New Zealand Herald

Reviews for Alfresco’s Restaurant & Bar

by Des S.
3rd June 2013

Stopped in for breakfast on a nice sunny Saturday morning. There were a few tables taken but fairly empty. I ordered what turned out to be a disappointing scrambled eggs and bacon with toast & Coffee. Probably the worst scrambled eggs I’ve had at a cafe. It was more akin to Asian scrambled eggs. It looked like someone had thrown eggs in a frying pan, let them half cook then tossed them around to get a white and yellow pile of egg. The bacon was also underwhelming. My wife had their fish dish. She also was unimpressed. It was smothered in sauce that buried the fish.

We often check MenuMania before wandering off to places. In this case the cafe was a lemon.

by pwkroemer
8th January 2013

Alfresco’s is a unique experience managed by 2 unique kiwi personalities. What a great place and experience to meet Toddy and Rocky and enjoy their company and food and alcohol and conversation. Unreal and crazy and fun and just fantastic. What a great location to meet Kiwi’s and share experiences.
Aussie, Aussie, Aussie — oi oi oi oi oi oi

by Rosemary Y.
30th November 2012

This has got to be the best restaurant in town at reasonable prices.

Ordered the seafood platter, oyster kilpatrick and some fries.

The swordfish in the seafood platter is to die for! Marinade was very very good!.. the platter also came with some raw oysters and boy was a taken back at the size of some of the oysters…. they were MASSIVE!

Food was very pleasing and good.

We ordered garlic fries.. what a mistake.. when we got halfway through the fries, the bottom half was drowning in fat and butter – definitely do not recommend anyone eating the bottom half of the fries unless they want to die of a heart attack.

The steaks look delectable!… we came back the follow day to order the steaks, as they looked very very welcoming. We got there at 5.15pm (as our flight was departing Kerikeri at 19:30) and dinner was not being served till 5.30pm. They said they were not able to cook the steaks early. Was very disappointed as we really really wanted to have the steaks – guess we will have to try it the next time we are there.

by Andy A.
23rd April 2012

Great Service and Great Food. Highly resommend and will be making this a regular haunt on visits to the BOI

by Raewyn
22nd March 2012

Really nice food, pretty good service most of the time, however last time it took half an hour for our breakfast to arrive.

by Neil N.
5th September 2011

Good quality mostly local produce. Good wine selection, excellent local wine. Comfortable Service. Very good chef’s presentation of meals. Good value for money. An enjoyable meal. Ambiance, like a taverna, recommended. We’ll be back as soon as we can! What a find, thanks to MenuMania for pointing us to it.

by Deane M.
22nd April 2011

Our first restaurant we tried in the Bay of Islands and by the end of our trip this was still the place to beat!! The menu is outstanding and caters for all palates (my wife is dairy, sugar and gluten free and loved the place!!) I could eat here every night and one big plus was the bar prices – great to see that a place with fine food still can offer affordable bar prices for drinks – keep it up Alfresco’s!!!

by Leah
18th August 2010

This place is the best in the area by far, still retains the local feel and really adds a great atmosphere to the waterfront in the summer. The food is delicious and service is pretty darn good. The garlic fries are always a favorite.

by Laurina D.
19th January 2010

Surperb food….great atmosphere….excellent staff….would highly recommend.

by Ian W.
16th November 2009

We have just spent 4 days in Paihia and this was the best place we dined at. Just a pity we didn’t find it sooner! The steak was great and the seafood platter was very fresh and great value. Friendly service and great atmosphere. Will return the next time we’re in Paihia!

by Murray Chisholm
7th May 2009

This is my favourite place to eat in Paihia. Very pleasant atmosphere. Friendly staff and very competitively priced menus. As owner of Arline Fishing Charters I have sent three groups here with their fish in the past few months. The feedback I’ve gotten back from my clients has been very enthusiastic everytime. Alfrescos is one of the few places in Paihia that is happy to cook the fish people have caught themselves. You need to check this place out, I don’t believe that you’ll be disappointed

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