[T2DMan]

Add your review of Tuatua restaurant and be part of the fun .

Contact Details:
45 Albert Street
Whitianga
Ph. 0-7-866 0952

[nugai]

This place was quite a bit of a surprise: The food was very tasteful with a great blend of what seemed to be a North African influence. I wish we would have stayed a day longer in the area to give the food in this place another try.

[T2DMan]

You have been rather busy with reviews this evening! Thanks.

Rather a harsh critic I see This restaurant has been one of the few that has had a more positive comment from you.

All the best for your dining.

[nugai]

Originally Posted by T2DMan

You have been rather busy with reviews this evening! Thanks.

Rather a harsh critic I see This restaurant has been one of the few that has had a more positive comment from you.

All the best for your dining.

I must admit, to date I've been rather disappointed by the food in NZ. I don't think I'm not a snob and if my critique seems harsh, it's because what I had so far just does not hold up to food I had in North America, Europe and Asia.

When eating out, the food I taste has to hold up to a fairly simple standard: Is it as good or better than what I eat or cook at home (I'm an OK cook but not great cook, but my wife is pretty good)?

This requires freshness, technique and inventiveness on behalf of the cooks, who supposedly are professionals. If they can't deliver that, they don't deserve to get paid -- same as singers who cannot hold a tune. My wife and I had several meals in NZ where great ingredients were murdered in the kitchen by insensitive cooks.

Tuatua has been a notable exception.

[rebecca12345]

5 of us tried to eat here on Sat 3/4/10. We were in a celebratory mood so ordered cocktails. The waitress seemed quite shocked by this and had to have each order repeated to her, it took a lot of effort to make sure she had the order correctly. The cocktails then arrived one at a time, very very slowly, each was worse than the last. Some tasted disgusting, some were totally different to what was on the menu and all were clearly made with cheap ingredients. When we complained (very good naturedly and politely) the waitress said she would speak to the bar, ten minutes later another waitress arrived and demanded to know what was wrong. She was confrontational and eventually admitted that they were very busy (only 2 other tables were being used) and didn\’t have the right ingredients to make the cocktails on the list. She suggested that she squeeze more lime into one of the drinks. We asked her to take them away and said that we would order wine. She disappeared with the drinks and appeared extremely pissed off. By now more than half an hour has gone past and we have no drinks and have not been asked if we want to order food. I go up to the bar to order wine and ask to give our food order. Giving the food order to the waitress takes ages, she seems really new and inexperienced and very anxious about serving customers. One persons meal then arrives, there is a 20 minute wait for the rest. When it does arrive it is the rest of the food is distinctly average, the chicken tastes and looks like it has been heated from frozen in the microwave, the pizza is half cold and the spare ribs are just ok. We don\’t have enough cutlery on the table, there is no salt and pepper and no-one asks if our food is ok. We all get the feeling that we are not welcome because we have complained about the cocktails.
When we go up to pay I notice that one of our cocktails is still on the bill, I query this but the waitress says that we never complained about that one and the charge still stands. The undrinkable cocktail remains on the table. We pay the $160 bill (3 starters, 5 mains, 1 bottle of wine and 1 cocktail made with the wrong ingredients) for an average meal, with hostile and poor service and leave vowing never to return and feeling we have been had. Sometimes it is hard when you are a group to complain effectively, I wish we had all stood up for ourselves at the time and insisted on a discount at least.
I would never usually write a review like this as I prefer to discuss any issues directly with the establishment as I know every place can have an off night. However, the rude, unprofessional and confrontational waiting staff made the whole evening a disaster.
5th April 2010