No.31 Restaurant Bar - Hanmer Springs

When booking asked about coeliac safe GF food. Not good responses. Told duck fat fries great for coeliac (but actually not in dedicated fryer when questioned further), told lots of options for coeliacs but there wasn’t when we dug into them. Terrible service. Definitely do not recommend.

Great food reasonable selection of gluten free meals. Impressed with waitresses knowledge of what ingredients in the meals were gluten free.

Absolutely the most dreadful dining experience during our stay so far on the South Island . Upon delivering our meals the host was so pleased with the presentation she thought we might want to take a photo before eating which we politely declined. As far as the food I can only say don't bother the lamb rump was ordered corrected twice with the waitress to be cooked medium well it literally was not even cooked barely raw. They offered to cook to medium well but was told it would take longer which we said yes. As for my partners mystery fish of the day (we were never told species) a complete disaster under cooked clearly not fresh as advertised with a combination of sauces which even individually were of poor quality let alone combined. It gets better while waiting for my lamb my partner waited for my dish to arrive but we decided instead to start eating OMG . During this time I observed my lamb going into the microwave at this point we decided enough of this nonsense asked for our bill for our drinks to forget about dinner they actually waffled at first about paying for our dinner. They were actually asking us what was wrong with their food in detail how about everything they really could use chefs Gordon Ramsey or Bob Irvine from kitchen nightmares or restaurant impossible to solve their issues. Hanmer Springs locals recommend the place but warned of new owners. As it was later by then out of desperation we had pizza down the street Irish bar as most everywhere was closed.

Came here for dinner with my wife and we were definitely not disappointed. It's a nice little fancy place with a fairly simple menu and a friendly staff. I ordered the angus beef steak and it was very delicious (one of the best I've tried). If you're in a mood for a good steak, I'd order this. I don't drink alcohol but there's a wide variety of alcoholic drinks including wine. I ordered the lemonade raspberry and it was good. The portion size they serve here calls for a dessert afterwards and we got the rich double chocolate fondant. We strongly recommend it if you like the mixture of a nice cold ice cream with steaming hot fudge fresh out of the oven. We loved it.

Exceptional steak easily cut with a butter knife. My hubby said it was one of the best steaks he's ever had. Tiramisu also excellent. Broccoli with almond butter delish. Duck overly sweet I didn't care for the glaze at all. Coconut rice cake that it came with was good though. Nice fire going in the fireplace.