Hippopotamus Restaurant & Cocktail Bar

We have had a high tea here before the place was revamped recently. It was great experience. On returning we found the food incredibly poor. Not one of the high tea foods were appetising. It felt like foods that were baked well ahead of time so they would last and be easy to serve. There was no freshness, nothing delightful. Very disappointing. Compare this photo with the photo in the previous review from a year ago.

I went to the Hippopotamus for a high tea. I found the experience lovely. The teas were nice. The food was fine. It would have been nice to have the teas coming around a bit more, but maybe I'm a fast drinker. The thing that let it all down was that the high tea was advertised to me at one price and then when we were seated and there I was suddenly told a new price with a $20 increase from the original price. This was extremely disappointing! My advice to people going here is that you make sure you are ready to spend more than they are advertising.

Great venue, delicious main course but very poor and expensive desserts. Everything looked fabulous but stale & leathery choux pastry and confusion of ingredients was a massive disappointment for all 4 of us.

Very expensive for such small portions. Very slow service, took 30 minutes for drinks to come (after seeing them sit on the bar for 10 minutes) and nearly an hour for our bread which you also have to pay $14 for. We were contemplating just paying for the drinks and leaving as we were so hungry waiting for them to serve the bread and entree. We didn’t even want to order dessert at the end even though we were still hungry as we figured it would probably arrive as breakfast.

Took 40 mins for the bread and drinks to arrive. Bread cost $14. Drinks were on the bar for 10 mins before they came to us. $60 steak dish was served with two pieces of broccolni. Left hungry and did a McDonald's run on the way home. Very disappointed and very expensive for such little food. Dined 10/6/23

Apprehensive due to bad reviews but had a great dining experience. Degustation Dinner with wine pairings

We booked 4 weeks in advance for the taster menu and confirmed twice via email so they called 30mins before we turned up and said there is no taster menu. We where dressed up so decided to go anyway. Food was over priced and tiny portions. I left hungry and cocktails where terrible the food was fine but took a very long time to come out. Definitely won't bother going back. Maybe it under new management now cause my partner says it was great years ago. Also furniture was ripped and glass table tops scratched and broken. Not impressed

Really nice ambiance and views. What was a little disappointing was the dine in the dark as it just wasn't dark enough. Perhaps they thought it might be difficult for us to eat?

12/01/23 Update

Dear Christopher, as is evident from my first review 4 years ago, I most definitely ALWAYS give credit where credit is DUE. However, that kind of credit is EARNED by providing exceptional customer service and an overall good-value-for-money experience.

"Kindness" has become a politized bloviate employed by the incompetent to conceal their inadequacy, and force their mediocrity upon others under the guise of "understanding". These frivolities fundamentally undermine what a high-end establishment such as yours should essentially personify - service excellence.

Labeling the waitron who had served us as a halfwit was not intended to be an insult, instead it was honestly the very best compliment that I could think of to define her suitability for the role! She didn't know the menu. She got the order wrong. She forgot half of the order. She served the food in stages - stating that the "Heirloom Carrot, Baby Spinach, Buffalo Feta, Dijon & Otaki Honey Vinaigrette" (which is essentially a SALAD) took longer to prepare than the "Coastal Lamb" and/or "Greenstone Greek Beef Fillet" which we had as mains, and that's why it came out so LONG AFTER our main. BS! She forgot! She was dishing out bread to another table whilst we waited for our sides to arrive and whilst our mains were getting cold!

To add insult to injury - the person who served the table drinks and wine, had to return to our table TWICE after we had placed our drinks order, to inform us that the specific bottle item that we were after was no longer available. I mean really - do the staff not know what they are doing!? Could they not have updated us on arrival that certain items were out of stock!? Later on we had to ask what was actually available before deciding on which bottle of wine to order?

Your misguided support for this type of mediocracy and your willful disregard to acknowledge that you have a problem in your establishment, is evident in the PLETHORA of poor / low reviews received from other patrons. The list of patrons complaining about poor service and inadequate / low-value-for-money / underwhelming / disappointing / and a sub par quality dining experience, are LEGION!

Just do yourself a favor and read (actually read) through them!

If I were to be completely "fair and constructive" the only person who I had felt was absolutely worth their salt, and who managed to partially salvage the remainder of our evening after our disastrous meal - was the AMAZING bartender who had served us some extremely exquisite cocktails afterwards! Hang onto him! He was polite, knowledgeable and really made us feel as if not everything about our pricy $600 evening for two people, was a complete waste!

I really wish you well in your endeavor to "recover and go from strength to strength, as you once again aspire to create an industry that attracts amazing talent & delivers innovative guest experiences", but pardon me (and certain other reviewers) for our unsympathetic and honest feedback about your mediocrity, whilst you charge TOP DOLLAR on your journey towards that goal!

Regards

12/01/23 - "the standard is definitely slipping. The service from the half wit waiter was deplorable. She knew NOTHING, and constantly had to ask or find out from others about everything. She served us our mains and then started serving another table before she realized that we had ordered sides too - so the food was served in stages as opposed to all together. Also the portion sizes were absolutely pathetic. Our total bill came to just over $600 (for two people) and we left hungry!? I honestly regret coming here for our 15th Wedding Anniversary, and I definitely wont be back. Its definitely NOT worth it anymore. Its VERY expense, BUT EVERYTHING was seriously mediocre! "

Circa 2018: "One of the all round best dining experiences I've ever had in my life - absolutely world class and absolutely worth it! "

Had a table booked for a month then the day before, I got a phone call saying they would not take my booking at 9pm (which was not the latest time on the website) even though they said they don't close until 11pm. I will never make another booking. I will give my money to someone else.

Great ambience, food was excellent. Disappointed that they don't accept restaurant gift cards and suggested to use them elsewhere.

Didn't like that the cups were dirty they said they couldn't get the tea stain out that's not good for the price you pay

Came here for drinks and dinner after hearing many wonderful things.

We were a little early so decided on a couple of cocktails from the bar menu. The Truffle Negroni was decidedly untruffle like, except for a touch on the after taste. Espresso martini was covered in ground coffee which was pretty unpleasant on your lips as you drank it. Il Negroni Nipone was pleasant and smokiness carried well.

Then to dinner. Service overall was bare minimum I'd say. We had to ask each time for a drink, water was not refilled and empty glasses left on the table.

Elected for the 3 course option. We had the Scallops and Venison Tartare for starter. Scallops were fresh and pleasant, well seasoned although very basic. It was hard to call the tartare, tartare. The smoking process has cooked it somewhat so it felt a bit like eating cold cooked venison. Zucchini was not pickled. Otherwise seasoning was fine.

For main, the Lamb and the Beef Fillet accompanied by broccolini and potato bake. Both mains and the broccolini were cold. Lamb was too rare, fat was not rendered, and the dish was missing some kind of of sauce or jus. Beef was saved by the excellent cut. Plating felt like a slap dash Picasso painting and fois gras was clearly taken straight from it's packaging. Both seasoned well but the lamb definitely needed that sauce as mentioned. Potatoes were the only thing actually hot, but entirely lacked seasoning.

Deer Milk Bavarois and Walnut for dessert. The Bavarois was one dimensional, needed crunch and the honey was misplaced. The Walnut was entirely not as described. Pastry was not crisp and the texture of the filling was off, definitely not a cremeux. No crumble in sight.

In general all plating was average, entree's and desserts both on silly little plates as though they were for tapa's style.

Mentioned the cold dishes several times and a only received basic apology during payment, obviously the issue during our meal was not mentioned. A comped drink might have been a nice touch.

Well under expectation for a $200+ per head meal.

After a slight miscommunication (stressful time of the year 25th of Dec) the issue was quickly resolved. Enjoyed our brunch, would highly recommend! We will be back.

Food was decent - rlly nice breakfast: better than average western breakkie - but AMAZING art and interior designing! Must go for exceptional ambience and view!

For $371 for 2 people we left hungry and underwhelmed would not recommend at all and will never return. We were charged for water we didn’t want and when asked for more bread when the portion sizes were minuscule we were declined. Go elsewhere for if wanting an enjoyable value for money experience

Ordered a rack of steak and got two steaks. I asked for well done, I got my steak red in the middle with a bit of blood sitting on top.price was not worth it. Portions were not worth it. 2/10

If you're looking for a fine dining experience, then this is the place to be. Lovely views, beautiful food, and cocktails.

We had the high tea for $63 which included a cocktail. Atmosphere and service outstanding! The cocktail delicious. However the food was a big disappointment to us. Alot more effort could have gone into it, very over priced for what it actually was, sounds good on the menu but the delivery was a let down wouldn't go back unfortunately

We went to Hippopotamus for dinner. Their place is very elegant and the decorations are well presented.
We decided to have the Theatre menu. I don't know if my expectations were too high but I was expecting a WOW of them creating our plates Infront of us. We were presented with one of the staff members plating our dish Infront of us, no effort was given or it wasn't entertaining or a WOW. He just cut our meat and served it to us. This did make me disappointed with the theatre menu and it kind of spoiled my night or enjoyment of the meal. We thought some of the meal was going to be cooked in front of us not just cut.
Don't get me wrong the service and staff were really friendly and nice. I just think they need to add a wow factor to the theatre menu. For a few dollars more you can do their two courses and get two courses instead of one half presented meal.