Rata's Kitchen

Just wow! Stunning food both visually and in flavour and fantastic service too. My in laws even said it exceeded what was their “best meal ever” from several years ago in Hawaii. Can’t wait to come back again. It’s so important for the community to support unique restaurants such as this.

My wife and I celebrated our 15 year wedding anniversary at Rata's Kitchen after receiving a number of recommendations from friends who love this restaurant. The solid 5 star reviews meant we went in with very high expectations. It became clear very early on what all the fuss was about - we immediately felt welcomed by the co-owner, Thomas, who was extremely personable and great to chat with. He was attentive and efficient. The restaurant style has elements of France and Thailand, the food is a definite fusion of the two with incredible flavours and immaculate presentation. The service was absolute top notch, the food exceptional, and the wine range was impressive with options from France, NZ, Aus, Italy and Spain.
The bill was definitely fair for the quality of the food, the portion sizes, and the overall experience - we had 2 entrees, 2 mains, a side and 3 glasses of wine for $150 total.
Thank you Rata and Thomas for providing a fitting location for our anniversary celebration. We will certainly be recommending Rata's Kitchen, and coming back soon with friends and family.

Second time here, this time to celebrate my birthday, and again we’re blown away by the food and the service. Rata is a magician in the kitchen and Thomas really makes us feel welcome and provides excellent service.
After a (shared) starter, main, and desert we were absolutely stuffed. Can’t wait to go again.

Exceptional food and experience. New favourite restaurant in Petone (and Lower Hutt). Highly recommend the hawker rolls, but everything we ate was phenomenal.

I would highly recommend coming here for dinner. Our dining in experience was superb. It was a pleasure talking with one of the owner and finding out where he was from. Even better his wife is the amazing chef.

Delicious and interesting food. A very lovely vibe. A thoughtful wine list. Highly recommend. We'll be back.

Park and walk to the end of the road where the Russell boating club is. There you will order from a French young man at the kitchen window. The special tonight was mussel chowder. The mussels were served in a green curry along with a ramekin of saffron rice and a ramekin of chopped cukes/onion/etc. My partner ordered the pad Thai. We got the beef curry puff and the jerk fruit hawker to start. Delicious. You can order drinks from the funny guy serving from the RBC bar.

No.words can describe how tasteful the food is. Beef curry puff and chicken hawker roll is heaven!

I did not think the best thing about my trip to Russell would be the amazing food, but I honestly would drive back here weekly just to eat at Rata's Kitchen

Just ate here and had the most amazing food. It was literally to die for. Beef curry puffs and pork belly wrap. Absolutely amazing, equal to any restaurant I have been to.

Easily the best food I have eaten in a month! Everything is delicious. I recommend a hawker roll, we ended up buying another one it was so good! Heaps of flavour I can highly recommend!

Ratas food is so delicious i recommend this to all i always have the porkbelly everything there is so yummy thank you

Stopped there by chance and decided to give the hawker rolls a go! Best call of the day, they were incredible and this meal was by far the best one I had all weekend. Seriously worth the trip 10/10

We ordered the Penang Curry the other night. Absolutely delicious, the chicken was fabulous and spicy. Rata made it for us at short notice which was very much appreciated. Highly recommend.