We walked for a while along the banks of Lake Taupo, before we settled on the Lake House for…read moredinner, located centrally in town, right across the street from the Lake which allowed for beautiful views of the lake. The large terrace wasn't very busy, but there were only 2 or 3 servers, for both inside and outside, so it took an awfully long time for someone to come and take our order. My husband ordered the lamb rump and I went with the roasted lamb salad. My lamb was roasted to perfection, and combined with the feta cheese and a delicious dressing, this salad was absolutely scrumptious. The lamb rump was also cooked to perfection, but it was kind of drowning in sauce. Just too much of it. Water is served free here in New Zealand, but just don't ask for ice in it. Most places don't have it. Also, count on getting just one napkin and make do with it. The wait staff was friendly, but kind of timid and not very attentive to the customers. At the end of our meal, we had to wait again a considerable time for the bill to come. Even trying to get the attention of the wait staff turned out to be a chore. It would have been nice for someone to come by our table to ask how our meal was and if we needed anything else. In short, nice view, tasty food, but mediocre service. I couldn't really give more than 3 stars for that.

I was looking forward to this place. Bunch of drunk kids where idling there when we got there…read more Service was awkward. The chocolate fondue is not to be taken. Waitress over sold it. It doesnt worth 20$ at all. Get some whitakers and fruits from the grocers and enjoy that one at home. It was suppose to be dark chocolate. It was chocolate syrup with few sad piece of banana and pear, marshmallow and brownies. Everybody I asked afterward for a good place to eat told me they could have warned me about this place.i guess next time I wont trust the other famous website I checked on... Bartender was good though. His service was good and his attitude as well. I enjoyed the beers.

We had 2 hours to kill before our flight from Taupo to Queenstown...we didn't know that Taupo's…read moretiny little airport had no security check or lines. This British pub made for a nice place to relax. Ploughmans serves great traditional British fare and drinks at very reasonable prices. The service was friendly with the very funny and chatty waitress. The interior is clean and full of traditional British decor for genuine ambiance. $25NZ Fish N Chips...traditional deep fried British deliciousness served perfect British chips and side salad. $25NZ Venison Pie...hearty and packed with tender venison wrapped in warm flaky pie crust, heaven! Also served perfect British chips and side salad.

After days of road tripping and site seeing, we needed a place to unwind and relax. As we were…read moreconsulting our hotels list of restaurants that delivered or did take out, we found Ploughmans to be roughly a mile away. Hello walking shoes. Rounding the bend we approached this quaint little, dark wooded cottage with string lights on the patio. While there were few cars in the lot, we ventured in because the take out menu sounded awesome. It was definitely quiet inside with a few patrons at the bar, leaving us the dining room to ourselves. Well, us and our very talkative server. The Hubster had the steak special, which he claimed to be very good, especially for the price. Me, I went with the Ploughmans burger because very few places in the states use beets as a burger topping. I had to see what all the fuss was about. It did not disappoint. The burger was perfectly cooked and the beets added a great flavor. All in all, if I were back in Taupo, I'd go again and again. PS kudos for being close enough to our hotel so I could utilize the wifi to check in on yelp. I'm loving the New Zealand badge!

New Zealand, to what I've seen so far, has no shortage of pubs! I'm Taupo, I think there were 4…read morethat I saw, not including a couple of breweries. The pub vibe inside is very nostalgic and your traditional English pub that many of us have come familiar with and this one is equally endearing as well. My friends and I settled in for dinner on our last night in town to give it a go. It was busy this night but the staff is warm and friendly. They focus on your traditional English items but had a couple of pasta dishes if feeling a bit Italian for the night. We were happily surprised at our orders and the portion sizes were huge (seems to be a theme with each restaurant we've been too). Pics attached. When ordering the fish & chips, you get a choice of larger or small. I got the large... way more than I thought. Reminds me of the gold ol'days before Covid. Go for a half portion if not up for the large. Cute pub, would welcome going again and if in Taupo, give it a go!

OMG the beef pastie is to die for! Always on our list to go there for a beer and pastie with mushie…read morepeas!

Visiting Hobbiton was easily one of the highlights of our trip to the north island. The experience…read morebegan with a scenic bus ride across a working sheep farm, during which we learned about how the location was discovered and transformed into the iconic film set that it is today. Once we arrived, we were taken on a guided walking tour through the beautifully preserved set. Along the way, we saw some of the most memorable spots from the films, including the famous hillside where Frodo sets off on his adventure. One of my favorite parts came toward the end of the tour, when we were able to step inside a hobbit hole. The interiors were meticulously decorated, making it easy to imagine what life in the Shire might actually feel like! At the end of the tour, we stopped by Green Dragon Inn, where we enjoyed a complimentary drink (there's both alcoholic and non-alcoholic options available). Overall, this was such a magical experience! Be sure to book ahead, as the popular tour times tend to get booked out pretty far in advance during peak season.

Hobbiton is exactly what you think it will be. If you're a fan of the movies and most importantly a…read morefan of Hobbiton, you are stepping into a real life fantasy. I was there for a wedding and we received our own private tour, so I can't say whether it was like the standard tour. You start off from essentially their home base. You get on a bus and drive across to an active live sheep and cattle farm. The sets are built on the farm. The hobbit homes are all exterior and gorgeous. The details are immaculate. They even have real smoke coming from chimneys! There is a built out interior for tourists to traverse and the details are amazing. I found an accordion in one and it worked! There are alcoholic beverages at the Pony, but alcohol content is low. Probably to keep us from acting out scenes from the movies. The tour guides were also awesome, funny, and knowledgeable. Magical place. 10/10

We were exploring Rotorua on a cold NZ winter night and discovered this insanely cool downtown…read morearea. We were hungry and walking through the dark streets looking for anything that might be open and also have gluten free options for me. A few streets down from us we heard music and saw neon lights flickering in the distance. Like unsuspecting deep sea fish we felt magnetized to the sparkly lights in the dark of night, luckily for us that once we reached them we were the ones doing the eating! This restaurant is located on a really cool street partially covered by a neon light canopy, sort of like going into a spaceship. We saw the menu of Brew Craft and were sold. The inside has a nice intimate atmosphere with low lighting with a casual gastropub design. In addition to a large selection of brews, they also have an upscale dining menu with tons of options to choose from. Our server was very friendly and helpful and pointed out their many gf options designated on the menu including unconventional items like chicken wings, chicken tenders, and pizzas. We decided to share the gf chicken wing appetizer and the slow roasted lamb shank main. Both were incredible. The chicken wings were crispy and saucy and kept me going back for more. The lamb shank was fall off the bone tender with a delicious mashed potato. We wanted to order so much more, but as we were staying in a hotel and couldn't take leftovers home with us, we settled with just being full instead of indulging to the state of miserable. It was absolutely delicious though and definitely recommended for anyone who's celiac and looking for a safe gf place to grab some not so casual eats in a relaxed chill environment.

This place belongs on the island of misfit toys, a craft beer pub that doesn't have any craft beer…read more I come in and almost all of the taps are empty. Why did they even bother opening?

On our recent road trip, my happy half was driving as I was looking around. She noticed the sign…read more"Beer for Sale" before I did and quickly turned the car around. We stopped and were thankful we did! Zeelandt Brewery prides themselves on traditional styles brewed perfectly. They offer sample tastes for free, plus all their bottles to go. Tom gave us a tour and talk about the brewery and beer. I bought their explorer pack of their 6 main beers, plus 3 special bottles available at the time. These latter ones may rotate, so what you get will depend on what they're making. The brewery is located in a vineyard with beautiful mountains around, they have free parking right outside. Thanks for letting us use the restroom to freshen up as well! Prices are reasonable for the quality of the beer; we also loved the labels!

This place is so good! I love a good beer and I found a few of them here. I went in on Boxing Day…read moreand it was pretty busy, but the server let us know before ordering that there would be a 30-60 min wait on the food. We were okay with that as we were waiting out the rain, so we ordered some beers at the bar and settled in to a comfy table. I ordered the Bitter Bitch and my boyfriend got the Perriss IPA - they were both so delicious! I love a hoppy IPA and both of these were super hop-forward, so I was in happy land drinking mine and part of my boyfriends (hey, he was our driver, I was doing him a service). I also ordered the shroom tacos (yay for vegan options on the menu that aren't salad!) and my boyfriend got the chicken burger, which came with chips. My tacos were on the "small bites" menu, so I ordered a side of avo to bulk it up. Anyway, also before ordering, the server told us that there was a 15% surcharge on everything since it was boxing day. Um, that's annoying and frustrating when companies push the employees inflated holiday pay charge on to the customer, but it was raining and we just wanted to chill so we agreed to the charge. All together for two beers, a chicken burger and mushroom tacos with avo, our bill came to $68. That seemed completely absurd to me, I'm guessing the beers were more expensive than we had planned. Oh well, life goes on. The food was super good and so was the beer, and the lighting in here is great for photos as well. I would recommend this place 100%, just know that you will come out with a significantly smaller bank account.

If you are crew on the cruise ships, just beware of this brewery. They will not accept our crew ID…read moreor a photo of your passport, which the ship holds from us. One star for good atmosphere, but the rest was disappointing. My friends and I walked directly to find this brewery only to be turned away because of our IDs. You'd think a bar in a cruise terminal would learn that crew cards are issued in color coded and printed horizontally for the seldom few crew under 21 and are white and vertical for those over 21. Isn't the drinking age here 18 anyway?! Highly disappointing... Food is typical overpriced bar fare. A disappointing way to end an otherwise adventure filled day.

We came to this brewery because we enjoyed the drinks we had at Hobbiton. They make the…read moreHobbiton-exclusive beer, cider, and ginger ale. It wasn't too busy when we came here for lunch so ordering and getting seated was quick. They even had live music which was nice. We had a flight, the sample platter, and the cajun lamb pizza. Out of all the garlic bread and salt and pepper squid we've had in NZ, this was the best. The pizza and the sample platter was a lot of food for two people, so if you're not too hungry or have small appetites, I recommend just ordering one item to share. While we didn't really care for the cider (I didn't find any in NZ that I loved) or their hard pink lemonade which was too sweet, we did love their hard lemonade.

These guys are fraud do not visit them not recommended to anyone, my aunt visit them in August she…read morefell ill and currently under treatment due to poor beer and food quality

Ordered a steak and cheese with blue cheese. I got steakum meat. Blue cheese sauce( no real cheese…read moreon sandwich) came in a cup. 18.50 + 2.00 up charge for fries instead of potato chips. Absolutely horrible. I live here and decided to try it again after a horrible meal years ago. I learned my lesson for sure. By the way the soap dispenser in the women's bathroom wasn't working. Mentioned it to a manager. Not sure if it was fixed. 2/28/2026

We arrived in Tauranga late so we were searching for a late night place to eat. Johney's Dumpling…read moreHouse popped up (which is located right inside The Rising Tide) so we decided to check them out. We dropped in on a Thursday evening (around 8:00pm) and it was busy. The music is super chill (indie pop). Great playlist! They've decorated the place with hipster lighting, hanging plants and wicker chairs. Made for a laid back and chill atmosphere. There's 39 flavours on tap. Huge selection to please everyone (including milkshakes, juices, hard liquor and wine). The menu is split into starters, burgers, vegetarian & vegan, shish kebab and sweet. There's also a separate menu for Johney's Dumpling House; dumplings, siu mai, buns and Asian greens. Short and simple. - Paddle #1 ($12.25 NZD) - we tried all their sours and a cider. Mount Brewing Co. strawberry lime & cider (#9), Deep Creek - boys in blue (#10), Funk Estate - cosmic hustle sour ale (#14), Deep Creek - steam funk strawberry (#21) and Hot Water Brewing - peaches and cream (#27). The sours lacked any flavour or sourness. Tasted more like water juice. The strawberry yoghurt sour ale smelled like jello. All pretty disappointing. The strawberry & lime cider was decent but very light in flavour. - Paddle #2 ($12.25 NZD) - these were all ciders. We tried Zeffer - apple crumble cider (#34), Harringtons Brotherhood - three berry cider (#35), Mount Brewing Co - pear & feijoa cider (#37), Three Wise Birds Summer Fling - apple cider (#38) and Hawkes Bay - ginger fusion (#39). The pear & feijoa cider had a terrible aftertaste and the apple cider wasn't anything special. Our three favourites was the ginger beer (infused with mandarin), three berry cider and apple crumble (tasted like dessert). - Chili oil sauce - this deserves an honourable mention. I think the waitress called this a sweet chili sauce but it was a roasted garlic chili oil flake sauce. Really good and a surprising underlying heat to it. Make sure you get a dipping sauce. - Pork & prawn (steamed) ($12.00 NZD for 10) - NZ pork shoulder and Whiteleg prawn. These were the better of the two dumplings we tried. Thicker wrapping than normal but a generous filling. - Siu mai ($12.00 NZD for 10) - pork, mushroom and corn. Never had siu mai with corn before but these were decent. Definitely filling. - Steamed BBQ pork bun ($3.00 NZD) - this was my least favourite of our dishes. The bun wasn't fluffy and the filling was dinky. - Beer battered fries ($6.00 NZD) - these were light, crispy and perfectly battered. Excellent. - Sweet sesame lamb shish kebab ($12.00 NZD for 3) - served on a bed of 'slaw and garnished with roasted garlic and parsley. The lamb skewers were incredibly tender and well seasoned. The slaw was healthy and roasted garlic chips was a nice addition. The food was good for a brewpub. Stick with the ciders for drinks and you'll be happy.