Nelson Blue

I enjoyed my lunch here very much. It was far better than anything on the beaten track in South Street.Had the crabcakes,a salad and some lamb skewers.All were delicious,especially the crabcakes -packed with crabmeat and came with a refreshing herb salad. Grab a table by the big open French doors,order a glass of NZ wine,relax and enjoy......

I went the other night with two friends from "Down Under"...one Kiwi and the other an Aussie. They were appalled at the inauthenticity of the food - the mussels appeared to be from off the coast of New Jersey and the lamb pie was just wrong. I tried to look past that since I wouldn't know a NZ dish for the life of me. Instead I focused on the quality of the food and the service. Both very, very poor. The hostess was sweet, as was our server, but she would often forget about us - for a very long time. And never once did anyone actually asked if we enjoyed the meal, which I'm guessing means even the staff knows it's poor. Now onto the food. The lamb pie, on top of being not authentic was tiny, and blah. It was pretty much a small dish with some lamb and a few peas with an overcooked pastry shell on top. The veggie buger was inedible. My friend just ate her stale bun and egg. The meat my other friend got was just ok as she said. I would agree with the previous reviewer who said it's not a restaurant, just a bar. But do not expect even a good menu by bar food standards.

Don't be fooled by the fact that this noisy, rude place has a menu, it is nothing but a bar with food. For a bar some of the food is above average, but as a restaurant they need a lesson in service and hospitality. Dirty martinis do not come with lemon twists, and the time to tell a table that what they 've ordered is no longer available is at the time of ordering, not 20 minutes later. They were also out of at least 2 items from each category on the menu by 9pm.

Been here twice. I worked in the Lord of the Rings production in New Zealand so I gladly checked out the restaurant with my wife and friends. The food was generally good. Had green lipped mussels, which was delicious but it came in a small-ish bowl, for $12 (half the cost must be the air fare?). My wife had the killer burger, big portion and perfectly charbroled but you have to pay $4 for a side order of fries, which came really crisp and piping hot. Well worth it and I would come back for that burger alone. Very tasty and filling after my meager mussels dish. Fun atmosphere and we were amazed by the number of kiwi wines available here in the US. Pinots and Sauvignons I've never seen so much of it in one winelist, and better prices than Public or 8 Mile Creek (many around $40 a bottle like the outstanding Drylands Sauvignon Blan for $38 and Crossroads Cabernet was also under $40. Great looking staff, in fact, great looking people abound especially at lunchtime. Except when there's a game during the weekend, when you have all this brawly Aussie and Kiwis cheering and beering around. Might be good for the ladies to come around because my wife's single girlfriends enjoyed meeting these laid-back types from Down Under.

So I went down to get a good Speights, be reminiscent of my time in NZ. It's true the waitress could pick up on some NZ stuff. But then, give them a break, NZ is on the other side of the planet, so it does take some time to get stuff here. And Pauli, the owner promised to, so I am sure he will do it. Until then, the Skewers were excellent, as were the mini burgers with ribs. And Steinlager is always a treat over Budweiser! Good on ya mate!

Very impressive! A perfect after-work hang out especially on a warm summer evening as the walls/windows all open creating a spacious, relaxed setting. It's a block from the South Street Seaport, but distinctly non-touristy. It's designed in true Kiwi fashion with artifacts from the owner's homeland authenticating the quasi-ethnic atmosphere. Servers/bartenders/owner are super friendly. Although the food was excellent, my only complaint is that the portions were a bit small. I highly recommend the salmon skewer. As for Kiwi brews, they serve Steinlager and they said they just got the green light on Speights. With the rugby World Cup coming up, this will be a great place to watch. For a bar/restaurant in its infancy (opened 2 weeks ago), they certainly are off to a great start.

Was so excited to try this place and get a decent pie. However they were out of lamb pie (along with pretty much everything else we tried to order- from wine to dessert). Should have known we were in trouble from the beginning when our waitress kept referring to the "blue lip" mussells. She had no idea about anything Kiwi and didn't seem to care to. (maybe they are trying to recreate true Kiwi service?) The menu is uninspired, and portions are small on appetizers. We paid $12 for a Chop Salad, which was plate of lettuce with chunks of cold sweet potato they were calling Kumara. It was most-certainly not. My husband also doubted the authenticity of his NZ lamb chops. But our friends did like their Kiwi burger and the side of mashed sweet potatoes was nice. They were of course out of Hokey Pokey ice cream and Pavlova, but the real insult was when the waitress had NO idea what a flat white was and insisted they didn't have them. You're kidding right? My husband said he would maybe return to watch rugby and have a pie with mates, but we would definitely not ever go there for dinner again.