Review Ace Wasabi - Christchurch

Kusal Ekanayake

Good food for mains, little bit of a drop in quality when it came to the desert and the whole restaurant got a wee bit chilly by the end of the night.

Nina Alghero

Excellent! Great food, very nice atmosphere! Our favourite place to have dinner! Teppanyaki bar is fantastic and a must to try!!! Great pleasure to watch an experienced chef cooking in front of you. Our fav set is Wasabi Special and includes prawns, salmon, chicken and beef. Great entertainment and incredible flavours are guaranteed! Highly recommended!!!

Luzmary Dunick

On Wednesday May 29th, I went with two friends to this restaurant to celebrate my birthday. For start the place is impressive, very tastefully decorated. The service was excellent and the food exquisitely presented. I'm not a Ta pen Yaki connoisseur but I've had eaten it in the past, this was by far superior. If you want somewhere special to celebrate in style, THIS IS THE PLACE.

Angie A

Excellent Teppanyaki. Value for money. Highly recommended. Had a seafood set and the teppan banana for dessert. Both are delicious. The chef has an excellent grasp of flame control. Would love to go back again.

Laura Campbell

Great food and lovely Teppenyaki experience but beware that they book the Teppenyaki table solidly, as soon as our food was done cooking we were asked to move to another table to have dessert. However staff were friendly and helpful

Kats Beattie

Always a wonderful meal and great experience! Justin and his team do a wonderful job of making sure you are happy and the food is always fabulous.

Iain Thompson

Beef was out of this world. Service excellent. Watch food prepared is always fun. Will take kids here next time. Fantastic

Monique

Great service & beautiful food. Amazingly cute place tucked away. Would definitely go again.

Vincent T

A nice fine dining place. The presentation is superb while the food is alright. The portion is really small as well

Jeanne Godfrey

LOVED it. Will certainly be back. Our 8yr old grandson loved it and wants his next birthday there.

Alexis Aho

Was so much fun! Was several of our groups first time! The food was amazing and the experience was so fun!!!

Marene F

Went for a staff function. Very fun evening and food was pretty good

Richard Moreham

Friendly service and well presented, high quality food.

Nelson Biederman

Had a great eye-fillet. Good atmosphere and friendly staff.

Steph Hogan

Went for a small staff function. Very fun evening and everyone enjoyed.

Sarah Li

fantastic place！quiet and peaceful❤️ it is windy and cloudy this afternoon and we didn’t drive today. Finally found this restaurant in the left side of the road and the restaurant just start dinner time. It is warm inside and playing elegance piano music which is from popular Japanese movies.

Kirstin Lucas

I ordered the Sakura teppanyaki which came with Teppan vegetables, miso, fried rice, prawns, teriyaki chicken and eye-fillet and cost $48. We had three children in our party a ND they all found something they liked on the menu. The vegetarian was happy with their meal but she was too far away for me to see what she was served. The meat-eaters and the pescetarian were already making plans for a return visit.

Yas Ali

Booked in to see the teppanyaki but they overbooked and could not seat us even though we asked for teppanyaki a week beforehand. Sat at a normal table and had one of the set menus (it was cheaper). I was worried it wouldn't be very filling but it was, although quite pricey. I loved the decor and the service. Very beautiful.

Lauren McLellan

Lovely fresh sashimi, the tempora bluff oysters were to die for and the main course beef cooked to perfection. Very friendly attentive staff. Great restaurant, will visit again.

Jalanda Landa

Don't believe the reviews! This place is great! We had Teppanyaki, arrived just before 8 and were served promptly. Drinks were ordered, entrees ordered, and our teppanyaki menu selection all done exactly when we were ready. - WAIT STAFF were lovely! Attentive and friendly. Our Teppanyaki chef was very cool, she really warmed up when we started talking to her. - The DECOR is stunning! Beautiful place. - PRICING is what you'd expect for such succulent tender flavoursome meats good fresh in front of you. The starting vege were delicious, the Tofu entree was outstanding. We were both very full afterwards. HIGHLY RECOMMEND - Will be visiting again soon! Would be a great place to go with a group of friends for a really nice time.

David Hanlin

As a lover o japanese food, I had an unplanned stop over here. I found this online and thought why not give it ago, glad I did. What a find indeed. Koreans doing japanese and doing it well, sushi and sashimi was awesome and fresh, japanese trained chefs and a great vibe. So glad I came, I will return if in town

Shane E

Worst service ever! We made a booking at the teppanyaki bar. Were seated, and thought that it was a bit cramped. Then they tried shoving more people in! So cramped that you may as well sit in the person's lap sitting next to you. We moved ourselves to a table and we got our menus and a glass of water. An hour later. They'd forgotten us. 10pm by this stage and we'd been there since 8.30pm. Well when we finally got the food. It came thick and fast. Barely time to settle between courses. The food was nicely presented and quite tasty. But will not return because of the awfully service. No apology or discount offered.

Chris Fitzgerald

I can so see why people mark this restaurant down on service. Booked Teppanyaki for 8pm and arrived early, so they sat us at a regular table to wait. Gave us menus after being asked, the food choices looked good and the prices were reasonable. No drinks list and never asked if we wanted a drink. After sitting for 20 minutes and no sign of the first-sitting diners leaving the table decided not to wait any longer and left.

Christie Webber

I went to Ace Wasabi yesterday with a small group for a birthday and we were so disappointed with the overall experience. The food was delicious! However, were were seated at a teppanyaki bar in a room disconnected from the main building and it was freezing! We had to keep our jackets on for the whole meal and spent a lot of the time worrying about wait staff leaving the door open as they left room. The chef was fantastic. But the waitress was not. She forgot several things and it was so hard to get her attention to remind her and order drinks and desert. After the main when we finally got her attention and ordered desert she said we would have to move to a table to eat it as a new seating was coming in. If she had taken our order earlier we could have eaten at the bar and the table we had to move to was even colder. We could see each others breath in the air!!! Other people in the room left without desert saying it was too cold. I really wouldn't recommend going here for dinner as you can find much nicer Japanese restaurants in Christchurch which have delicious food, fantastic wait staff and warm comfortable seating! If you do decide to go then you should absolutely insist on being seated in the main building!

Paul

I went to AceWasabi, on Monday night with a group of friends and we all got the special set menu. It was a great experience for me and all my friends. The food was top quality I especially loved the synergy between the prawn and their wasabi sauce. The chef was very friendly, interactive and very professional at handling the food. The waiting staff were all also very responsive and friendly. I feel that price was very reasonable considering the quality and the quantity of the food. I would love to go again to Ace Wasabi.

Vera Leier

We went there yesterday for my daughter's birthday. It was a Saturday night and very busy but we had a booking. The service was so incredibly bad. The waitress was so unfriendly. They forgot half of our order. We had to wait for ages to get the food and then it did not come together. It is quite expensive and absolutely not worth it. We will never go back there.

Jo F

We booked a table for Teppanyaki but when we arrived we were told they couldn't find our booking and they were full. The woman was very rude and told us we hadn't booked because it was not in their booking diary

Natalie Craig

My Partner took me here to celebrate my Birthday. We booked a table for 2 not at the tepan bar, we were asked if we were sitting at the tepan bar to which we replied no, we had just booked a table for 2. We were seated in the conservatory area & expected menus to follow... 15 mins later still no menus or acknowledgement that we were there. A couple were seated next to us and received their menus and drinks before us, despite arriving later. We finally received menus after asking for them... We ordered and received part of our meal very quickly, but then had to wait 35 mins for the rest of it. Food was ok - can get better elsewhere. we complained when paying and the lady told us they were short staffed. To top off our evening our car had been blocked in by another car and we had to wait 10 mins for someone to move it! Bad experience and we wont be returning.

Jo

Went here for my partners birthday and sat at the tepan bar. Our chef was great, fun, interactive. So much better than the likes of @tonys or something. Only thing is they are slightly higher priced.

Roz

We hadn't been to Ace Wasabi before, but felt like Sashimi. Even though the reviews were mixed we thought we'd give it a go. Pulled up in the car, to valet parking, I suppose it is Merivale. Seated straight away & the service was very friendly & quick. Nice & warm too. Dinner was fantastic, the best Japanese we've ever had. They were really busy, and unfortunately dropped the ball when we were ready to order dessert. So we left without trying the banana crepe. We will definitely be going back, but we'll flag down a waiter next time for dessert.

Sue Gaskell

Our whole family went there today good Friday and found it a lovely atmosphere and the service and meal was great. Unfortunately they did not understand the liquor rules for good Friday and did not serve alcohol but a light drink soon quenched our thirst. We went with friends as well and all the group of 11 said they would return and really enjoyed our afternoon together there. The staff were very warm and we wish them well for the future.

Christine Li

Extremely the worst restaurant experience ever, would not recommend it to anyone. My partner and I arrived and seated on time but waited 15 minutes before we got given the menus. We were not offered any drinks, we had to ask for it. Orders were taken and then we waited and waited, then finally the entree arrived, pretty average. Waited and waited again, 30minutes later my partner got her main. She finished her main and I was still waiting for my main to arrive, I waited and waited, I finally got a bowl of rice without my main. Over the next hour I got served the three parts of my main while my wife sat there watching and waiting for me to finish. We decided not to have desert due to the fact that we weren't prepared to wait for another hour. On leaving we have complained to the boss lady, she argued with us and blamed the waitress for the delays, we were not offered any compliments and paid the bill in full. We were very unhappy and angry.

Ricky

This was the worst experience we have ever had in a restaurant! Booked here 3 weeks in advance for Teppanyaki to celebrate a special occasion, the booking was confirmed prior. We arrived on time only to be told the Teppanyaki table was still occupied by the previous booking, we were ushered to a cold stark room to wait. After sometime we were told that the other group were now drinking at the table and did not want to leave...we asked to speak to the manager but they were "to busy" to speak to us, another 3 groups were put in the room with us - all had bookings and were told the same story as us, clearly the restaurant were taking bookings they had no room for. We left without eating or being apologized to, we couldn't find another table anywhere so we celebrated the occasion at the pub with a pizza. Do not waste your time with this restaurant.

Nick Leeming

I had been to Ace Wasabi when it was in Victoria Street and was interested to try the Merivale version particularly given the mixed reviews. We had an early booking and were seated and served promptly, the staff were very courteous and attentive. The wine list was good, Peg Bay Reisling was excellent. We went for the $45 Teppan set menu and on the suggestion of the waitress had some dumplings to start which were delicious, so we got some more. All of the food was great, came out promptly and was well priced. I don't know why it had any negative reviews, I will be back.

Emma Burden

Dined 31/05/12. Bad service. Very unwelcome start, arrived to absolutely freezing seating, had to ask for the heatpump to be switched on. Arrived for 6pm seating of Teppanyaki, chef did not start cooking until 640. A long wait in freezing cold conservatory. Delicious meal although very slow process. Shame the coldness and long wait dampened the atmosphere for whole meal. Mentioned our thoughts to the Manager as we left and no apology or recognition whatsoever from her.

John Elliot

Christchurch has limited options since the earthquakes and this restaurant is worthy of support.having dined out around the world including in Tokyo this place is good. Sure you might find better in tokyo or new york but the food and experience were great and I will go again.

Stevie

Bad Bad Bad. I've had two bad experiences here lately and will not ever return. Service very slow and food only average when it did arrive - and everything arrived at once! I'm very fair in giving people a chance which is why I returned but will never again. There is better Japanese food in town and better service anywhere else. Forget it.

Mikey Zhang

Nice food, really nice atmosphere, friendly service :D Food isn't too badly priced, comes with plenty of free sides. Presentation of the food is exceptional. The menu could do with some more options though.

Mark Herring

We love this restaurant. The staff are friendly the food is fresh and tasty. We have eaten here many time and are always impressed.

JapFoodLover

Unike what the previous poster said, their dishes are way over priced. I could have gotten something twice as big and tasted as good if not better for 1/2 the price around City. Definitely won't go back there. I hope they read this.

Amy

The food is always great here and not overpriced like some japanese retaurants:) All the staff there are really nice too!