Nice restaurant and bar on the Strand. Had the ribs. Some sort of Asian fusion sauce, very good but…read morenot great. Expensive, expect to pay $25-40 a plate per person.

Had a very tasty ribeye steak here with buffalo chips and salad and a whole meal really…read morecomplemented each other. Steak was very tender and tasty. We tried their ribs as well which are a sweet Asian sauce and although were good, I really prefer thick rich barbeque sauce for my ribs. Good service!

Unfortunately, they are Closed there is a different restaurant now. We miss the fat cow.read more

Great location in the shopping/bar section. Great selection of local beers and really good food…read more The wood grilled Brie is really good--a must do starter. Highly recommended!

A delicious BBQ place in Taupo is very welcomed. We were really hungry after walking the Tongariro…read moreCrossing. You can definitely smell BBQ as you walk into the restaurant and that's not a bad thing! We started with some wings and they were the right thing to wet the appetite. You can smell and taste that hickory that permeates throughout the wing. For our entries, we opted for the smoked pork chop and a side of St. Louis ribs. The smoked pork chop was cooked well and it was good thick cut too. The crackling and bone sauce just provided for flavour and texture while working your way through each bite of the pork chop. The ribs were super sauced and the meat was almost fall off the bone. It took a little pull to get the meat away from the bone but I liked it that way. They were pretty finger licking good. We had a good time trying all their different sauces with each bite of our food too. Overall, this is a good spot for some BBQ if you are in the mood.

Very much family restaurant, food average. Thought we would get good Smokey flavours, very bland. I…read morehad beef short ribs and my wife had pulled smoked beef with mac cheese, worst Mac cheese tasted. Apologies we have high expectations after eating at a number of Texas Roadhouse chain stores which smash SMK

We've only had the chicken dishes here, and mostly takeout, but EVERYTHING has been fantastic!…read more- Cajun chicken - The stuffed chicken (Johnny Stash?) - The one with the buttery sauce And the sides we've tried have also been super tasty! From their coleslaw, to the chilli rice, and especially the veggies and the cauliflower -- SO good! At some point we'll try the ribs or steak, maybe, but the chicken is just so good! And the staff is also super friendly, really nice place!

Came here after a long day walking the Waimangu valley to refuel. No reservation needed…read more Cocktails were strong, I believe mine was a Dolly Parton(?). Huge portions. Ribs were finger licking good. Steak was just ok, a bit overdone. Friendly service, but the waitress did get our order of the mussels wrong, we were too famished to send it back ‍

This restaurant changed its name to Furnace Steakhouse and moved a few spaces away to 150 Victoria…read more We were seated outside on their patio on a busy Saturday night. Courtney was a great server and so was the hostess. We ordered their garden salad and onion rings for starters then chicken saltimbocca and roasted lamb for entrees. The chicken was wrapped in prosciutto with sage, white wine, mozzarella, potato purée and greens. The lamb was served with a tomato and couscous ragout, whipped feta, greens and lemon aioli. Everything was delicious. Parking was extremely difficult to find. Hopefully our car won't be towed because we parked in an iffy space. .

Has a new name now. The furnace. The food was delicious. Especially loved the steaks, fish of the…read moreday, steak salad and chicken. Calamari was a little too spicy

Please place them Pukekohe to get a steak the food is always presented very well tasty meals don't…read moretake so long always great service

Steakhouse with a romantic side...so appeals to all members of the public. A varied menu with an…read moreeasy read as set out properly on the page.

Food was good, my steak was a little overcooked though. Seafood chowder was delish! Service was…read moregood but server was MIA a lot. Some of my family dined at a nearby Italian restaurant (left after we were seated), they finished their dinner and still waited 1.5 hours for us. Dinner took us 2.5 hours!!!

This restaurant was surprisingly quite good. We were walking on Eat Street and were looking at the…read moremenu when the host was trying to get us to go in. We decided to try it and ordered the T-Bone steak and the wagyu ribeye steak. The steaks were perfectly done for medium rare and well seasoned. Was a great meal.

Visiting the area and Yelp has very few current reviews. Had dinner here last nite. The drinks were…read moregood, but an odd NZ thing seems to be that if a drink isn't on the menu, they can't make it? Drink requested was a cosmopolitan. They have all the ingredients, but sorry no. Anyway, food, apps and meals were all very good and as described but came out sporadically, with last meal (party of 4) a full 15 mins after the rest. A good value for the cost. Would go back if we were here longer.

DONT DO IT. Like me, you have read the previous reviews, there all bad. But like me, your hoping…read morebecause the reviews are 3+ yrs old, it may have improved. It hasn't, don't do it. The meals are all prepared, plated out the back in a chiller, they sear the meat and send it out. The mashed potatoes ect have a crust shell on them. We had; Shrimp cocktail; should've called it a sauce cocktail, there was more sauce than anything else. Pork belly; it was all fat and skin. I get this meal everywhere all over the world and this was the worst and most expensive. Steak. Why ask how you would like it cooked if your just going to do it rare. Kids go Mac cheese, Cheerios and bbq bburger, they had no complaints, but again, all pre-prepared meals warmed up. Kids Cocktails were the only reason the got any stars. This meal cost almost $200 for 3 little kids and two adults. For $36 steaks and pork belly they were crap. Everywhere is better than this. I hate giving bad reviews but I just don't want anyone else to have a bad experience here.

Food & cocktails were amazing. Service was great. Shoved at how easy it was to get into on a…read moreSaturday night. Perfect spot for a date night.

Probably the worst meal we've had in New Zealand. Starters were lamb croquettes and scallops. Both…read morewere deep fried to within an inch of their lives. The lamb was peculiarly puréed with all the consistency of paste. The scallops had been robbed of all flavour via the deep frying process. Both inedible, leaving a greasy taste in the mouth. Dire. Removed by the very pleasant server without comment. We shared a sirloin steak which wasn't bad although the miserable helping of French fries was not appreciated. The béarnaise sauce was thin and tasteless but cost an additional $5 for some reason. We had a cosmopolitan and a margarita which, oddly, arrived after the starters but seemed to have little or no alcohol content. At least they couldn't mess up on the very nice Pinot Noir. Never again.

Best Steak sandwich in town well worth a visit The Phoenix…read moreon the Strand Gastropub with an atmosphere!

While road tripping across the north island of NZ we stopped by The Phoenix in Tauranga for lunch…read moreand it didn't disappoint. The Angus burger was terrific and paired well with the golden lager. Nice atmosphere and staff was friendly.