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Reviews for Orca Restaurant & Bar

by Natalie J.
13th February 2013

We arrived in Raglan hoping for brunch at the pub. Couldn’t get in the back where we parked so ended up in Orca. What a nice place and the lady who served us I cannot remember her name sorry, she was lovely and helpful. More credit to her please I wish I knew her name, I asked her about scattering my parents ashes and she didn’t look at me as if I was crazy. So I may have forgotten your name but will not forget you. Thank you. Yummy food and the best Mocha mmmmm thank you

by Graeme M.
23rd January 2013

Orca’s food is fantastic, the service however lets the place down. 10 minutes to get water, then a drinks order and wouldn’t take the food order till the drinks were done, they took another 10 minutes to arrive, we ordered mains only once they remembered to come and the two meals took 45 minutes to arrive and other customers in the place were complaining amongst themselves too. The people in the bar at the back were getting faster service. Another drinks order wasnt filled as the ‘on tap” machine had just broken. Repeat buisness is a must for a restaurant and this is the 3rd time i have been to the place to give them another try and even though the food is delightful, the service lets the experience down

by briandijones
7th October 2012

We had a late morning tea here on a Sunday morning. The lemon and coconut muffins were yummy, but would have been better served with some butter! The coffees were good, but we were a bit mystified as to why we were served water just as we were finishing our coffee – maybe the wait staff member is still “in training”.
Not sure if we would eat here again.

by Jutta H.
4th September 2012

Went there for lunch on a weekend!
YUMMY food. The bread and dips where great, the steak was perfect and the smoked salmon was delicious! Our boy enjoyed his kids meal! The staff was very friendly and the ice cream for desert great!
Went there another time for morning tea and man that black muffin with the little marshmallows in it was the best muffin ever!!!!

by Gabrielle W.
15th June 2012

I often go to Orca as the outlook is lovely, the option for a bar or restaurant environment is inviting, the staff are friendly and hospitable, and the food is tasty!! From pate or chowder to a sumptuous steak, I have not yet been disappointed. Good value for money, lovely wines. And what a special building. Well done Orca, great to see the building on the corner living and thriving with good food and wine and friendly local knowledge.

by Sven K.
2nd June 2012

Very disappointing, slow bad service, noisy and we had booked but tables and seating not that great.
No atmosphere and food pretty basic when it finally arrives. There are places in Raglan with more atmosphere than this. could be quite a good place on a hot day for lunch but doesn’t quite hit the spot for a dinner.

by Catherine D.
24th February 2012

Hi Corrina, just wanted to say thanks so much!! for an enjoyable night at your restaurant, the food was superb as was the service and all the family enjoyed it from the 78 year olds down to the 3 year olds. Loved it so much that my sister and I returned for lunch the next day! It gave my parents a very memorable 50th wedding anniversary.

Cheers,
Catherine

by Andrew G.
11th July 2011

We had a great dining experience at Orca.

The table location was where we expected, having booked ahead. This is always a good sign as some restaurants put advance bookings in the worst spots, reserving the best tables for walk ins. The welcome was friendly and the young woman who served us most of the evening was genuinely delightful, striking a nice balance of being attentive but not fussing too much. The décor was bright and open but we still felt like we had our own little corner. It was a busy evening, but staff seemed to be on top of it all.

The food was what we had come for of course, and we weren’t disappointed. We had already discussed the menu when we booked and were really pleased to see an imaginative vegetarian entrée and main. Sure, there could always be more choices, but Orca steered well away from those tired old clichés, Fettuccine Alfredo and Vegetarian Lasagne! Other restaurants take note! We can cook this stuff at home! The dishes were elegant without being pretentious and were a taste sensation, especially the mushroom entrée. The Gnocchi dish was lovely too. I suspect it was done in a skillet instead of simply being boiled. Venturing into meat territory once in a while, I had lamb which was very good indeed.

We had three courses with wine and the quality and presentation were excellent. There was just the right amount of time between courses too, so you never felt either rushed or neglected. A big test of an evening is when the dessert menu is presented. Many restaurants either shove it your face as an afterthought or leave it so long that you simply go off the idea. No problems here. We had a lovely tart tatin and gratefully accepted a dessert wine suggestion. It was all rounded off with a good coffee.

So all in all we had a very pleasant evening. Lovely staff, great food and definitely somewhere we would recommend.

by Rich R.
9th May 2011

I visited the Orca restaurant with a friend last Sunday only to have an extremely upsetting experience. I had ordered the pate and toast whilst my friend ordered the French toast. After half an hour of no food arriving we were wondering what could be taking so long, especially as there was no one else in the restaurant when we made our order. I was going to give it a little longer until a couple that had arrived after we had ordered were served two full English breakfasts! Due to this we decided to leave. However, whilst paying for the coffees we’d had, one of the kitchen staff (possibly the chef) seemed to take offence to this and was extremely confrontational and also started calling us names.

I have been to the Orca restaurant several times over the last few years and up until this occasion have always found it a good place to eat. The front of house staff are always friendly and helpful and this time was no exception. however if your kitchen staff have absolutely no customer skills then they should not be interacting with customers.

I find it absolutely disgusting that anyone should be treated in the way that we were even if the staff believes the customer to be wrong (although i find it hard to believe that it takes longer to cook French toast than a full English…).

Raglan has plenty of other restaurants to try and i suggest the reader of this do exactly that.

Comment from Corrina W. of Orca Restaurant & Bar 24/02/2012    Hide »

I am very sorry for our chefs defensive behaviour. It is…    More »

I am very sorry for our chefs defensive behaviour.
It is inexcusable. I have delt with the incident an agree he should not be interacting with customers and normally does not.
As for the time taken I am sorry you feel it was too long. Our French toast is made from thick homemade brioche, when ordered the bread needs to be placed in the egg mix until it soaks right through, aprox 10 mins. Once all soaked the toast then has to bake right through until cooked and fluffy in the centre, taking 10-15 mins. So in total this dish should take aprox 25 minutes to cook. Unfortunately there must have been a discrepancy here as we had 25 minutes from your order time on the docket, and the meals were about to be plated. However I am once again sorry you feel it is too long, and will look into telling people it takes 25 minutes to cook, if we have this complaint again in the future.
As for the other table, they had ordered 5 minutes before you inside, prior to sitting outside. The big breakfast meals although they have many components, are a relatively quick cook meal. All the items are small and don’t take long to cook through, I would expect these meals to be ready in aprox 20 minutes. Nothing needs to soak or bake as in the case of the French. So although it may have seemed inappropriate, their meals’ arriving first was a logical sequence for us.
Once again I am sorry that you had an upsetting experience.
Thank you for your feedback, we really appreciate the chance to be able to fix these problems for future.

by Helen S.
6th February 2011

A friend and I went to Orca looking forward to a lovely meal overlooking the ocean, but instead experienced the worst customer service of our lives. After walking in the door, no one showed us to a table so we found an empty one in the corner. 10 minutes went by trying to flag down one of the waitresses, who kept walking past our table and seemingly deliberately ignoring us. Finally one came over and said, “I can’t take your order for another 20 minutes, is that ok?” with no explanation as to why this was the case. We said no and left. I cannot begin to understand the logic of this, since it was reasonably early and the restaurant had several empty tables. A very insulting experience.

Comment from Corrina W. of Orca Restaurant & Bar 7/02/2011    Hide »

I am terribly embarrassed and sorry for this inexcusable…    More »

I am terribly embarrassed and sorry for this inexcusable experience at our restaurant. I am doing all I can to get to the bottom of the problem and every thing possible to ensure this never happens again. Thank You for the feedback so we are able to address this shocking incident.

by Oliver G.
1st January 2011

We ate here on New Year’s Eve and loved the food. Unfortunately we left it a little late to book and got the last table which was situated adjacent to the bar at the back, which wasn’t great so would advise booking ahead to get a view of the harbour.
We had the fish soup and pork belly for our entrees, both were excellent, as were the mains of steak tartare and duck leg. Service was good, and the staff friendly. Would definitely recommend.

by David B.
25th October 2010

We went to Orca during an early Saturday evening. The service was quick and friendly with our drinks order taken straight away. Not all tables have views over the harbour so we moved and sat at a small bar in a window. Orca has a decent NZ wine list by the glass.

Both of us had the fish with hand cut chips and when next in Raglan we will be heading back.

It does look popular so you may need to book.

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