We went on a special occasion with friends and had an amazing experience. Decor 5/5, staff 5/5, food 10/5! It is pricey but worth it. Enjoy!
We've heard many great things about this place. So expectations were high. We weren't disappointed. The place has a relaxed feel about it, with warm and friendly staff. The waitresses were friendly and knowledgeable. It was all about the ensuring the customer had the best experience. We had the tasting menu, which consisted entirely of seafood: oysters, whitebait, kingfish, snapper. Every dish was excellent. If I was to be picky, I'd say the kingfish dish was dominated by the daikon and I wished there was more broth. Every other dish was spot on. Dessert was the highlight, mandarin sorbet, meringue and yoghurt cream. Yum. Try it out if you're after a relaxed fine dining.
This place is ASTOUNDING! I'd go to Wellington just to eat here. Probably one of the top 3 restaurants I have ever eaten at... Host was so very gracious, food was beyond compare. Wow... just.... Wow!
My friend who is a chef took me to this place for dessert. We tried 3 different dishes. What I had was Feijoa sorbet which was something I never tried. The presentation, taste and texture - everything was perfect. I could tell it was made to order.
I asked my friends and what they had were delicious too. I was told it is run by the owner of Charlie Noble. Personally I like here better. Of course easier to park, high ceiling and wonderful sea view. You can't beat this place. Hence I am giving 5 stars. Attaching photos here too.
Disclaimer: This review is only based on desserts and the attentive service from Sam, one of staff there.
Fantastic food bursting with flavour. Lots of great fish and seafood choices and a quality wine selection. The service is excellent, friendly and knowledgeable. This place is not cheap, but for a special night out it's very good.
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Spotted this place whilst searching where to have husbands birthday dinner during our weekend away in Wellington. Menu looked fantastic, similar to Depot in Auckland but was more of a fine dining setting.
We were greeted by a lovely waitress who took us to our table and she also hang our coats as well. We were presented with the drinks menu and given a few minutes to determine our order. Another waiter came over and gave us a good overview of what are some of the nice selections on the drinks menu. We decided to have a craft beer and an orange gwuitz. Both were lovely.
For dinner, we ordered most of the shellfish. The one I loved the most was the roasted scallops, it was amazing. Not only was the presentation fabulous, the taste was even better. Both my husband and I love seafood and this place did not disappoint.
Our mains were snapper and the fish and shellfish, both lovely and cooked to perfection.
The only dish I didn't like was the squid warm starter. Although it was cooked just right, the charcoal flavor was too overwhelming.
Overall, a fantastic place with exceptional service. If you're a seafood lover then this definitely is a must go.
Whitebait was super yum, and felt a bit like a zen Japanese restaurant inside with all the timber and rice paper-esque screening. There was a beautiful big paua shell shaped chandelier on the ceiling; or was it an oyster shell?!. Current birthday traditional drink. Our favourite oysters to start – freshly shucked; and roasted with preserved lemon.
Service was great, food good but an old fashioned atmosphere. I prefer sister restaurant Charlie Noble.
Definitely one of my favourites, whitebait offers a relaxed atmosphere combined with fantastic food. The tempura soft shell crab was exquisite, setting the benchmark for the food to come. The snapper certainly lived up to the standard, with freshness being evident and a wonderful combination of flavours and texture. With fantastic service, sublime food in a relaxed atmosphere look no further.
It was a wonderful meal, a taste extravaganza with fantastic depth and complexity of flavours. The service was a treat, beautiful location and lovely ambience. Worth the money
Absolutely divine food and service. Favourite place in town ! Can't wait for next time. So welcoming and memorable. The harbour views are to die for. Whitebait has it all! Claudia.
Trip down to Wellington from the weekend with my girlfriend, so we check this place out since friends recommend it.. Food is really nice since we are huge seafood fan, service is excellent too.. Will come back if we ever coming back to Wellington!!
Amazing food (seriously - the clams!!!!), fantastic service (great waiter called max was onto it and respectful but also full of personality - great combo) and lovely surroundings.
The only reason for 4 not 5 stars is the atmosphere was a little 'constrained' - which meant whenever hubby and I shared a joke and one of us laughed - we felt like the whole restaurant was privy to our mirth. Some background music would help a lot.
Other than that I encourage you to give this place a try. Unlike Logan Brown this place is actually worth the money!
Oh and the decor? A bit weird. Very plain and boring in main restaurant but then loud wallpaper on the ceilings in the bathroom..... Not my taste - but that's a personal thing.
Love love love. Fantastic service - and beautifully cooked food to be expected from the old Whitehouse owners. The decor is.... Interesting, not exactly my taste, but the location is great.
Amazing food . Only thing bar man very rude and bad at seating
What a restaurant! I was the guest of a party of five people mid week. The atmosphere and the service was inviting. We had the whitebait and the salmon as starters followed with the Catalan fish and shellfish stew, snapper, and flounder and we finished with the rhubarb soufflé. All of the dishes were excellent. The freshly baked sourdough bread is to die for. We matched the food with an Australian (Henschke) Pinot Gris and a NZ Chardonnay. I still think Ortega Fish Shack has the edge but it's definitely worth a try.
One of the best fine dining restaurants in Wellington, history goes back to Whitehouse days. Quality food, presentation and top notch service, great for special occasions. An amazing experience every time we visit.
Went for a dinner few days ago. The service was excellent , full attention, friendly and professional staff, never pushing after something. The menu of drinks is perfect and the food was delicious, more than I expected. Just one detail, I went around 7pm and my only view from the window was a cheap metallic table and chairs, I don't really know if a restaurant of this category needs that kind of furniture outside (maybe I'm wrong and is a really expensive or exclusive designer furniture, but that was my impression during the night). Anyway, service, food and drinks HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Highly recommend! Service, food, environment are all just so perfect. Fish stew was amazing, the broth was so tasty. Ceviche was so special. Very enjoyed this meal. Would definitely come again.
Went here for the Fathers Day Dinner OMG the food was spectacular my mouth was buzzing singing drooling zinging all at the same time. There was so much food I actually didn't think I could carry on - until that Jaffa Mouse Cake came out - irresistible rich and light, so I was able to squeeze it in. All this for $65 each for two people was value for money. Service was fantastic, a fancy place without the snobbery you sometimes encounter at establishments such as these. If you love seafood then this is the place to go.
We took advantage of the "Wellington on a Plate" lunch menu at Whitebait. Our first visit.
House baked bread (still warm) was a lovely start. The entrees - fish crudo and fennel salad were fresh zingy and delicious. The main event, seafood tagine and a mushroom lasagna were also full of flavour and very generous in portion sizes. We certainly didn't need the sides of roast broccoli or roast potatoes (both excellent).
Rather full we could not resist dessert - Fantail Grove hazelnut mille feuille and a Whittaker's chocolate coffee cream tart. Rich, and decadant.
Top it all with a prime window seat overlooking the marina and it was a winning combination.
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My immediate thought when seated was "Hell, Sydney has finally come to Wellington."
A very classy fit out (with one exception - below) with an architect (rare) who has attended ambience and lighting 101, makes settling in for the meal a lovely experience. The uniformed wait staff look equally classy helping take this restaurant one notch up from the average Wellington scene.
The service was impeccable although I didn't need to be told that everything I ordered- wine and food - was a brilliant or excellent choice ( I knew that but I didn't want him to!) and it seemed everyone at surrounding tables were also making brilliant or excellent choices as well.
The food was simple, unfussy, slightly rusticated Mediterranean, well cooked and it was a relief to find that in an entire evening I hadn't found myself questioning the compositions of powders and foams or some exotic indigenous herb - it was simply good food without (I know this not to be the case) fuss.
Bread - divine, even better than Logan Browns (and it can be bought during the day in loaves - no doubt Moore Wilsons superette will have it eventually but at the moment you can get it at that wonderful gastronomic alladins cave Ontrays at Petone).
Entrees were prawn and potato frittata, and a ceviche - ceviche was delicious, truly perfect, the frittata was tough but had a pleasant flavour.
Mains were bluenose with roasted artichoke, and sausages with roasted pear, parsnip, and buttermilk potatoes. The bluenose with herb crust was lovely but the roast artichoke could have done with a few more minutes in the oven. The sausage was an interesting melange that flavour-wise was great but the vegetables seemed a bit woosey in contrast to the hearty well flavoured sausage. I did wonder whether the sausage was just a little too rusticated for the restaurant.
Dessert was a shared plate of confectionary and a shared cheese plate- both a nice ending.
Wine list good - I particularly liked the ability to order half servings as well as full glasses - it meant that one could try multiple wines without irritating the ministry of transport.
This is an offshoot of the White House and as such needs to be careful - it's elderly parent could at times fall short - I have never had a perfect meal there - always there were faults- wilted yellow salad leaves, peas despite beans being on the menu etc etc. If whitebait tightens the standards of White House it will be a great restaurant. Wellington is lucky.
Gripes - the toilets - the architect hadn't gone to Loos 101. Less than sophisticated - especially the big plastic bin for paper towels. Quite possible the toilets were shared with the bar next door - unfortunate because whitebait is classy.
Date night: definitely
Groups: small ones
Kids: what?
Highly recommended.
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Was really looking forward to trying this restaurant after reading a review in NZ Cuisine mag. Of course, when dining out, the food is always the star, but I think it's important that all the other players play a supporting role to really help the star shine.
We were given a warm welcome, and our coats taken, and quickly seated. The overall ambiance of the restaurant naturally lends itself to intimate dinners. They've done well with the layout and lighting. Even though the restaurant was quite full, and I could literally put my hand out and touch my neighbor, my partner and I never felt as though we couldn't chat in a relaxed fashion. The background noise is dampened, and it really does lend itself to good conversation.
They had a good selection of wines and beer, although I stuck with sparkling water. While waiting, they provide a delicious sourdough bread with butter patty. You can take home a loaf of this sourdough for $6.50
We ordered the Alaskan King crab salad, the Fish and Shell Fish main, and the Fish Steak which was Salmon, and served with a artichoke salad.
The dishes seem to mostly be Catalan styled, so think robust and bold flavours.
I loved the crab salad, although I have eaten Alaskan King crab in Santa Barbara which was much fresher tasting, it was still lovely and the salad was nicely balanced with radish - delightful. I recommend this starter.
The Fish and Shell main was lovely. The saffron broth was rich, warm and comforting. The hapuka was moist, definitely had a strong flavour, but still lovely. Mussels, surf clams, scallops and prawn were perfectly cooked, not at all chewy which you can get at times with a "fish stew". The only thing I would have loved, is a big crust of crusty bread. I remember eating many fish stews when in the Med and this dish really does lend itself to being mopped up with crusty bread. They were accommodating in providing more bread, although I would have loved to be able to order this.
The fish steak was beautifully cooked. Salmon is a moist flesh, but had lovely charcoal grill and herb and Parmesan crust. Interestingly, the salad that came with this really stood out to me. Grilled and fried artichokes - was just absolutely one of my favorite parts of the meal. So surprising how beautiful it was.
Another good service feature, was my partner and I wanted to share the dishes, so we could taste an array of items as we are both small eaters. They brought out two plates of a split starter and extra plates for the mains. Very thoughtful.
All in all, I would recommend for a seafood lover, but they do have a lamb dish that looked lovely!
Whitebait is the most recent venture by Paul Hoather who previously owned the Whitehouse restaurant which has permanently closed to give way to the new Whitebait restaurant located in the upmarket Clyde Quay Wharf.
To be honest, I was not a huge fan of The White House, and thought Whitebait would be similar. I must admit it is less pretentious and was very much impressed with the service and the food that was served to us, and the fact they had no issues catering for my dietary requirements.
Will definitely be back to try other items on their menu.
Check out my website for an indepth review.
Outstanding seafood restaurant. Light and tasty entrees (recommend the ceviche), perfectly prepared mains, finished off with a fantastic dessert selection. The rose sorbet is something truly special.
A sophisticated faultless contemporary fine dining restaurant with service and food to match. Worth the walk down the wharf. Outstanding fish dishes.
Took my partner to whitebait for her birthday. Good atmosphere. Good food. Good wine choice.
Will def recommend and be back.
King crab salad was amazing. Hapuka was okay. wasnt the best ive ever had but good overall.
The food was excellent, well presented and tasted great, but missing the wow factor.
Ambience and service was as expected with the style of restaurant but our party expected more White House influence which we thought was lacking. This raised the question which restaurant did we prefer and all 4 of us said the White House.
Great food,Excellent service, not a fault. i had the King salmon entree, mushroom lasagne and vanilla panacota. The meals were very quick to come out too
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A cold wet Saturday night in Wellington is not the best time
to decide to dine at Whitebait. If you do, get dropped at the door and make the
poor driver walk back. A little challenging getting seated for our booking
time, and not overly comfortable bar area to wait. BUT, once seated, our waiter
was relaxed and talkative, had good support from the Maître de and knew the
menu pretty well. Reasonable wine list for most, but real foodies may have
liked to see a slightly wider range. Now the big stuff, it was really hard to
fault the food, it was well presented, fresh and portions were good. All 4 of
us tried different things and all were hard to critique. Stand outs were the
entrée Octopus and the fresh Sword fish main and the creamed corn!! (yes, trust us, it was
great). The food is rich in general, so just be aware, but beautifully cooked
and well balanced.
The atmosphere is unfortunately not Whitebaits strong point,
it is very basic and outside of the hanging sea shell chandelier, has very
little design features to attract the eye. A hotel lobby restaurant feel was
the overall impression we had. We only add this as a review point for those
looking for creative or unique atmospheres, you won’t find it here, but for
food we rate it.
Must also remark on the great tea pots. Overall a good
experience and a well-designed and delivered menu.
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I've heard a lot about Whitebait - the fresh and reinvigorated culinary energy that the Wellington waterfront/Oriental Parade so deserves and desperately needs.
We started off with the whitebait frittata, plus fresh and roasted Pacific Oysters. These were to die for. The oysters especially were as succulent and flavourful as they come. Was a brilliant start to the meal.
For my main I selected the Fish and Shellfish "roasted in the Josper oven Catalan style with saffron broth and romescada". This was a dish ideal for those who want variety in their main, and it didn't disappoint with fish, mussels, clams and prawns. The broth worked well with all four seafoods and really brought a potentially bland, watery dish to vivid life. I was curious to try the other fish items on the menu as it all looked and smelled amazing.
The dessert matched the decadence of the courses that preceded. I had the peanut butter and chocolate mousse cake, presented elegantly with the layered cake tucked inside a thin chocolate cylindrical shell. The taste was a fine balance between peanut butter and chocolate though I thought both elements could've been punchier or at least sweeter.
The service was attentive but probably a bit too efficient - our meals, with food still on the plate, were cleared without the waitresses asking if we had finished.
Verdict: excellent seafood and an ambitious patisserie kitchen with desserts to watch out for. Bright future ahead for the team behind Whitebait.
Excellent food. Had the tasting menu, was delicious. Also the wine pairing was good. But taking a bootle would have been cheaper. Anyway, depends what you want. The different courses were delicious. Very friendly stuff.
Very nicely prepared seafood with great flavour pairings. The four course meal was a bit heavy both in terms of size and flavoring for our tastes. Staff was very friendly and professional.
Great spot in Wellington harbor. The food was spectacular and innovative. We particularly loved the kingfish dish. Service was attentive and super friendly.
Great food and extremely friendly and helpful staff. They helped us pick food and wine, but weren't pushing for us to over order or get more expensive items. They really helped us take our time and make the evening special.
This is fine dining at its best. With a great location, amazing ambience, friendly service and outstanding food, Whitebait is definitely in the top five restaurants in Wellington in my opinion. The menu is simple but the actual food has complex layers and cleverly put together. The flavours are clean and distinct and very satisfying. Immensely enjoyed our evening and would strongly recommend this restaurant.
Definitely for those into fine dining. Interesting flavour combinations - almost every bite was a taste explosion. Staff were friendly and accommodating.
Absolutely amazing. Heart-warming service, delicious food. The 4-course menu is definitely enough for one female. Among the dishes we had, the trevally tartare and snapper were the most lovely.
"The best Waterfront Restaurant in Wellington, New Zealand" True! Seafood (I recommend Orongo Bay Oysters, Russell, North Island NZ), fish or meat, all is good... Nice atmosphere and decorations, good welcoming, nice view ... great 👍🏻 The team is perfect 👌🏻. It's always a pleasure to eat here .
Great restaurant with some interesting dishes and attentive staff.
Wine list is well balanced out.
Went there last year for my Birthday......Customer service excellent & the food was nice.
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