and luckily we had booked. it was also lovely and warm on a wet and rainy day. we had to ask for a heater to be turned off, this made a nice change from feeling like you should keep your coat on.

it took a while to be served and we had to ask for our groups order to be taken. there was also a good wait for the food but when it came we were all happy and the portions were on the large side. i ordered the black cherry chicken which was served on mash with a salad. the salad had really good dressing on it and the mash was good and a decent size portion. the chicken was also a large portion and i didn't manage to finish it, it was good and i really enjoyed the cream cheese filling.
all up, a good pubmealin a pleasant location.

bloody fantastic restaurant. it serves delicious, top quality food. bestmeali have had in wellington in months and i've eaten out a lot in that time. if the staff were slightly more attentive (not that they weren't adequately so) it would have got a 5.

we went for the rugby was an amazingmealwe were a group of 6 all had different things and enjoyed it. the staff were friendly and accommodating. and to top it off we won the rugby so an awsome night all around

i never really know what to say about the child friendly aspect of a place - i suppose it depends upon the age of the child. for me, it would be inappropriate to take a child to a bar or a fine-dining restaurant. personally, i would only take kids under 10 to fast food chains with playgrounds. but that's just me. i mention this for speights because it s a bar, with bar patrons, but my numerous experiences here have never been impacted upon by children.
i try to have something different every time i go to speights and each time i enjoy themealwhatever it is. the calamari is particularly pleasing because you get so much, when so often as is the case with calamari is that you get hardly any for an outrageous price. i do find that the veges are a little too under-cooked for my liking when having the lamb shanks.
the service always very attentive and satisfying. i will keep going back time and time again. the jalapeno cheese balls, pork croquettes & garlic bread are simply divine - the portions big enough to share. most recently i had the bannockburn beef - a huge steak sitting atop truffle oil mashed potato with field mushrooms and bernaise over the top. you don't need an entree when you have this - it is very  filling. it comes with salad which i feel is not needed - mine barely touched the plate. i would also recommend the lamb shanks, which i've had on many occasion. the place can be a bit loud but it doesn't matter - the decor and staff are awesome!

here's what the hubby thought:

"haven't been here for some time, and lacking imagination we came back last week as we wanted somewhere we knew and remembered to be ok. we were warmly greeted by the barman when walking in, and offered any table. no sooner had we sat and he was there with water and another welcome. beverages were ordered. efficient but not imposing. she ordered a deep-fried cheese ball entree and a 400g sirloin, the actual name of the dish escapes me. i ordered bread with garlic butter, pulled-pork croquettes and the drunken steak.

the bread arrived at the same time as the entrees, all were very good. the garlic butter was flavoured how it should be and very generous and half ended up on my steak. my croquettes were also very good and for $10 it was a generous portion, and word was the cheese balls were also well received.

steaks arrived, and these too were of a good standard. generous and well cooked. the veges i swapped a salad for weren't the most appealing but that is the only negative that comes to mind. prices are starting to get up there, and if i got vege like that again i would be asking questions, however these dishes still represented good value. no room for desserts unfortunately.

looking at other tables, the fish dish looked impressive and the burgers to-die-for. all in all a great experience, and we will certainly be back soon.
"

dreadful lunch today. decided to go somewhere kid friendly and i have visited speights ale houses in other cities and thought their meals reliable and generous. our meals took way too long to arrive and arrived well after other guests had arrived and been fed (?). when eventually they did the serving portion of chips for our kids was seriously not what we expected. we asked for more chips and more came. my husband said his calamari was delicious. but my steak got sent back (having arrived after a long wait, and with now tired kids, i declined to reorder). the steak was completely overcooked. beyond even well done. i saw other frustrated customers too and one who sent her steak back as well. something not right in the kitchen there. the manager didn't charge us for mymealand threw in two ice cream sundaes for the kids but the experience left us all really annoyed that we chose there in the first place. spoiled what was supposed to be a special family lunch. grrr.

went sunday evening with friends for a meal. the atmosphere was great, and the restaurant was quite busy. themealwas lovely and the waitress naomi was attentive, friendly and helpful. we used a grabone voucher and it didn't make any difference to the service we received. we will definitely go back!

absolutely delicious!!! everything about themealand experience were were awesome!!! staff (think our waitress was charlotte) were lovely!!! food presentation was great. food was 10/10. unfortunately we didn't have room for desert!!! :-( would definitely recommend a visit!!!

the web site says the ale house is a sports bar - wrong! if you are keen to watch sport don't go here. there are small tv's but you have to ask to watch the sport, then you aren't allowed to hear what's going on, even when a big rugby game is on, no sound allowed even if only one person in the room objects to the sound being on. speights ale house is ok to go for amealor a drink (even though a bit expensive) but definitely not for serious sports fans. they shouldn't advertise themselves as a sports bar, they are not!

my wife and i had dinner at the speights ale house last night, as i had visited a number of times with mates for a friday beer and really enjoyed the relaxed and friendly atmosphere. we were slightly nervous as i'd heard negative feedback aboutmealdelays from a colleague who had dined there, but as it turned out we needn't have worried. i had the flounder, my wife the salmon - both delicious and exceeded expectations, although next time we wouldn't have the bread loaf first (it's huge!). our drinks order was taken before we went upstairs - and almost beat us to the table - both themealorder and subsequent drink refills all happened in appropriate time, despite the place being pretty full. all round we were very impressed and will definitely recommend to friends and family.....and be back for more!

hi. 4 of us locals visited on 1 march 2012. my partner had gone to the bar to get us drinks but a waitress noticed i didn't have a drink and came and asked if i wanted one- well spotted. not long after we were asked if we were dining in that evening and the waitress guessed who we were and showed us to our table. great decor, noticed all speights detail of 3 stars on base of bar stools, restaurant chairs, etc. loved the tartan on back of some of the seating.

meals took 20 mins to arrive, unfortunately just the 2 arrived at once, we had to wait 5 mins for the other 2 which wasn't vg. all meals well presented. rib eye steak was done perfect to medium rare as requested. shank and cod and chips were also enjoyable. my meal- the beans were blanched for about 2 mins in water so were like raw and one i tried was stringy. the waitress was apologetic and while themealwas returned to the chef to sort out, she offered me a complimentary alcoholic or non-alcoholic drink. mymealwas a goat, bacon and mushroom pie- when i tried the pie, all i could taste was an aftertaste of pepper- my friend also confirmed this when she tried it. we told the waitress to pass this info on to the chef which she did.

summary- excellent polite service from everyone concerned, 3 out of 4 meals were well received, just need to make sure all meals at one table are served within a couple of minutes so all at the table can start theirmealat once- some restaurants 'borrow' another waitress to achieve this. we would return and would also recommend to others.