Review Aihe - Akaroa

The seafood chowder is superb! The King Prawns for me is so-so and also the pasta since it is tomato based, I am not a fan of sour food (sorry). But...if you like sour food and Italian, go for it!🙂 I would like to go back and try their salmon and pan seared scallops!!!

Very nice food! The chowder is very flavorful and goes great with their fantastic and addictive sourdough, but a little too salty to have it on its own, the chicken burger is crispy and juicy and nicely done on brioche buns, scallops are fresh, tasty and huge, but also not many, merely three of them on the plate, the Fijian coconut ceviche is probably the highlight. Sitting outside by the sea is highly recommended if you are okay with being occasionally harassed by annoying and hungry seagulls.

After two terrible encounters with restaurants down the road, we had a wonderful lunch here at Aihe. The young French waitress was just lovely, explaining what was on the menu, which encouraged trying something new. The food was delicious and plenty. We had a choice to either sit outside or inside. We would return again. Thank you. Pictures ... we had begun eating before I took a photo ... and our lovely outlook from where we sat.

Lovely place with great food and great staff. I had the salmon and my wife had the duck; both were excellent. There was a slight mix up with our sides but this was quickly and professionally resolved. The dessert was of a similarly high standard and to top it all they serve draught Guinness. Top place in an excellent location with great food and fantastic staff.

Quite surprised to find out this is like a fine dine place, considering the price and portion...We had scallop and fish of the day, the taste is definitely 10 out of 10, just quite small quantity to be honest. And staff are very friendly. Love Love it, still highly recommend.

We just had a hot chocolate from this place. It was amazing. Had oat milk hot choc. The staff and the service was good. Forgot to take any photos at that time but did take a photo of an interesting sign outside of their toilets 😄 Also took a couple of photos of the area outside but that was much later.

The photos doesn't do the meals any justice. We have a tiny dog and the restaurant was kind enough to let us bring her with us. Servers and Manager were very welcoming. We sat outside on a winter night but the restaurant was designed efficiently that it was still warm. The setting was very lovely. Service was fast without compromising food taste. We had the pork belly and scallops to start with. Crispy skin on the juicy and tender pork with roasted pear, radish and fennel. The scallops sat on a pea broth with prosciutto, brioche crumb and truffle oil. For mains we had the Duck breast with beetroot, parsnip, seed mustard and mushroom and Lamb Backstrap with blackberry jus, tomato gel and mint oil (melts in your mouth with explosion of flavours all complementing each other, which is how I would describe all of these meals). We did not plan to have desserts but if the food is this good, its hard to pass by. I got a dark chocolate creameux with frangelico, orange honeycombe, hazelnut, strawberry and elderflower while my partner had the white chocolate mousse with cucumber, lemon sorbet and almon bicuit crumb. Night and day for us. We loved the sophisticated feel of the dark chocolate, it sets you in for a good night where you drink wine and relax while the white chocolate wakes you up in freshness and you just want to keep swapping back and forth between the two. With beatifully crafted food, lovely ambient setting and adequate serving size, it was money well spent for us. Will come back again and again from now on!

Top quality food and service. The new menu incorporates large plates designed to share along with a delicious array of starters. Couldn’t fault it! Just to be picky I would prefer warmer serving plates and dinner plates. Keep up the great work Aihe!

Nice waterfront view, nice atmosphere. I feel overpriced for what it is, basically a pub meal, in my opinion, not fine dinning as the prices might suggest. Had the salmon, very average. Waitresses first day, English not her first language, but she was great, and did well. We asked about the wine, she didn't know (understand that, no worries), so went to ask. I feel the person she asked could have come out to discuss, however I feel they possibly didn't know anyway. We enjoyed the Man of War Ironclad wine. We would also recommend the Chocolate Cremeux, and the White Chocolate Mousse. I would probably go back, thanks.

Great food, not the cheapest but we thought they were the best in Akaroa. Service was great. You can't go wrong. Thanks Anna & Mike

Wonderful New Year’s Eve dinner thanks to the chef and to our waitress Juliette ! Just what we wanted, didn’t feel rushed, staff were attentive but relaxed and the food was really delicious and the live music was perfect tonight - now ready for some New Years drinks! Ps - to the guy who caused quite the scene complaining when he paid - give it a rest. The girls were run off their feet and you completely ruined the atmosphere for everyone tonight, including the girls morale who are working hard to look after everybody, it was unwarranted. I hope you are more kind in 2023. Happy New years and all the best to the staff at Aihe, we will be back !

We primarily went to the bar to escape the storm outside. We were meet by 2 bubbly and friendly staff who were happy to chat as we sat at the bar. We returned for dinner that night, again friendly staff greeted us. The meal and service was so good we went back for the 2nd night of our stay. The serving size ideal if you wanted multiple courses you could, and you still left the table feeling 'comfortably full' But the real highlight for me was being in NZs wee 'French town' of Akaroa, and hearing French spoken freely between guests and staff. The pleasure they got conversing in their 1st language showed on their faces. Just didn't get any better than that.

Have travelled the length and breadth of NZ South Island and Aihe is the best we have been to. We dropped in for a quick drink and after seeing the menu decided we really would like to sample the Oysters with Coriander Ginger dressing. Plump, moist, creamy oysters with a tangy, zingy dressing that had depth of flavour. So delicious, we came back the next evening for another serve (which were equally delectable). We also chose salmon with red cabbage, smoked cauliflower, apple and macadamia, and a green side. The combination of the smoky cauliflower, pickled veg and crunch melded perfectly with the melt in your mouth salmon and just tender, slightly charred greens. We couldn’t resist dessert, and it didn’t disappoint. Luscious, silky smooth chocolate cream quenelles (3 of them!), diced strawberries, honeycomb, lemon sorbet - generous serving size and flavoursome. If we hadn’t had to leave NZ we would have been back to dine for a third night. Presentation picture perfect for every dish. The strengths of this eatery are the talented chef, food which piques the tastebuds and delightful, staff who take as much pride in your dining experience, as the chef does in the menu. And did I mention the oysters and dressing…..?

My wife and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary with dinner at Aihe. The service was great and the food fabulous. They kindly arranged a bottle of Moet to be on ice at our table to help celebrate. I highly recommend the Seafood Platter it was absolutely fantastic.

We had our breakfast here and everything was very tasty. Coffee good. I had the Aihi breakfast, partner had the French toast with rhubarb. Beautiful. Our 2 year old girl loved her avocado but ignored the toast. Service was perfect

Really chilled place right by the water, everything's clean and nice, waitress are friendly, only downside was it had chilli in the calamari without stating which wasn't great because I love calamari but hate spicy food :/ if it said it had chilli in the batter on the menu I wouldn't have gotten it, was perfectly cooked though! But all in all would go back :)