St Georges Restaurant 452 Saint Georges Road, Akina, Havelock North, Hawke's Bay 4130

"The good: Food was delicious. I got the slow cooked Hereford presentation of all food was to a high standard and all dishes had a nice selection of colors to them. The time from ordering our food to it arriving was embarrassing, quick. Service was good, although due to a misunderstanding, they weren't expecting us that day but were relatively quick to set up. The mediocre: it's dirty and feels like it needs a clean. There is a decent amount of fly poo and dust if you look up a decent clean and mabye some art would go a long way to improving the atmosphere. While the food was good, there was a lot of fat in some of the dishes. Prices were fair. The bad: Now, while I'm sure this is rare, and it's unfortunate it happened, I will still include it in our review. When we arrived, I belive the head chief lit the fire. I don't know what went wrong, but it smoked out the whole place cause a haze to the air and mild eye and breathing discomfort. Smoking stopped by the time food arrived but certainly impacted our experience. In conclusion, I would recommend as the food was good and the atmosphere was, for the most part, acceptable. The quick and relatively good service also exceeded my expectations as there was 12 of us. 4 stars"

"Delightfully presented and tasty dishes; a mixture of fresh and preserved vegetables with crisp salads accompanied our mains of Salmon and Belly Pork. As a starter the chowder was very fresh tasting with just the right amount of colourful garnish. Wines were a mix of Hawkes bay local and other NZ varieties. Unfortunately our experience was marred by the appalling acoustic environment. There was a large wedding reception upstairs and a smaller hen party in the main room, a sign that the place is popular, but they exposed the very lively acoustic which made for difficult communication. The waiter mis-heard my order so I had to wait for the correct dish to appear. To her credit she did turn down the (unnecessary) background music and apologise for her error. Last but not least our coffee order took so long to be actioned that we left without it appearing because “the barista hadn’t come out”. A measure of a well run restaurant is it’s ability to maintain service levels when busy. In this case the restaurant itself had empty tables but the place had insufficient staff to meet the demands of two parties plus the casual diners. Train up your waiters to be baristas so that more than one person can serve the coffees. Soundproof the restaurant so that people can make themselves heard. Get the waiting staff to repeat orders back to the customer to make sure they have heard correctly. The standard of food deserves a better managed front of house experience. PS, signpost the entrance so that customers know where you are!"

"Wonderful experience - extremely well presented plates with a delicious taste. Prices seemed a bit higher than I expected, but we got quality food as a result. Only negative was the location was hard to find. The sign was hidden behind a bush and we drove past the entrance by mistake. Only after we walked up to the building did we eventually see the sign."

"Celebrated my birthday dinner at St George's and their chefs 6 course menu did not disappoint us at all. All dishes were very tasty and colourful! You can adjust the tasting menu to your liking, which I thought this is quite nice. The best part was that most of their veggies served are all grown on their lifestyles. This restaurant is quite sustainable on its own. Had a super full tummy afterwards."