speight's ale house

i only have the best reviews for the speights ale house. coming from christchurch i have been many times to our local restaurant and have always had a great dining experience. however the speights ale house nelson was a whole new experience. we took the family down on saturday night and even with it being fully booked we still received the the friendly response and great service we expected. ourmealswere received in an expected time frame and constantly had a waiter ready to take a drinks orders when needed. it had a great vibe about the place as all speights ale houses have and would recommend anyone who hasn't been before to go down and give it a try. we'll defiantly head back next time we are up!

just another lone-star type. bigmealsnot cheap. decent service - but run by kids who aren't very interested. had lamb shank - it was fine. steak tasted of nothing.

what a disappointment.
rather than make a fuss and ruin a birthday treat we finished ourmealsand 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 substandard meal of three mains and a child's 'meal' at $108
lesson learned, we won't be back.

few problems with the food:

all entrees were too good i had to over eat

steak was cooked perfectly i almost licked the plate

belt had to be loosened as themealswere a good size

i would definitely recommend speights ale house to anyone that asks, best restaurant food ive had in a while.
customer service was excellent too

i have dined at speights on 2 occasions recently and have had a positive experience both times. it has been some years since i have dined here but it did not disappoint. we were seated promptly even though we were early and the waitress very quickly explained the specials of the day before taking our drinks order. i chose the bendigo steak and my fellow diners chose lambs fry and the special of groper.mealsarrived and we tucked in to a scrumptious dinner. the steak was cooked medium rare to my liking served with potato gratin and broccolini. the othermealswere pronounced as being equally delicious. for dessert i chose the sticky date pudding served with a brandy snap, my friends ordered cheesecake and an ice cream sundae. all in all we enjoyed the speights experience even if it was a little noisy with the increase of patrons. i would happily dine here again.

the service was incredible,mealswere cooked to perfection and so filling !! could not fault anything here tonight. quality, quantity and customer service was a+++ thank you for such an incredible experience. we can’t wait to come back 😊

staff are really nice and friendly. been here a few times and quite far apart so it was really cool to have two really great meals. just simple pubmealswith a few beers in the afternoon.

both beef and chicken pies were well made with lots of tasty filling, the foast and mash potatoes were thd best and well it was all pub grub on a chef standard level, clean tasty and yes i do recommend it and the price is right so we will be back sooner this time.

normally a fan of speights ale house and have hired the function room etc. but won't be returning now as we went out for an anniversary dinner, ordered the 'garlic bread' and were served a loaf of un-sliced bread and butter on the side that had no garlic flavor to it, so we said that we weren't happy with it and said we wanted to return it, which was fine and then went to pay and the waiter said that the manager sam was still charging us the $8 for the bread - so overall they did nothing to make up for what was un-satisfying and the customer service from the manager was very immature, seeing as there were no adults or experienced customer service workers around we paid and left with disappointment in the place that states themselves to be 'generous to a fault' . the actualmealswere great but the manager running the place made a rude decision that has ruined their reputation for the sake of $8 - and i felt sorry for the waiter who looked embarrassed to tell us that the manager was still charging us and when i asked for the reason he had no response - even he knew that was the wrong customer service move.

dreadful lunch today. decided to go somewhere kid friendly and i have visited speights ale houses in other cities and thought theirmealsreliable and generous. ourmealstook 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 my meal and 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.

attending nelson masters- booked a table (last minute) for 8 of us at speights- seated upstairs on a very busy friday night. ordered cocktails (one not even listed, and additional limes brought to the table without being requested).

amazing, attentive service from (yes young) but very capable waiting staff- all of which were pleasant and positive with our many requests.

allmealswere great, my fresh tuna- sensational.

no delays or waiting and not even a hassle for us all to pay individually and use our entertainment cards! congratulated the manager on the night on brilliant staff and lovely meals.

would definitely recommend to anyone and suggest return visits for any of the previous customers- doesn't sound like the same restaurant!

we have had lunches (yum lamb shanks) and eveningmealsat the speights ale house and we couldn't fault it. latest saturday night compliments to the chef we all had differentmealsall were perfect. the surroundings are great as was the service.

great. is a good way to sum up our experience. took out 18 month old nephew out to lunch with us today to give his mum a bit of a rest. was really nervous about taking a child into the restaurant but these guys were so cool about it. high chair was right their straight away and even when he was running around like a crazy kid with us running along trying to catch him they didnt mind at all they just smiled and the young server even played along with him!.... food was exellent as well. good portions we had a half garlic cob and a chowder to start followed by the "small" shearers shanks (its huge...lol) and the pork ribs both exellentmealsthey were well cooked and seasoned and the meat just fell off the bone. thank you guys we really enjoyed our lunch and the real child friendlyness that can be sometimes really hard to find at a restaurant.

we have dined at he ale house for about our sixth time tonight and this place is so worth recommending. we are a couple who spend a fair amount of time eating out in nelson and would have to say speight's has consistently served up beautifulmealsas well as excellent service. from the time we walk in the door to the time we leave i have to say i can't pick any holes in this place. i recommend the fish of the day i have it every time and its been beautiful and different each and every time - keep it up speight's!!!

july 2012 - lovely food and attentive efficient service, they checked every course that we were happy with ourmealsand very friendly and accommodating.

we'll definitely be going back.

june 2013 - did go back - same again - attentive polite staff and awesome food. top notch.

i have been to the speights ale house a few times they have always had horrible customer service, we came here for a birthday dinner with my family, we had to wait over an hour for ourmealsto come out and when they came out they were nothing what we had expected, my grandad got flounder which was covered in hundreds and thousands, i ordered the highland short ribs which was suppose to come with portobello mushrooms but instead had button mushrooms, we ordered a jug and that took an hour to get to the table, they weren't overly busy because all of their rude staff were chatting around the bar while people were waiting. when we went to pay they would not let my grandparents who were paying use my speights loyalty club card because they said i wasn't paying and we spent well over $400 there.. what's the point in having one if i cant use it?! all up it was terrible service i never recommend this place to anyone and i certainly never go back!