Visited BB in different occasions and always had a great experience,outstanding food and service!! will recommend it for a nice chilled experience in a beautiful Hawkes Bay spot and don't forget to start with a delicious Aperol spritz!
Top notch. Nothing to fault here, from the menu staff and ambience - all on point.
Black Barn Vineyards in Havelock North is not just your normal vineyard it hosts a lot of activities and events that you can partake in one location, from retreats, dining, concerts, open air cinema, growers market and of course cellar doors. Most of these are open during the summer season but dining and cellar doors are whole year round.
A bistro in the vineyard, I really liked the architecture and the design of the dining area, but the staff needed a bit more training. The food was average, I wouldn’t the same price again for fine dining.
Beautiful spot, delicious food, perfect place to go on a holiday, a special day out or summer day. The prices reflect the location and the investment in a vineyard. The market - now that's something to come back for!
Excellent service and beautiful setting sitting outside under the vines. Food was great, especially enjoyed the duck entree and lamb rump main. Would definitely recommend on a nice summer day with friends
![Zomato]( "Recensione")
We were in Napier for the Art Deco Weekend and decided to pop out to Black Barn for lunch. So glad we did. They were full at the courtyard tables, however, we were offered a picnic table with an umbrella by the actual vines so jumped at the chance. I ordered the Butter poached tiger prawns with vermicelli and vegetable salad - beautiful fresh and crunchy prawns, couldn't fault it. The others ordered the Soy and Ginger Angus Eye Fillet. I managed to scrounge a piece after they were raving on about the flavor of the meat and the jus. Rightfully so, it was superb. We then needed to try the desserts, my sister had the Banana Pavlova and was suitably impressed, I had the Summer Berry Gratin with raspberry ice cream and berries bruleed. Wow just what I like - refreshing and light. My partner had the Chocolate Torte and he said it was rich but beautiful. Maybe the staff have changed after reading other reviews, however we did not have any problems and found everyone friendly and the service was great.
We went as a large group and had booked most of the place out. What gets you first is the view over the vineyard flowing out over Hawke bay in the distance.
For our group we had fixed three course menu and all dishes were fantastic. They even added an extra zing to the pork belly that has become standard on most menus.
If you are looking for fine local wine and a fresh local taste, this is the place.
Only a short drive from town.
We had lunch at Black Barn on my partner's birthday and it couldn't have been better ... the food was superb (pork belly that we still dream about); the service was spot on, attentive without being in your face; it was a gorgeous day and the surroundings were perfect. All in all a truly fabulous experience :-)
Faultless simplicity. Great food, professional service and a lovely wine tasting to follow. Never though Hawkes Bay could make a good Pinot...
Love it love it love it!
On my first time, I came with no booking. Looked in with my partner and saw how packed it was and started to walk out.
The front of house ran out to us to the car, and asked if we wanted to dine, as she had a table for two. She escorted us in and was seated immediately and introduced to our waitress.
Our waitress explained the wines n such great detail, asked us what tones we liked and made her recommendation. It was spot on! So good we bought two bottles upon leaving.
Outstanding local organic food (The beans tasted out of this world), outstanding service, totally impressed.
Will definitely be back. 10/10 instead of 5/5. Hawkes Bay should be proud!
I am a regular visitor to Black Barn and visit with my clients (wine tourists) at least 4 times a week. Day after day I find that the service is seamless and very professional. Executive Chef Terry Lowe consistently produces amazing seasonal menus focusing on local seasonal produce. His Pork Belly on Kumara mash with Pineapple Salsa is a real local favourite. As well as the food our clients can't get over the stunning views from the restaurant out over the Heretaunga Plains. Another summer favourite is dinning in the sunken terrace outside which is surrounded by citrus trees and covered by grape vines.
Great lunch under the vines. We all had the sharing menu which was outstanding. One of our group was pregnant and the young man who served us could not have been more helpful in offering an individual menu to suit her needs. Food was great and service outstanding helped even more by the wine suggestions. Don’t miss an opportunity to dine here.
Cannot recommend Black Barn Bistro highly enough! Everything was beyond expectation. We had the Lamb Shoulder to share with carrots and greens and shoestring fries. My family were absolutely delighted at the amazing food! Thank you for an excellent evening!
Wow, what a wonderful experience we had at BB. We had the pleasure of meeting Debs and Paula on the Saturday at the shop and wine tasting. Fun ladies and wonderful ambassadors in every way. Lunch on Sunday was a delight. We elected to go for a broad range of small plates to experience as much of the kitchen's expertise as we could. They blew us away with the flavours and presentation. They really know how to make the palate sing.. as do the accompanying PG and barrel ferment CH. Love love love BB, we will be back ;)
Beautiful setting but extremely ponderous service. Our lunch took over 2 hours, and we left after waiting over 30 minutes for a crepe. Our server was friendly and helpful but probably overstretched between multiple tables. Drink orders took around 20 minutes to fill, and we had to request silverware after our mains arrived and had gotten cold. Food was quite good, but I’d recommend trimming some of the fat from the pork chop.
We had a lovely meal on Friday evening.
The food was beautiful. The flavors were incredible and portion sizes generous.
The serving staff couldn't have been more helpful and friendly, treading that fine path of being unobtrusive yet very attentive.
Highly recommended
Stunning location. The presentation of the food was spot on. The raw fish dish was delicious. The cooked fish, a tad dry. Other than the abrupt stop to the celebratory festivities at night, we had a fantastic time overall.
![5]( "Recensione")
Nicely renovated bistro style restaurant overlooking vines and, in the distance, the Hawkes Bay coastline. We had the lunch set menu: bread and whipped smoky/salted butter, two choices of entrée and two choices of main, with a madeleine each to end the meal - with coffee and drinks extra.
I had 3 Waiheke oysters as a special starter, with a 3 boys Christchurch Stout. I’m an oyster purist and was disappointed not to be able to choose whether to have the onion/vinegar/chive garnish which was pre-loaded onto the oyster in its shell, and thus masked the individuality of the oyster. With this amount of cover this could have been any old oyster. The waiter said that they used to present the oyster “natural” with the choice,but it was now “done this way”.
I thoroughly enjoyed the smoked salmon entree, with dill sauce and sweet pickled cucumber. I was pleased that the bread offered with this was different to that offered with my partner’s terrine. It suited the textures and flavours well.
My main was beef, deliciously presented with a mix of flavours and a bowl of fries, cooked with a subtle truffle aroma in the background.
My partner had the pecorino soufflé, with a pear and walnut salad. She loved it so much I didn’t get even the slightest taste!
I enjoyed the Black Barn Pinot noir as an accompaniment to the beef.
The madeleines for the brief finale were perfect. A lovely Lemon cream contrasted well with the soft sweet palate of the madeleine.
Coffees were from a local roaster, Hawthorne, and were well prepared and tasty.
We had arrived later in the lunch session and occasionally had to wait for it to be noticed that we needed more water. But the service was pleasant.
The atmosphere is quite “open” in a way that emphasises the outward views, but can seem a little austere on a cold winters day, even though there was a log fire which faced some tables but not others. I can imagine that the openness and the terrace could be wonderful airy places on a hot summers day.
Altogether a very nice experience with nicely curated food, a good range of local wines and pleasant staff.
Incredible food, beautiful outlook and lovely service. Will definitely be back next time we’re in the area.
Amazing experience. Fabulously presented food with flavours to delight and I must add that the service was exceptional too.
Our group of 8 had an absolutely stunning lunch here today. The menu has fantastic selection without being pretentious or overwhelming.
Our food was outstanding, elegant but wholesale. Amazing flavours, cooked to perfection and show casing locally sourced fare. The cafe de Paris butter was out of this world, ribeye was melt in your mouth and special mention to the creamy duck liver profiterole. Hands down the best pate I’ve ever had.
The wonderful service was attentive + friendly. The new fit out is simply gorgeous, love the open kitchen vibe, it’s a warm + comfortable setting with a beautiful outlook.
Will definitely be back soon!
Make a reservation
Order online
Find the best restaurant in Havelock North
An error has occurred! Please try again in a few minutes