Great meal, excellent service. Sat and enjoyed the view out over the lake, relishing the last of the sun Pleasant dining room. Had a couple of 'happy hour' special drinks - some limits to specials do check with server - apparently most days between 3-6. Had delicious squid with aioli and harissa pesto. An unusual combo but it worked. For mains had lamp rump and Mediterranean vegetables- beautifully cooked and generous portion. Husband had salmon on a bed of orzo and greens. Again great portion size and delicious. Bit shout out to our server Karishma who was so charming and attentive. read more

Breakfast was great but don't waste your time or $ on dinner. Over priced and food cooked by someone not trained to cook. Ordered rack of lamb and it came overcooked, already cut into 3 ribs. Meat was so tough. It's ala carte. Ordered bread and dips plus a salad. They were fine but would not recommend this restaurant read more

Good food Great services. Excellent breakfast with so much to choose from. Quiet, very professional staff read more

We went to Bistro Lago for lunch. The food was quite good! We experienced a few service issues however. First, we were told that they would bring a bottle of water for the table to refill our glasses. Never happened. Second, after taking our order, we never saw our original waitress again (the new one was great though). Finally, one of us ordered the Park Sirloin and they instead served us the lamb rump (lamb was very good!). Later, they did bring out the correct dish to make up for their mistake. There were only two other families in the restaurant with us so not busy at all. Overall, decent place for those wanting good views of Lake Taupo. read more

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This restaurant is in the Hilton Lake Taupo. It's very good - the servers are friendly, professional and very responsive. My requests to slightly change items were all met with agreement and even some suggested options, which I appreciated. I have enjoyed lunch and dinner here - Caesar Salad with Chicken, entree of Tuna Sashimi and lovely Gurnard fish of the day. Everything is delicious, served beautifully and very good quality. I wouldn't hesitate to return. Thank you. read more

Bistro Lago - Tuna Sashimi with toast switched out for beetroot - Bistros Near Me - Taupo, WKO

I had come here for dinner and I thought it was quite nice. The only reason I gave it a four stars is because when you first walk in, they do not really have a host/hostess, so you kind of stand there for a while waiting for one of the staff to acknowledge you. Other than that, everything else was great! The restaurant is one of the hotel's restaurant and it has a great view of Lake Taupo. Definitely go there for a nice romantic meal. I would definitely suggest to make a reservation though. My husband and I arrived around 7 and were told we were not able to be seated until 9. We didn't mind since we were staying at the hotel anyways. Just because the tables aren't filled up, do not get mad and think they are blowing you off. It appeared that they were just taking the tables to what they could handle. When we arrived, they were walking around rather fast, but they seated us within 10 minutes. I noticed that all of the staff rushes around a lot. I guess it's pretty common for them. After we had ordered our food, we were given complimentary ciabatta bread with a small sauce in a soup spoon. It was really delicious. I wish I was given more. It's okay though, because I definitely got full from my main dish. I had ordered the South Island Lamb Rack. Was it heaven in my mouth? Why yes, yes it was. Do take note, if you order the lamb, you will wait for a while, but the wait is totally worth it. My husband had ordered the Saffron Risotto. It was delicious as well, but I favored my lamb more. I mean, I DID steal a lot of bites of the risotto, so that's how you can tell I liked it too. The service was nice here. It did always feel rushed when the staff was talking to us, but still nice. I would recommend you to come here if you are looking for a romantic night with your significant other and don't mind taking a dent in your wallet. read more

Bistro Lago - Bistros Near Me - Taupo, WKO

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Great service! Delicious, local food at a very reasonable price. I hear the views from the restaurant are incredible but we went on a very cloudy and rainy night so we did not get to enjoy. Definitely recommend you check this place out for a nice fine dining experience read more

Had buffet breakfast here. Quite average food for the high price . Very slow coffee service and confusing server comments of what is included. Nice decor. read more

We were staying at the hotel with no mode of transportation and thought we would just go ahead and dine at the hotel restaurant. This turned out to be a delightful surprise. The Hunter's Sauv Blanc was delicious. We are from the states so $12 for bread with a meal was a bit of a surprise but the bread (toast) was good. I ordered the fish and chips which was wonderful. I did not eat any of the chips or shrimp that came with it as I was full. My husband had the lamb and loved it and we shared the rocket/fig/manchego (sp?) salad that was also quite good. The service was very friendly! read more

Very very good! Organic wine options and real sea salt on the table! The duck was fantastic. My husband had the fish and chips which I would never eat but looked great! He also ordered the Cos Gorgonzola salad and I had the pumpkin salad. Both excellent. Friendly helpful staff, excellent view. Make reservations! Then after dinner stroll down to the hot springs. $22 per person for a private pool. Totally worth it! read more

We ate here whilst staying during the Auckland Anniversary weekend. It's a very nice setting and staff during our time were helpful and professional. Unfortunately our dining experience was not as good as we had hoped and had been led to believe by recent reviews, though I am prepared to give the benefit of the doubt, because I think we hit them on an "off day". My wife ordered the fish of the day, which she very much enjoyed. It was fresh and beautifully cooked. I ordered the Ceviche which was pleasant enough, reasonably fresh fish. It was VERY acidic (and this coming from a guy who LOVES acidic), just not quite enough balance. Easily fixed, but unfortunately in this instance, overpowering. I then ordered the Pork Belly, which took FOREVER to come out. I am prepared to accept that we may have played a part in this by asking for the food to come out as it was ready, rather than in a traditional order, because we had little kids with us, and we wanted them eating sooner rather than later, so they didn't get bored. (Out of consideration to other diners). We also ordered a side of seasonal vegetables which came out even later than the pork belly. This is where things went really badly. The pork was like rubber, and whilst an attempt to crisp up the skin had been made, it wasn't completed which made the pork even harder to cut. I raised this with the waiter politely, and he immediately went to find a manager. We had waited so long for it, and everyone else had finished eating pretty much, that I said I couldn't really wait for another to be made. They opted to remove it from my bill, which was the right thing to do. The seasonal vegetables were beans and asparagus in butter, but the state of them wasn't good, they were old and stringy and asparagus had a horrible end of season wrinkled look to them. They should have looked at the state of them during prep and opted to not offer them at all in my opinion. I raised this at the time of the bill payment and the manager offerred to remove them. I am not sure why I didn't take up his offer, but that was my doing, the offer was made, and appreciated. My kids shared chips and chicken nuggets, and they and I enjoyed them. In summary, I think the service was good (other than the long wait for my main and side), but the food on this occasion (for my dishes at least) weren't up to scratch. I'd be prepared to go again and see what a better day for this restaurant was about. read more