We had a great time meeting travelers and playing pool in the back of this good ol' Irish Pub! The…read moregreen beer was flowing on St Patty's Day and we were ready for it. Add a little bit of drunken philanthropy and you're the hit in the crowd. I'd go back and do it all over again! Even a little dancing on the front floor successfully showed us the time of our lives! Thank you for celebrating and keeping the spirit of St Patty's Day alive! Cheers!

From the owner: Welcome to Mulligan's Public House!…read more When you visit Mulligan's Public House, you're in for a treat. Experience our off-the-pier-fresh Salads, Mulligan's World Famous scrumptious Irish Stew, Prime NZ Steak, Stout Pie or light meals such as Fish & Chips, Burgers and Pizza or any of our other mouthwatering dishes. Our chefs are renowned for their creative combinations of spices and sauces. Our warm and charming atmosphere will instantly relax you while our attentive staff spoils you. Weekly menu specials offer unique flavours and pairings. Mulligan's Public House is very famous with backpackers specials. Mulligan's Public House is the perfect destination for your next visit to Taupo, whether an intimate dinner or a night out celebration or casual drink after work . We open 7 days and nights a week. There's always something happening at Mulligan's for locals & backpackers! Every Tuesday - Our world famous Quiz Night. Wednesday is Poker, Thursday - Live Music & Jam Night, Friday - Girls Night and much more. Please call for reservations for dinner or jump in to enjoy your night out. Gift certificates available.

$75 NZ dollars for 4 lamb shanks and 2 glasses of wine, you can't beat that! Such a good value and…read moreso tasty. The waitress was very nice and friendly. She brought us a picture book about the local area, and gave was sample of wine. The lamb shanks was so tender and served in tasty sauce that is salty with just a little bit of sweetness. The restaurant was only 9miles from the Chateau Tangariro, and it was worth it. It was nice busy and it feel like very local.

This will go down as one of the best experiences ever of my trip and honestly in my life. I will…read morenever forget this hospitality. We got here after a long drive from Auckland... was the only place opened but sadly we got there close to their posted close time and being a small town they were in deed closed. I knocked to find out if there was something else around and they kindly brought us in to eat anyways. They made us a full plate a food, not just something lying around. Where to start? The food was absolutely amazing! I've never had lamb shank and was a little scared to try it but it was fantastic. The meat fell off the practically. They served it with some potatoes, a sweet potato(yum), and some grilled onion. The sauce they used complimented everything and I did all I could not to lick it off the plate. It wasn't too heavy at all. It had a flavor that reminded me of grandma's cooking. My friend had the fish and chips and enjoyed it very much! Okay back to the rest. Cute place, very moderately decorated. Not overbearing. Very clean. They even have bikes to rent. By the time I left I felt like family. Marie is incredibly sweet (so are you Bruce!) and chatted with us throughout dinner, telling us about the area, gave us a book of pictures to look through, and filled up a water bottle for me for the drive. They were just really genuine people and that made my night. This restaurant is a gem and you would be making a big mistake not to stop. If I could give it 10 stars I would!

A nice place to stop for food and a beer! Very friendly staff. Outdoor tables and inside high and…read morelow tables.

I was impressed by the food. It was tasty and huge portions. I got the bacon burger, which was…read moremassive, while my husband got the open face steak sandwich. We subbed curly fries for regular fries and they came out hot and crisp.

Excellent value for what you get. $15 for a decent sized entree. Looks like it would be a great…read morespot to grab a pint too!

The food was delicious but a little pricey. The chef did an excellent job with the food. My…read moresalmon was slightly raw in the middle but apparently this is how people eat salmon (accordingly to waitress).

Aside from the attitude I initially got when I entered (I had to pee super badly and asked for the…read morebathroom--perhaps they thought I wasn't actually stoping for food) it was good. I enjoyed the kumara and pistachio salad, and the wine was decent. I think they could do a bit to improve the ambiance, but there aren't many options in Waitomo. Given that, this place is perfectly solid.

Agree with most of the other ratings here. Avoid at all costs. It took us TWO HOURS to get the…read morefood. Asked for the TV to be changed to a channel with a big match on and it never happened. Distinctly got the impression that locals were heavily favored over tourists. Worst place we stopped on our trip.

Wish I lived down the street from this place! The food here is sooo good. Had to order take out…read moreafter my burger and desert. The ambience is like a movie set from the 90's...love it! Great country music playing in the background.

Such sweet staff. On my honeymoon and needed a nice beer and WiFi after the Wai-o-Taupo experience…read more THe place is what you'd expect for a "racer" quaint, good food, pools tables, and nice staff.

Love this brewery!!! Walk off the street up the stairs to a magically decorated brewery &…read morerestaurant. The bar greets you as you enter followed by an array of seating choices, cozy chairs, dining table, outdoor seats with a beautiful view, it is amazing! Choose from craft beers or wine. The fish and chips were delicious! Service was prompt and friendly. A great stop in the Rotorua area

We dropped into Crafty Trout Brewing Co to check out their beer and cider selection. The bottom…read morefloor has merchandise and bottles for purchase. The bottles are reasonable but the merch is expensive (more than any brewery I've been to). $30.00 NZD for a growler! Insane. They also do beer tours ($30.00 NZD including tasting rack otherwise it's $10.00 NZD). The upstairs is called Bier Kafe. They had a few specials ($14.00 to 25.00 NZD). The regular menu is pretty pricey. Apparently, they are "world famous" for their pretzels and woodfired pizzas. At the bar, there were 14 flavours on tap (except they were sold out of their smokey ginger beer). The pear cider sounded pretty good. Tasting rack (four 200mL glasses) costs $20.00 NZD so we opted for a few bottles to take home instead. Some of their desserts also looked interesting. Dark moist chocolate beer cake ($9.00 NZD) or apple cider strudel ($10.00 NZD) anyone? - Lure cider ($4.50 NZD) - Granny Smith with hints of pineapple. - Smokey ginger beer ($3.00 NZD) - non-alcoholic made with Pohutakawa & Cherrywood smoked ginger, honey, fresh lemons and Lake Taupo glacial mineral water. You can taste the smokiness. Pretty decent!

This place by the Taupo lake is a must visit. It's literally by the lake, you can choose to sit out…read moreby the sand which has a major beach vibe or you can sit inside, which feels like you are on a cruise/boat out on the lake. Parking deck is outside, it's a self service place. They give you buzzers as you order food and drinks and it lights up once your order is ready. It's casual in a classy way. The pizzas were really good. Thin crust, wood-fire and perfect. The drinks also were really good. Mine was a lychee cocktail not for you if you don't like it sweet. I will recommend this place and hopefully revisit.

Don't come here expecting service. No water, napkins etc…read morePizza was good, the buzzer malfunctioned and we waited forever for our food

We ordered the garlic loaf, onion rings and small chicken nibbles, with two drinks for two people…read more 100% enough food for us both and the garlic loaf was everything perfect butter to bread ratio - which so many places get wrong. Chicken nibbles could have had more sauce but you got your money's worth with the onion rings - there were plenty! The atmosphere was awesome with beautiful views of Lake Taupo! They also had live music which I really enjoyed - singer was called Jerry Taukamo - he was fantastic!!! 10/10 would visit again!

Place offers typical pub food with very limited vegetarian options. For meals, wrap can be made…read morevegetarian. Nachos is another good option with out meat. Beer choices are typically and nothing out of he world. Be careful because the service is slow. I had to move my car twice from the 60 minute parking spot.

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