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Reviews for Black Salt Bar

by Robin
23rd May 2013

I had an awesome lunch at Black Salt today and the service was excellent.
We were serviced by Alex and he is so friendly and very good and knows what he’s talking about.
The food is excellent and I would recommend this place…I’m from Wellington and I will definitely be back…thank you Alex for today.

by Felicity D.
23rd May 2013

We recently held a combined 40th at Black Salt and it was fantastic. We had amazing customer service with fantastic communication in the lead up to the function. The service and food we had on the night was first class and well enjoyed by all our guests. The staff were friendly and well clued up when it came to setting up sound systems and photos etc. We found Black Salt to be fantastic value for money and would definitly reccomend to others and will definlty go back for future functions. Thanks again for an amazing night.

by Peter J.
30th March 2013

Really don’t understand some of these bad reviews. My partner & I have dined at Black Salt about half a dozen times now & have always found the food to be awesome & the service great. To top it off, the last 2 times we went (Saturday nights) they had great live music.

We have never been disappointed & recommend Black Salt to all our friends

by Tessa G.
21st February 2013

Have been here twice. Great prices on drinks. Great side dishes, nibbles. Nice waiting staff.

Meals are poor to average. No Vegetarian food. Not a chance of the chef caring, couldn’t even be bothered not putting the bacon on a dish we requested with no bacon. Chicken burger; dry, boring and served in bread from a day or two ago, and not even toasted! Stone grill is decent if that’s your kinda thing.

When we complained about the chef being completely unaccommodating, the bartender blamed it on the fact that he is Indian, so he doesn’t care.

Nothing like ending the night with a touch of racism.

I’d like to thank the waitresses for genuinely caring that the chef is a dick and people stop enjoying themselves because of him hating his life, I’d like to thank the waitress also, for trying to tell him it was not supposed have bacon, even though all she got was an evil look and ushered to bring it over.

I have been twice, only because I want it to be our local, and go there weekly, but it’s been a let down twice in a row.

Comment from Portage Licensing Trust A. of Black Salt Bar 4/03/2013    Hide »

Hi Tessa, We’re glad to hear you enjoyed your drinks and side…    More »

Hi Tessa,
We’re glad to hear you enjoyed your drinks and side dishes at Black Salt.
Very sorry to hear the rest of your experience was a poor one. Racism is something we definitely don’t tolerate at Black Salt. We actually didn’t have an Indian chef working for us at the time you wrote your review – we are working through which chef you are referring to.
Give me a call on 09 826 0060 and ask for Alex (I am the manager), we can work out the details of your experience and how we can get your business again in the future.
Kind regards, Alex

by Kelly G.
14th February 2013

My daughters and I were looking forward to having a late lunch out and decided to try Black Salt. We walked in and it was promising. Nice atmosphere, greeted by friendly staff. We ordered drinks. These and the fries were the best part of our meal. Stay clear of the seafood basket – over cooked fish, burnt scallops (what a waste) and the prawns we couldn’t even stomach. However we ate the fries and left the rest for the rubbish. Also had fish with part of another main and this was also dry and looked as though the oil needed changing. The salad old and limp. Talked to the waitress, come bar lady about the “E” grade food and she said she was very sorry and they would pay for the 3 drinks we had and offered 3 free deserts on our NEXT visit which we had to pay for mains before we could redeem the vouchers. This wasn’t the end of our visit. The girls wanted dessert and after waiting and waiting for someone to serve us, we eventually had to ask for the menu. Decided against the dessert and left hungry. So we paid $55 for our fries and 3xchicken kebabs.
Would never go back and would advise friends not to eat there either.

by Diane C.
23rd December 2012

The food here is disgusting. I ordered a salad nicoise and it was sad-looking and tasting. The beans were old and the potatoes had black bits in them. The egg was overboiled. They really need to do something about their chef and kitchen staff here. Gordon Ramsay would have a field day.

by JasonX
10th November 2012

Very nice atmosphere, was pleasantly surprised considering it’s in New Lynn. Service was friendly and the food was good. The only bad thing from our group was the beer pricing. Considering you can drive for 10 min and get jugs for $5 less it’s probably worth the drive elsewhere.

by Pete
19th August 2012

Love going here for the bar and people. We ordered from the dinner menu. A word of warning; don’t order the Fish and Chips or the Tofu Burger. The Fish was (I suspect) frozen as the meat had tuned to mush, and covered in a heavy dose of batter, it was practically inedible. The side serving of salad was limp and lifeless. As for the tofu burger, well, its not their specialty, my partner described it as tasting like “baby food”. The fries were excellent though.
This is our second disappointing visit, we wont be going back

by Aidan
30th July 2012

I was browsing the Internet and I came across this review page and I was saddened to see such negative comments about a place I love going to for a nice bite to eat.
The staff are always pleasant and polite and even when they’re run off their feet they always take their time to see if there is anything else that we need.
Obviously my experience is in complete contrast to the one star ones I have just read and I do not believe those ratings are justified however I would just like to come in on a positive note to say that Black salt deserve 5 stars from me. I have dined here on more than one occasion and each time the food and the service has been perfection for me.
I would just like to note that my daughters partner chose to have a beef burger for dinner, which was just under $20, and he himself had difficulty finishing it. So in his and in my opinion, it was anything but small.
I highly recommend this place to all in West Auckland, go and check it out for yourself and make your own mind up.

by Lucy
29th July 2012

I will never dine at Black Salt again and don’t even like going there for drinks. It is nice and stylish inside but that’s as far as it goes. The staff are rude and pretentious and make you feel like an inconvenience for being there. The one time I had dinner there I ordered the chicken burger which was absolutely tiny and a pathetic excuse for a meal. And for $26 or so I felt completely ripped off. Never again do not go here!!

by Gareth H.
23rd June 2012

Should have visited this website before wasting time and money at this place. Embarrassed to have it as a local.

Went in for a late lunch during the weekend and had possibly the worst service at an eating establishment in Auckland ever, and probably should have taken note from the lack of people eating there as an early warning sign.
Overpaid for a below average burger that took half an hour to make because of a “technical issue between the bar and the kitchen”, and a “seafood” basket that was simply batter, prawn heads, overcooked something else, and some mussels, served over some soggy chips.

Will just walk down to Burgerfuel or Lone Star next time.

Those who have given it 5 stars must have been paid to do so, cos this place is an absolute joke.

One star, because at least the beer was cold… just.

by Ryana
4th April 2012

Have been in the past and food was great! BUT, they have changed their Salt and Pepper Squid from a beautifully presented and tasting salad, to a few bits of Salt n Pepper Squid on a plate, which was a huge disspointment!
Also the Foreshore and Seabed meal was NOT as discribed, and was very very dissapointing; on the menu it is discribed as haveing PrawnS and Scallops .. well, yes it did come with both, but only ONE Prawn, and 2 – 3 barely legal sized Scallops, so a bit of false advertising on their menu, and rather disapointing to get served that especially for the price paid!
Waiters there are fairly friendly though, however we were there with another large group, and I dont think the staff know how to handle having large groups there, as to about 30 people, there was only ONE waiter taking all their orders, which lead to, by the time one half of the group had eaten all their meals, the other half was only just being brought out theirs, which we thought was silly, one would think with a large grouping the staff would allocate at least 2 waiters to them? and it was not as if the place had many of us patrons in it (besides that large group) so there were extra staff available, and I am sure they would have known in fair amount of time how many were turning up that night due to having to book for dinners.
All in all, I dont think we will be back in a hurry, as it just doesnt seem to have the same atmosphere it once had, and the food grading has really gone downhill in the past year or so, not to mention alot of their Stones for the Stone Grills are cracked, and I noticed with our meals, we had some ‘grit’ on the meats from the cracks on the stones, which was not very pleasent to say the least.

by Faye M.
3rd March 2012

Found the service to be efficient and friendly. Food of a high standard and although the “Stone Cooking” was a new experience for me, it was most enjoyable. A very pleasant environment to meet with friends in a well presented setting.

by Annelies c.
21st October 2011

This is the best place to eat in the whole of west auckland, we come here at least once a month and the food and service are always excellent. The price is definatly vallue for money.

If you want exclususive cuisine go somewhere else but if you like to do stonegrilling wich is great with just 2 people but also with groups or some nice pub food this is the place to go.

The atmosphere and service is always great and on saturday they have live music. Whitout a doubt a 5 star rating.

by Angela
6th September 2011

Sat in the sun at Black Salt yesterday and enjoyed a beer with my Stonegrill Foreshore & Seabed. Yummy!
So needed a relaxing lunch!

Thanks for picking my day up Black Salt!

by Chris W.
3rd June 2011

Worst restaurant in Auckland!

Why is Black Salt in New Lynn the worst restaurant in Auckland?

Reservations – It took us 3 attempts to eat here. The first time they booked on the wrong day and said we would have to wait ‘a long time’ before they could accommodate us. The second time they had just seated a large table and it was going to be about 1 1/2 hrs to serve us. The third time they had us booked for the wrong day again, but this time the restaurant was so empty it wasn’t a problem.

Noise – the music was so loud we couldn’t hold a conversation or hear the waitress recite the menu specials. When we asked the waitress to move us further away from the singer it was a ‘difficult’ request, despite the restaurant being empty – they had positioned the truly awful singer in the restaurant area right next to the patrons! When the singer thankfully stopped they cranked up the sound system to an equally inappropriate volume.

Food – I left the restaurant hungry. My steak was served on a hot stone accompanied by some very small side panels for the rest of the meal. The menu is very limited and most the meals you have to cook at the table using the ridiculous hot stone concept they have – if I wanted to cook my own food I could stay at home.

Staff – everything was a hassle for the staff. I asked for my steak to be cooked rare after struggling with raw meat on a hot stone but I was told they couldn’t do it despite having a kitchen and a bored chef within my vision. When the 12 year old manager asked me if I enjoyed my meal at the end I made the mistake of answering politely but truthfully and she ended up arguing with me and I had to insist on just being able to pay my bill and leave.

Do not eat here, it is absolutely awful.

If you are thinking of setting up a restaurant in New Lynn keep an eye on this place as I doubt they will be in business for long, you’ll get a good building at a cheap price and there’s no decent competition in the area.

by Laurel
20th April 2011

Last November my husband and I tried to have a meal here but they were packed and wanted us to sit outside in the rain to wait for a table. Ahh, no! So that time we went to the Acacia Cafe instead. A couple of weeks ago we decided to give Black salt another go…. Wish we didn’t. The bread and dips had shrunk. I had the Stone Grill Foreshore & Seabed with a few tiny baby potatoes and a tiny salad. I could do better at home, the steak needed some extra flavour. My husband had the Chicken Breast with Chorizo and Beetroot Jelly with some odd rosti thing too lol. He didn’t enjoy his meal either and said it looked like they used left overs from other meals to make his meal. We didn’t bother with dessert. They were busy and seemed like they couldn’t handle that ammount of customers. Glad we had a buy 1 get 1 free main voucher because that certainly wasn’t worth full price and was not up to restaurant standards, maybe Dennys standards lol. When Black salt orginally opened my husband and I dined there and enjoyed our meals. Seems such a waste they have let their standards slip.

by steph
23rd March 2011

The best thing about our visit to Black Salt tonight was the lovely service and nice venue. The food however was a real let-down. Bland. Dry old mash potatoes. Rubber rosti. The waiter did not ask us if we enjoyed our meal – although she was very friendly and knew her job – which left me thinking she didn’t really want to know the answer. Wise choice on her part – we won’t be back again. Kitchen cowboys need to eat their own food and honestly appraise it for improvement (ever heard of salt and pepper guys?)

by Andrew P.
26th January 2011

This restaurant is very stylish – inside it has a very different but enhancing curved wooden slat wall and ceiling which makes the large space more “cosy”. The outside has some nice tables – though, as usual, they were taken by smokers.

The menu has a nice selection of dishes. We ordered two mains – the chicken and market fish. Whilst the dishes were presented and cooked perfectly, we were disappointed that they just had the potato and no greens which would have complimented the dish.

For $27 we thought the mains were over-priced and left us wanting desert.

by Wade N.
19th December 2010

Went for late lunch. Had the venision, over cooked and lacked any real flavour, for a empty restaurant food was delayed for what we had ordered. Service was ok, nothing stood out that would make me return,priced little highly for quality of food recieved

by grey
11th September 2010

one word…horrible!

The service was RUDE and the food was disgusting!
Food was overpriced slop, under cooked meat and the side salad was a few bits of lettuce!
The desert was a joke! The chocolate fondue tasted like Budget No Frills hot chocolate with a few tiny bits of fruit to dip with.
The waiter would stand arm crossed and staring down at tables as if he wanted to close shop early, he hastily grabbed an ashtray at another table and the ash went all over a woman. She looked shocked but he continued on without apologising.

An absolute shocker!!! Of a bar and restaurant.
No redeeming qualities at all…..except for the exit door!

by Haylee
11th September 2010

**Buyer beware**
The worst place ever!! If you like terrible service and overpriced rubbish food this is the place for you. The steak wasn’t cooked properly, the seafood chowder was watery and hardly had any seafood inside, the drinks were watered down too plus the service was horrible! Very rude waiter that acted like he couldn’t wait for everyone to leave. Very snappy and impatient. highly recommend to enemies!

by Corinne G.
30th August 2010

I love Black Salt – consistently great service, great food and great atmosphere here.

We’ve had almost everything on the menu, portions are generous and the flavours are amazing.

The staff take their time out to answer our questions, offer us suggestions and socialise with us when they can.

Can’t wait for summer again, to sit outside in the last of the afternoon sun

by tania
19th July 2010

Had a wonderful dinner here. Order the stone grilled steak with prawns and scallops. It was alot pricer than the lighter options which is about the same serving size. Place was fully booked at the time as there was a game on but wouldn’t hesitate to go again, staff were helpful and service was fast.

by Cherry
10th April 2010

Been twice now, disappointing eggs bene the first time, went for the lite stone-grill the second. Stone-grill wasn’t too bad – pity the side salad wasn’t as fresh as it should be and drenched in dressing. My partner got the side of fries which were better.
One coffee was dismal, the other was pretty good so it seems it depends on who you have making your coffee.
Service was friendly on both visits.

by Noel K.
27th March 2010

Manager tried to take my child’s meal off price of my birthday voucher which states birthday person..me..eats free.
Even waitress said it was wrong.
When I told him this was wrong he tried to say he thought it was the same as the Entertainment book.where cheapest meal was taken off price….good try. Surely he has had loads of these vouchers!!!!! He was then rude. Also my meal was uncooked and my daughters kids meal was bigger!!! What a joke my lamb consisted of an uncooked piece of tough meat with a tiny bit of cabbage and 10 or so pinenuts..Worst dining experience We have ever had. Would never go there again. Manager was a joke!!!!!!!!Unprofessional. Never asked how meal was or anything. Prices way over the top for slop!!!!!!

by Steve
2nd January 2010

This was the worst dining experience I have ever come across.

How hard is it to have a side of vegetables on the menu?

Very overpriced – food was atrocious.
I had lamb shank – very over cooked & dried out (very small shank – must have been a very young lamb).

Service was equally atrocious.

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