the grove

went for dinner with my good lady wife and mum and dad on the occasion of two belated birthdays one earl birthday and wedding anniversary. it's a very complicated schedule at the moment.
the restaurant. never been here before, don't remember the last time i've had a set menu and degustation is usually a red flag for me to avoid the place and go somewhere else. i'm occasionally wrong. the setting is very nice. what you'd expect of big city fine dining. the staff, from when i phoned to make the booking to when we walked out the door to leave, were impeccable. polite friendly well presented in simple clean uniforms and most importantly not hovering over you after the first bite asking how the food is or presenting themselves with an enormous pepper grinder.
the food. we had the five courses. quite how you'd put the optional nine courses away is anyone's guess. oysters were delicious, served warm was different but the taste was excellent. the lobster was perfectly cooked and garnished. and we had the wine matched for each dish which i recommend just to try something different from what you may usually take. for what i suppose you'd consider the main, the dishes were roughly the same size, we had the beef which was finished with a lovely buttery sauce. then desert cheese port and the like to finish. not a cheap evening out by any stretch of the imagination but well worth it for a special occasion. just need to put more special occasions on the calendar so i can visit more often. an easy 5 star location.

absolutely stunning. treat yourself and go all out is the only way to go here. full degustation with matched wines is an extraordinary dining experience that will not fade from memory for the foreseeable future. the only negative is that having done this, the bar has been raised to an almost unattainable level. not a cheap night out i'll admit but it must be done!

the grove was a lovely place with a nice ambience but it simply didn't meet the reviews / hype that its been given (not for us). we celebrated our one year anniversary there last night and had the nine course degustation. we were quite disappointed with the wine selection (although the cocktails were lovely), the service and, although we loved the seafood dishes and the desserts, we found a big pip in one dish and had an uncooked venison sausage. tried to point this out to the staff but they didn't really hear us and just explained what was in the dish (but for the second time we couldn't understand them - not being fussy, my partner is french and so were most of the staff, we saw almost all of them, but they just spoke way to fast). the cheese wasn't great, even for new zealand cheese although it was presented beautifully. we were very comfortable and didn't have a bad time but i wouldn't go back.

l was looking forward to an evening at the grove, its my third time here, both experiences were a culinary delight, so it was going to be a special evening for myself and my fiancee.

to simplify my feedback i thought i'd split it into three sections.

wine - 8/10
we drank sauvignon blanc and pinot noir from the glass. very tasty. why an 8? more selection needed, as there were only a choice of 1 sauvignon blanc and 2 pinot noir.

food - 8/10
excellent, the quality of the food is really up there. highlight was the snapper with yellow fin tuna. why and 8? the food was elegantly plated but very similar to other dishes (deer and duck). also the light didn’t help, that goes onto my next section.

service, table & light - 1/10
in short we were “the forgotten table”. no waiter allocation, so we had a miss-match of 5 different waiters at random times. we simply weren’t looked after, we’d be asking waiters to top up our water or to order more wine, we shouldn’t have to do this, 2-3 times we had empty glasses. we jokingly timed it at 6min's with empty glasses with multiple waiters walking past the table. i eventually stepped up and got my own wine menu. we got asked at the end once, “how is your meal" by a passing waiter! we did both laugh when this happen as it felt odd and too late.

when the food was delivered each course was quickly spoken // rambled. three times my fiancee asked me “so what are we eating”. i say 'delivered' not ‘served' as by this time it felt as if we were a delivery service for food.

table was located next to the window, beside the large bright grove sign outside, similar to a street light 5 meter's away from your table. backlash - distraction from my fiancee, growing headache, couldn’t relax and my eye’s didn’t adjust to the low light room so i couldn’t see the food properly. i have little memory of what i ate. looking around at other tables it was ours with this issue. solution: my fiancee and i changed seats. the table was darker than i expected, maybe this had to do with the conflicting bright light outside? looking on at other customers seating i felt table / light envy.

small details: our table was too close to the waiters table, regularly we had waiters with their backs to us focusing on the room, also being at the end, waiters would give the impression that they would be coming to our table to then turn and focus on surrounding tables / waiters table. the irony of this is that both of these made us again feel overlooked and districted us.

conclusion
it’s in the details, all about the details. we all have high exceptions when it comes to fine dining and spending good money you expect a unique and personal customer experience. you want to feel special right? i felt disappointed as this was completely forgotten, we felt abandoned and under-valued. i won't recommend to friends or will come back.

overall verdict 4/10

i went here for dinner expecting a la carte dining. turned out dinner was degustation only, but we stayed and tried it out anyway. the food was incredible. creative presentation and great flavours. the atmosphere, wine list and service were just as good. definitely going back for round two.

my partner and i always dine here on special occasions, and we also love going there whenever the menu changes!
lovely restaurant with world-class food that never disappoints.
we always opt for the 9 course degustation, even though we are not big eaters!
highly highly recommended!

wonderful evening with our family celebrating our anniversary. we chose the 5 course degustation with the wine match. amazing! loved the flavours and the wine matches. wonderful service and very touched be the special addition of the celebration truffles. thank you for a stunning g dining experience.

typical high standard of dining at the grove. service was great and good even better. we opted for the 5 course surprise and delight. can't even tell you exactly what we had but it was yum! definitely worth a visit and will look to return on a monday night for the $65 sample menu which was told to us by the waitress.

we had a delicious 5 course degustation on a monday night. we had a group of 6 and dined with their surprise menu option for $65pp. this was well beyond value for money and each course was of an amazing standard. the only downside is that we had to wait nearly 45 min to be seated for dinner, however the yummy cocktails, food and great service made up for the wait. will definitely visit again soon.

from the moment you enter the restaurant, you are made to feel welcomed and valued. the staff at the grove are excellent, and very knowledgable about their menu. we chose the 9 course degustation, which was fantastic, but very large, would probably go for 5 courses if we returned. every dish was delicious, but we particularly enjoyed the seafood dishes. the prawns were absolutely stunning, as was the tuna. definitely worth a visit, we will be returning.

this was our first degustation experience and i had very high expectations of the grove seeing as its head chef is mkr nz judge ben bayly. the street itself looks a bit run down and quiet, but as soon as we took a step inside, we felt like we were in another world. the place had a really nice calm and peaceful ambience to it, and we absolutely admired the decor! the waitress offered us the option to choose our own meals or to get a surprise. we decided to go for a surprise and it was totally worth it. each time we took our first bite of each dish, we were sent to food heaven and i've never ever felt so happy and satisfied from food. the tuna tartare was a beautiful way to start our 5 course meal. all the flavours tied in very well together. our second dish was the grilled salmon and wow that was just absolutely amazing. from the crispy salmon skin right to the popping surprise of the tobiko eggs. our third course of the duck and duck sausage was outstanding. the duck was cooked to perfection and the combination of the duck sausage with the peach really complimented each other. the fourth course was beautiful. my partner got an eye fillet that was cooked just right and i chose the waygu for a $15 supplement and it was definitely worth it. the shot of the tomato consume that came with the dish at first was quite nice but i felt it's quite overpowering to have in one go so i suggest having it throughout your meal. lastly the raspberry soufflé was beautiful and just melted in my mouth.

overall it was an amazing dining experience that i will never ever forget and so far it's the best meal i have ever had! we cannot wait to come back here to food heaven!

my husband and i celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary at the grove restaurant and everything was perfect! the staff also went our if their way to make us feel very special throughout the evening. 9 courses of absolute heaven and hard to pick a favourite.

delightful. valet parking, a gorgeous menu and even more gorgeous service. i have no thing bad to say about this establishment apart from do try their specials - you will regret not stepping out of your comfort zone. due to some mistake, i was served sparkling water and not still for the second bottle, but the team handled it so well i still have nothing bad to say about them. impeccable dining experience, not to be missed if you're in auckland for any amount of time.

what a delightful yummy lunch, came here for a work lunch we decided to go
for the 5 course and this was
more than enough, beautiful my presented, beautiful french wine to match,
my fav would have been the raw fish but everything was amazing :-)

once a year my business partner and i splurge and this year it was the grove. i didn't think we'd get a table for lunch the week before christmas but we did. i was running a bit late and i'd heard they had some parking, so i parked less than legally (in a loading zone) and just dashed in to check out the situation, bumping into my partner at the front door.  the woman at reception asked me to describe my car and said she'd find it and park it for me! so i gave her my keys and we went to our table. 

we had already decided on the 5 course degustation for $89. the service was perfectly pitched - unrushed but attentive, with great knowledge of some complicated dishes. we chose the pea and potato risotto, ballotine of chicken on black pudding, organic lamb lollipop, eye fillet and the pavé of brillat-savarin (a cream cheese) & chocolate w porcini caramel. all 5 dishes were extraordinary. fresh ingredients combined in new ways with often subtle but precisely chosen flavours that enhanced each other, creating memorable new taste experiences. it was a beautiful meal. when we'd finished and paid my car was ready parked outside in st patricks square.

the grove is really something quite exceptional - to get this quality of food at this price, and with such great service make the grove superb value for money. i recently tried a michelin starred restaurant in rome - honestly, those michelin guys need to get out more.

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