CBK Craft Bar Kitchen

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#8 of 40 Restaurants in Paihia₱₱ - ₱₱₱, Bar, Vegetarian friendly

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Ratings and reviews

4.0

360 reviews

#8 of 40 Restaurants in Paihia

RATINGS

Food

Service

Value

Atmosphere

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CUISINES

Bar

Special Diets

Vegetarian friendly, Vegan options, Gluten free options

Meals

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

features

Location and contact

Marsden Road Maritime Building, Paihia 0200 New Zealand

+64 9-402 8526

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Is this a pub?

Yes

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CUISINES

Bar

Special Diets

Vegetarian friendly, Vegan options, Gluten free options

Meals

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

FEATURES

Reservations, Seating, Highchairs Available, Wheelchair Accessible, Serves Alcohol, Full Bar, Table Service

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4.0

360 reviews

Excellent

150

Very good

114

Average

Poor

Terrible

socram13

134 contributions

Hot food on cold plates in winter?

Jun 2020 • none

We were the only ones in for breakfast at about 10:15am on a Saturday - mid winter. Like others from Auckland, we went up to Paihia to support locals after the Covid19 lockdown. The largest coffee was what I would call small/medium, but was at least good coffee. My wife's tea arrived without milk. However, my eggs Benedct and my wife's poached eggs on toast - both with bacon, at a pricey extra $5 for a couple of cheap rashers, was served on plates so cold that one wonders if they stored them in a cold cabinet. Sorry, but this is restaurant meals 101, hot food = hot, or at least warm, plates. and that spoilt the breakfast, My wife wasn't exactly impressed with her toast, as it was thick and hardly toasted at all, and therefore also cold.

Written June 20, 2020

This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Chris B

Edenbridge313 contributions

Busy friendly restaurant and bar

Jan 2020 • couples

Evening meal on our first day near Paihai. We were absolutely shattered after three days of travelling to get to New Zealand and drive up from Auckland Airport. We were determine to have a great meal before retiring for the day. The bar was very busy and the staff grated us when we walked in, informing us there was a 30 wait on food orders. After being seated we were provided with a jug of fresh chilled water and menus. Very good selection menu choices, we had a large seafood chowder and fish and chips. The food was tasty and the fish potion generous in size. The fresh granary bread with the excellent chowder is recommended. I also enjoyed a nice iced tea. If it wasn't for the fact I want to try as many different restaurants, I would definitely be back to try more from the menue.

Written January 27, 2020

Linda S

95 contributions

A great setting.

Oct 2020 • none

Popped in here for a late breakfast. (breakfast finishes at 12) Despite small number of customers food was slow, eggs were overcooked and sides forgotten. Hot drinks were great and pancake breakfast was good. Portions were reasonable. Enclosed deck area is freezing when weather is bad and the heaters aren't able to be used (something about not being safe) Everyone was in puffer jackets. Our main waiter was polite and personable but some secondary wait staff appeared awkward. Great potential, beautiful setting but they need to sort out some issues with organisation of food, environment and staff.

Written October 10, 2020

J M

2 contributions

Appalling

Jan 2021 • couples

Took 5 mins to get seated, the person who initially served us was well mannered and made sure we were looked after... after the initial wait. We ordered a vegan sandwich which did not come with chips but did come with dipping sauce. When questioned we received the missing chips. The VEGAN sandwich (Which specifically states it’s vegan on the menu) we ordered came with goats cheese in it. Chances are the goats cheese isn’t even vegetarian let alone vegan. You guys are so bloody lucky our choice of vegan isn’t due to allergies. When we pointed this mistake out we received a 1 or two dollar discount. Selection of Craft beers on tap and bottled are garbage. Staff were lovely after the initial 5 min wait but the screw up and the way it was handled was appalling.

Written January 3, 2021

Ann

Auckland7 contributions

Poor value for money

Jan 2021 • couples

My steak was cold, overcooked and dry despite medium being requested. The eggs and chips we ordered were also cold. My husband’s steak was very cold and the scallops were over cooked. So disappointed. No one came to see how our meals were once they were delivered and they only asked how our meals were at the checkout once we had paid. The checkout operator said she would have given us a discount had she known - they never asked until it was too late. We have never complained about a meal before but this poor quality meal was standout.

Written January 11, 2021

Ian G

Alexandra9 contributions

Pretty disappointing

Jul 2020 • none

After visiting the restaurant on a Tuesday afternoon we were told they weren’t taking bookings but just turn up and we will find a table for you. We returned at 7pm to be told that the chefs had decided to finish early (even though the table of 6 beside us had just been seated and didn’t even have drinks yet). We returned the following night and were told that an deck table was being saved for a group of 6 (we were a group of 4). Five minutes after being seated inside a group of three were seated there. In regards to the food we found this to be hit and miss. Some dishes were very good like the oysters and bao buns, but everything else was really dry. We definitely won’t be going back.

Written July 14, 2020

NewZealander101

Dannevirke68 contributions

Everything was OK except the food.

Jan 2020 • none

I was embarrassed to be a Kiwi when I entered this restaurant. The English that was used when we were first served was disappointing at best. 'Youse' is not a word. I wasn't 100% sure if it was table service as it took far too long for our drinks order to be taken (which was taken at the same time as the food - Strange). A different person served the drinks and they didn't seem to know what they drinks were, calling them: this, that and the other one. Three drinks shouldn't be hard to remember. Then came the food; twice cooked pork belly which was well and truely dead, so dead in fact that it was more suited for pigs. Pork belly is supposed to have a crispy layer on top, this was soggy and chewy, the meat is supposed to break apart with a fork, i needed a steak knife to get through it. The vege's were perfect and the sauce pretty good, just not the meat.

Written January 27, 2020

Loren C

Hamilton61 contributions

Long wait and cold food

Dec 2019 • none

The menu enticed us in for brunch as there was a wide range on offer and we planned to come back at night to sample more. We were served quite promptly by a nice lady, but after waiting nearly an hour for our eggs on toast we decided to leave like some others around us were doing. Then our food arrived. Unfortunately it was cold and the eggs congealed as if it had been sitting for quite a while and quite unpleasant. It was reasonably busy and there didn't appear to be many staff (certainly none to ask when our food might arrive), but we definitely did not go back and will not in the future.

Written January 5, 2020

Sasha B

Queenstown26 contributions

Service could use improvement

Jan 2021 • none

We came for dinner after calling to see if we needed to make a booking. We were told they weren’t taking bookings and there was up to an hours wait on food. We decided to give it a shot anyway as we were in no rush and have enjoyed other CBK restaurants we’ve visited. It’s not very clear when you walk in whether or not you seat yourselves or wait to be seated. We weren’t greeted by any staff, so I had to ask a waitress for a table. She honestly looked a bit annoyed that i had interrupted her, there was no greeting at all and she merely gave us some menus and gestured to a couple empty tables. We waited quite a while for food (which obviously we expected), apparently they give priority to the stone grill meals so customers who were seated after us got their food before us.. including a big group of 10 people who sat down about 10 minutes after we ordered.. I find this a strange system but as I said we weren’t in a rush so it was fine. The waitress who served us was lovely and very apologetic about the wait, she checked on us multiple times which was appreciated. The food was enjoyable so we did have a good experience overall. I thing there could be several improvements with service, particularly working on creating a great first impression and making it more clear for customers on how the order of service works.

Written January 4, 2021

Anita O

Mannheim1022 contributions

Busy Waterfront Pub

Nov 2019 • none

We went there twice - without reservation. The first evening we had directly been offered a table in the "veranda" section, the second evening we spent some time with a drink at one of the high tables in the bar area before being taken to a "pub" table. The interior was quite unpretentious, the service was friendly though a bit confused occasionally. We ordered a bottle of Pinot Noir and chose Fish & Chips and Cheeseburger on day 1 and one of the hot stone dishes (much fun for my husband) and another Fish & Chips on day 2. The meals were not extraordinary but if we had not been satisfied we would not have come back. Sitting at the waterfront was nice and for a pub restaurant category four points are justifiable.

Written January 30, 2020

Leah G

3 contributions

Absolutely terrible experience!

Jan 2021 • family

Started poorly when we called to book for 9 and were told we don’t take bookings in January. When we arrived we saw multiple reserved signs on tables? 4 adults and five children, two of the children’s meals were forgotten after 55 minutes of waiting for our meals to arrive!! Dessert arrived, a hot skillet slid off the board onto a 12 year old and burnt her! Staff need adequate training!! The Manager ended up In tears because she wasn’t equipped to deal with the situation. She had no idea where the incident book was to report a burn which occurred in their restaurant. Insulted us by offering a 10% discount. The owner eventually arrived to smooth things over. A really crap end to an amazing day out with great friends. Up your game CBK, you need MAJOR improvements!!

Written January 13, 2021

freedreamz

Whakamaru166 contributions

Don’t waste your time or money

Jul 2022 • couples

Wouldn’t waste your time or money, bad food, overpriced and mediocre service. Waited 20 mins after being seated to even have drink order taken, then another 10 minutes for someone to come back for the food order, the waitress had no idea what “the cut” steak was, ie scotch or other, it’s rump as it turns out. I ordered the 21 day aged rib eye, “rare”, and hubby ordered the pork belly but requested it as a main, presuming it would be larger size than an entree, how wrong could he be, not to mention the over priced Caesar salad, menu says $9.95, charged $19.95. My rib eye was stone cold in the middle, rare should be warm in the middle, lucky I don’t mind blue steak, but even that should be room temp, but 21 day aged steak should melt in your mouth as steak from another local restaurant did, cbk’s steak was quite chewy. Wouldn’t recommend this place, lots of better places in paihia

Written July 6, 2022

Angela R

Paparoa22 contributions

A meal ruined by bad service

Feb 2022 • family

Quick, friendly service... but maybe too quick. Our meals were served with 2 being perfect. Mine didn't have the fries or mushroom sauce as ordered. We had the stone cooked steaks so by the time the fries arrived 15 minutes later and another query on the sauce which eventually after 20 minutes.. the steak was well past it and quite frankly I was OVER it. When my husband paid $130 for 3 dishes and 2 drinks, he told them of the issue and not a cent was deducted. Very very disappointing.

Written February 9, 2022

FamilyK

Whangarei63 contributions

Won't be back

Apr 2022 • couples

The pork belly was amazing but that was where the good part ended. Calamari was pasty and barely cooked and the curly fries were overcooked and overly salty. Caesar salad was a joke ... half a dozen cos leaves, a handful of packet parmesan plonked on top with some greasy tasteless croutons and dressing pooled in the leaves. No egg, bacon, or attempt to shred or toss the salad at all. The waiter even commented it looked awful and gave us a discount because he felt bad about charging $20 for it. The other issue is the way the verandah outside is set up. When sitting the window frame is right at eye height completely blocking the view - not well thought out at all. With so many other top notch places to eat in Paihia, CBK really needs to up their game.

Written April 12, 2022

Chloe Veron

Sydney56 contributions

Great view, average food.

Dec 2020 • couples

Unfortunately, My partner and I did not enjoy our meal at CBK. He ordered a stone grill which was ok but nothing special (chips were good, meat was ok, not much seasoning, no choice of sauces as it just comes with béarnaise and 2 mushrooms, it all ends up a bit dry really). I originally wanted some mussels with cream and white wine sauce but they didn’t have any that day so got the Surf n Turf Burger instead. Looked delicious on the menu, but not so good when it arrived on the table... I’m pretty confident the patties were industrial or supermarket frozen patties (did not taste like fresh meat at all, more like sausage meat type patties), prawns were literally like the ones you find in cocktail prawns (tiny wee ones), and the seafood sauce inside the burger was tasteless. Just a very strange burger for a restaurant that calls itself « Craft Bar Kitchen ». I usually never leave bad reviews but I had been recommended that place by a couple of people and I do believe a lot of improvements are needed. On a positive note, staff was nice and polite and the view when seating outside is great!

Written December 30, 2020

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