the station bar & bistro

my family (group of 7) of us dinned here last night, we tried to book but were told there are lots of seats so no need, and to just come in. we arrived and there were no tables, after some were made available we sat, the waitress was lovely and the dining room was nicely decorated. the menu is massive (too big) and after ordering we waited for 55 minutes before we got our food. i think that if it is going to take an hour to get food out – you tell people when they sit down so they have the choice to go elsewhere (my nana was shattered by the end of the night). as if that wasn't enough they forgot one of the meals, after another 10-13 minutes my husband’s arrived, they gave him an extra piece of fish and a drink for the hassle which was nice. unfortunately you could tell themealwas rushed, they gave him the wrong side (salad not veges as he had ordered) the fish was soggy and oily, and the batter was about 3 times the measly piece of fish inside, and if that wasn't enough he has been sick all night and is off work today with a stomach ace. food quality is nowhere near the $25mealstandard the prices allude to. over all we won’t be coming back, good service terrible food, and very very overpriced.

great service and well priced. chicken diane was sublime and my scotch fillet cooked fine. great place for amealbefore going to the cinema next door

have eaten here over twenty times since it opened from sit down meals to bistro, service is always friendly food well priced and the seafood chowder is amazing never had a badmealor experience

after travelling through the upper north island over the last few days, we finally arrived in napier, and were fortunate enough to stumble upon the station while looking for somewhere to eat. turned out to be the bestmealwe've had so far! the service at the station was superb from start to finish, and the food was exactly what we wanted. as we changed a couple of things from our menu selection, our server listened to what we wanted changed to make sure she really understood, rather than returning with an incorrectmealor having to come back to ask. the prices were great, and everything came to our table extremely promptly as well. and as much as we loved the station and would definitely come back, anna in particular deserves praise for her people skills and really taking time to ensure that we got exactly what we requested, even suggesting some local tourist attractions that we could visit. 5 stars to the station, and 6 stars to anna!

friendly staff. but every time i come here the drink service doesn't exist. it's a fatal flaw. i can say we have been here with empty glasses from the first drink till we leave every time.
the food is good quality. however, there is room for improvement. some meals are too big and this is a fundamental flaw. you cannot sell entrees and desserts if your mainmealwould fill two people. someone needs to address these issues. it's ok when napier is busy but when it is quiet it will go backwards.
i would only come back for pizza.

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 incorrectmealwas 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 correctmealwas 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 amealwith 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 moviemealdeal, 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 themealwas inedible.

my wife and i very rarely go out so we were looking forward to amealand 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 ourmealand 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.

usually i don't write reveiw's on restaurants, but after having such a greatmeali 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 themeal, 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.

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 amealand 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.