the station bar & bistro

me and my partner went to the station for a nice dinner before we went next door to watch a movie, we were seated immediately and given our menus, the lovely waitress asked if we wanted something to drink as we looked through the menu, she came back and we explained that we understand the have a large group in but how long does she think the food will take as we want to go and watch a movie by 8.30pm, she informed us that if we order a main we get a $5 off voucher for the movies, so two mains is two vouchers which was nice to be told before we ordered, she said that because there are only two of us it won't take long as she knows we need to be gone by 8.30. prompt and polite service, excellent food, private eating set up, quick to clear the dirty plates and ask if we need anything and if everything was ok, lovely night out and couldn't complain about a thing. very highly recommended.

what a fantastic place. great options on the menu, great atmosphere. we did wonder how long the food would take to come out but were pleasantly surprised at the time and we weren't in a hurry anyway. wait staff were very attentive. there was a slight hiccup in the ordering process where the incorrect meal was delivered to the table, but this was sorted immediately by the attentive staff that not only made the correct meal, didn't charge us for it, and provided an interim snack while the correct meal was cooking! (as the rest of us were already eating), whilst also apologising. we found this service to be _over and above_ and would most definitely dine here again when in the napier area and will recommend it to friends. also their theme was trains which i'm quite the fan of.

food took just over 45 minutes to arrive, our lemonades were flat and when food arrived the steak was cold! who dishes up a meal with the meat cold? i returned mine and went my hubby ate his with cold meat, was not offered a discount or even a decent apology. would never go there again. worst dining experience ever!

busy saturday night, but plenty of parking. wanted to try out the movie meal deal, so went up to the bar and asked if we could order and if there would be a problem getting out for our movie at 8.30. reassured we had plenty of time, we ordered 2 of the $14 hamburgers and drinks and were handed a number to place on a table and $5 off movie vouchers. i went next door and got our movie tickets (no hassles with the two $5 off vouchers) and then went back to our table. burgers arrived with a cute accompanying frying baskets of crinkle fries after about 15 minutes. definitely worth waiting for, hot and tasty. couldn't fault the service. gentleman who took our order at the bar was polite and friendly, and he brought our plates of food to our table. i would have liked to have sat in the beer garden outside but was put off by the smokers. good first experience

about an hour for the food to arrive for a party of 5. ordered the sea-food basket. the mussels hadn't been cleaned properly of 3 mussels 2 had 'beards' attached. will not be returning. no offer of a refund even though part of the meal was inedible.

we had dinner here last night, despite the reviews, and were impressed. especially given the reviews. the food was good, arrived in a reasonable amount of time, and the staff was very friendly. we ate in the bistro section of the restaurant. we will go back.

my wife and i very rarely go out so we were looking forward to a meal and movie date together. it was a wednesday night. we arrived at 6:25 pm and ordered drinks. we asked if we had time to have our meal and get to the movie we had booked for 7:15 pm and we were assured we would have time if we ordered burger and chips. we waited till 7pm before asking the waitress how our meals were going. she came back to say that the chef was too busy to tell her! we waited till 7:05 before we paid for our drinks and left. i called the general manager the following morning to explain what happened. he took my number but has not called back. very poor all round - would not recommend this restaurant. very disappointed.

dear david, i am so sorry that i missed you each time you came in. we redeemed your vouchers tonight and were very impressed. when we arrived the place was humming and we were told it might be 45 mins until we got our meals. we ordered drinks and our meals. we were pleasantly surprised when they arrived in about 20 mins considering it was so busy. we had the burgers we ordered the last time and they were superb. i would say that they were excellent value for money and i would come again and recommend your resturant. obviously our previous experience was not up to your usual standard. we will be back soon - thanks very much.

horrible!!!! would not recommend to anyone!! order took way too long to arrive and restaurant wasn't even that busy and when it did arrive no one out of the group was happy with their meals! staff were un-polite and rude. would never dine here again!!

usually i don't write reveiw's on restaurants, but after having such a great meal i had to let people know about this laid back awesome place. the menu is fantastic, the pizza's were great and my wife loved that she got a gluten free base at no extra charge. we sat out in the garden bar and it was surprising how big it is and enjoyable to sit out there. i was impressed by the drink selection and having heineken on tap was a nice surprise. we will definately be going back to eat very soon

you know i always feel really sorry for eating places that get reviewed. most of the people that review them have absolutely no idea of what it takes to work in hospitality, it is damn hard work and even if the waitress looks like she is not smiling, she is trying her best and probably really tired from being on her feet for hours, taking abuse from snobby customers and trying to keep waiting people happy because there are so many orders and the kitchen is going as fast as they can. i recommend that people who go out to eat, just think for a minute about what it is like for those serving you, don't be selfish and demanding, don't have an attitude that makes you look as though you think you are better than those serving you, be grateful and thankful that these people are working their butts off, hard work usually, to keep so many people happy and usually with not so much as a thanks ! customers often don't know the liquor laws either and licensed places have to be so careful with hefty fines that can be charged. don't go to a place with the thought to always review them, instead go out and be happy and have a good time, and never expect a place that is not a five star restaurant, to be a five star restaurant. instead, go and choose an actual 5 star restaurant where you can be as snooty as you like, moan about the size of the meal , pick at everything about the place and then probably come away only paying half your bill !!!!
i just think people have far too much to say often, and know very little about anything behind the scenes, especially in hospitality. give hospitality a break people, it is one of the hardest industries to work in and one of the least to get credit.

after reading some of the negative reviews, i was hesitant about going to the station - doubly so since i was wanting to attend a movie straight after. but hoping for the best and the fact that it was a "quiet" monday, i went anyway. overall, the experience was good. the atmosphere is quite "pub-ish", but the prices were ok, and the food tasty / filling, and those waiting on the tables polite (with smiles), and we were able to eat and get to the movie with about 10 minutes to spare. we may have got slightly better service than we otherwise might have due to recognising the young lady who waited on our table from another (now closed) establishment - so it might be that our rapport with her helped our experience.

would not recommend at all. will never go back there and will tell everyone i know not to go there. the first time we went for dinner was ok as i thought i'd give the place a second chance, went back again tonight expecting to spend over $200 on dinner for four people and got told to leave as one of our sisters didn't have identification: we weren't even going to buy alcohol, only wanted to have a meal and there were kids already in there eating which didn't seem to make sense so we took our money elsewhere. your loss someone else's gain.

nine of us dined here and all of our meals were excellent. however while most of the staff were obliging and very pleasant there was a waitress who was not at all helpful even a smile from her would have made our experience more enjoyable

we will return and just hope that she is not on duty.

25 minute wait for garlic breads, downright unfriendly staff, slow poor service; average food at best. not impressed, would not recommend.

also methinks menu mania is a piss poor website for not allowing users to post a comment under 200 characters ;)

we have been here a couple of times and is usually awesome, but recently went there for lunch and ordered the fish burger, was a large bun with a tiny piece of fish, abit of lettuce and a soggy bit of tomato, the chips were also on the cold side and had gone a little soft. would go back but definatly not for a fish burger.