I was very excited to try Auckland's new rooftop bar & restaurant last night, a glamorous, hip & fun eatery located right next to the Sky Tower. Even on a rainy night, our lovely waitress was extremely friendly and enthusiastic, and the atmosphere inside the restaurant was warm & cozy.
We started with 2 entrees. I chose crumbed pork belly & pancetta, which was actually the first pork belly dish I've genuinely enjoyed. It had a great taste & texture to it; I loved the crispy outer layer, the soft & tender meat inside and especially the sauce!
My friend had a Bloody Mary oyster shot which he said was sour and tasted like lemon. (Surprising, because I guessed it would taste like tomato.) I thought it was an interesting concept; next time if I'm feeling adventurous I might just get an oyster shot myself.
I absolutely loved my main. My haloumi, roast pumpkin, fennel and grapes blended together so well! Absolutely loved everything about this dish. The haloumi was fresh and delicious, the roast pumpkin was creamy and tasty, and the grapes, a mix of green and red, added a refreshing and balancing taste to the whole dish. Would highly recommend this satisfying main.
My friend ordered roasted duck breast, ginger and bok choy. While spicy, he really enjoyed it, though I personally didn't like the spicy taste (nor duck) very much.
We accompanied our food with Pinot Noir and a Cinnamon Snap cocktail. The Pinot Noir was very smooth and my Cinnamon Snap cocktail was enjoyable but a bit light, tasting like soda, even though it is actually supposed to have vodka, vanilla vodka, and chambord raspberry liqueur WITH cinnamon, grapefruit and soda. For some reason, it just tasted very watered down to me from the beginning - though the cinnamon taste was nice and refreshing. I would've wanted to taste the liqueurs a bit better.
Overall, an amazing first experience at The Glass Goose. I would love to return to have drinks at the rooftop bar instead of the dinner at the restaurant next time - it is beautiful! And once again, our waitress, a blonde woman, made our evening even better with her bright smile and positive, bubbly attitude. Great customer service and fantastic quality of food.
Update 26/07/2015:
Took my friend to Glass Goose tonight as I enjoyed my experience last time. Our experience this time was completely different; customer service was appalling and unattentive. We weren't greeted by anyone and so seated ourselves, which I informed a waitress cleaning a table. She said "Okay" but never came back to welcome us or give us menus, so after waiting 5-10 minutes we got up and asked for menus.
Thankfully, dinner was good, despite the long waiting time. My friend ordered my recommendations from last visit, the pork belly entree and haloumi main, while I ordered the fresh & healthy tomato salad. We accompanied these with Basil Grande & Leaf Cutter cocktails.
After dinner we moved to the bar area and seated ourselves again, waiting for cocktail menus. A waitress walked past and made eye contact with me, but looked very surprised when I stopped her politely, asking for a cocktail menu - I would've thought she would've noticed herself that my friend and I were sitting at an empty table. After ordering, we watched as the three bartenders looked lost, talked to each other, pointing back and forth. After about 15 minutes, nobody had started making our cocktails - one bartender was grabbing a beer for a customer and the other 2 stood at the till.
Finally we decided to pay for our dinner without the cocktails we'd ordered from the bar, and they couldn't work out which table we were. They tried about 3 different table numbers before they called over the waitress who had served us for dinner. On a positive note, this waitress was the same bubbly and cheerful waitress who served me last time. Her name is Bree. I'm happy to say I love her customer service. However, out of the six different staff we saw/interacted with tonight, she is the only one who contributed to making our experience at The Glass Goose enjoyable. Nonetheless, I won't be returning again.
1
Crumbed pork belly & pancetta $3.50
Bloody Mary oyster shot $4.50
Haloumi, roast pumpkin, fennel, grapes $15
Roasted duck breast, ginger, bok choy $34
Neudorf Nelson 2011 Pinot Noir $18
GG Cinnamon Snap $18
2
Basil Grande cocktail $18
Leaf Cutter cocktail $16
Tomato Salad w/ buffalo mozzarella & green olives $12
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