Review Black Barn Bistro - Havelock North

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.

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!

Stunning food, fresh, vibrant and full of flavour absolutely flawless from food to service! Came all the way from Wellington and without a doubt nothing in Wellington even the rest of the country comes close to the level and quality of food that these guys and girls are serving up! Welldone team keep up the fantastic work will be back for sure!

Great wine and great food. Syrah was really nice. I had fries with truffle and parmesan, really nice and strong flavours. Partner had some oysters with a ponzu dipping sauce. Will be taking home a few bottles.

Definitely a must try if you're in Napier. Great wine and house cocktails. Really enjoy the whole fish and passionfruit dessert- highly recomend these.

The meal was up there as far as fine dining goes Duck live pate for entree Bbq duck for main Creme caramel for desert Second time we have been there and plan on more returns

The new chef at Black Barn is exceptionally good! loved every bite, will be back!!

Black Barn didn't fail to impress. From the service on a very busy afternoon attending to a table of 10 for us. The lamb was the winning dish with the Syrah

Stunning setting and some of the best food in hawkes bay. Highly recommend the share plates

The bistro reopening was the perfect excuse to catch up with a friend over a delicious lunch and a cheeky few drinks. The new decor provides a fresh, relaxed vibe and the team out the front were fantastic, it was like being greeted by an old friend. We had a young waitress and also had the restaurant manager, checking in on us during our visit. Both made us feel comfortable, shared a laugh or two and made sure we had everything we needed. The drinks list was fantastic with something for everyone- my favourite was the extensive craft beer list (I will be back to try more of these!). The menu itself was out of this world. The ingredients are sourced locally and seasonally and the dishes are simple yet complex- we definitely had to try as much as we could! Everything is made in house and from our table we could see the large wall of preserves that formed part of our meal, which was pretty special. You can see the chefs hard at work and can see that each plate that comes out has been created with so much love and passion. The tartare was the highlight of my meal, and the fish was absolutely devine. I’ll be back to enjoy another afternoon of great food, drinks and service very soon! Thanks Blackbarn!

Their barrel fermented chardonnay is amazing. A bit of spice, fantastic to drink by itself or with food. The vineyard is beautiful and the food beautifully presented. When we were there, there is a table right in front of the double doors that would be perfect for a romantic date for two. It's both family friendly and couple friendly as well.

We recently dined at Black Barn Bistro for lunch and found our meal a bit disappointing and much less enjoyable compared to places like Elephant Hill and Te Awa Winery restaurants. There were positives in regard to our meal. We were warmly greeted and serviced upon arrival through to the completion of our meal. Waitress made suitable wine pairing recommendations and we found the overall dining environment to be very good at Black Barn Bistro. The setting and views of the vineyards are nice and on the whole, we found the place suitable for finer dining. In these terms, our lunch experience at Black Barn Bistro were all quite good. However, the food served up during our lunch didn't measure up well and was much less enjoyed to lunches had at other winery restaurants in Hawkes Bay. For starter, we sampled the Rustic Country Terrine (NZ$16) which was a seafood version with pesto, relish. This was an interesting terrine that was enjoyable to try and tasted ok (rating 3 of 5). While not something we would likely reorder, others might enjoy this dish. For mains, we tried the signature Pork Belly (NZ$33) served with bok choy, smoked tomatoes and capers. While this was a visually appealing dish it lacked the flavours we were expecting and proved to be a rather bland main. The tomato topping had very little taste and the bok choy similarly lacked flavour. The pork belly itself was just average and would not have stacked up well with pork belly dishes in Hong Kong. This dish seemed to have much potential but was quite disappointing in the end, not worth reordering (rating 2.5 of 5). We also tried the Prime Beef Fillet (NZ$36) served with spinach. Similarly, this dish looked good when served but didn't make the grade. While ordered medium-rare, the fillet was served medium and even well done in parts. Perhaps not surprising, the natural flavour that usually comes with good prime beef were not there and the fillet simply tasted like a normal steak, one you could be served anywhere (2.5 of 5). In the end, we enjoyed the venue and service at Black Barn Bistro but were not particularly impressed with the food served during our lunch. Perhaps they were having a bad day in the kitchen but from what we experienced, we would probably opt for other winery restaurants in Hawkes Bay first.

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!

Visited Black Barn whilst back in Hawkes Bay and wondering what has happened. Definitely not what I remember. Whilst okay we were pretty shocked with the lack of response when it became apparent the entrees had been given to the wrong people and someone who ordered gluten-free for medical reasons was fed gluten. I really would have expected this to be taken seriously as this isn't the kind of thing you should mess up.

Top notch. Nothing to fault here, from the menu staff and ambience - all on point.

Unbeatable location, outstanding food and service to match some of the best wine NZ has to offer.

We were lucky enough to call Black Barn our wedding venue and I couldn’t imagine a more perfect day if we tried! Thank you to Izzy and Dan who did everything possible to make it the magical day that it was!! And that food.... words cannot describe how incredible it was. Top effort by everyone!!!

wonderful place and wine is delicious, so amazing... I would like to come back. I little bit disappointed by the small bites

We went for lunch on a Sunday, after having, over the past few months, dined at The Mission, Craggy Range, Elephant Hill plus others. The food was very good, the lamb rump I had was the best I have ever eaten, and the ambience is very nice (we ate in the garden), however, although our waitress was a very pleasant young lady, she managed to miss serving the port I ordered to finish with, and when we approached the cashier to settle the bill she had a very disinterested approach toward this. We also mentioned to her that the music being played was rather heavy on the bass, to which she responded that when we booked we would have been told about the music (we weren't) because old people might not like it. I am not yet 60 and grew up listening to rock music. I will not be going back, nor recommending this restaurant to others.

Went and hung out with the live DJ playing for the afternoon on New Years Day, end up having an amazing afternoon there. Great place to be and some amazing waitresses/bar staff that made the afternoon fantastic!!!

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

Black barn is beautiful. The wine are ok - but not great for Hawkes Bay. The food here is fine but should be a bit better. The service is always good. The market in the summer is FANTASTIC! The concerts even better.

A fairly average meal. To begin, we had breads and a carpaccio of beet root and blue cheese cream with Parmesan crisps. <br/>Our mains were the disappointment. My wife chose the duck salad with orange and frisée lettuce. It turned out to be mesclun with deep fried slices of wonton wrappers, segments of orange and some hoisin sauce, and a few pieces of confit leg of duck, it lacked acidulation and something salty. It wasn't worth the $28 price tag. One could have made this at home. <br/>I had the lamb. It was slightly undercooked and a little chewy. Served with crushed potatoes,raw carrot strings and asparagus. The 2014 rosè was good though. Nothing from the dessert menu leapt out at us. All in all a slightly "meh" meal.

I have heard so many good things about Black Barn Bistro's great food.<br/>I was really disappointed with my Pork Belly it was tough and chewy. It is my favourite meal if its on the menu when we dine out, and should be melt in your mouth tender. The kumara mash etc was very nice with great flavours.<br/>The views over Hastings were lovely.<br/>The staff were very reserved and could have been friendlier.<br/>Overall not a great experience.

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 had a really lovely meal, however, I wanted to knock the Maitre D out! I have never seen such blatant disrespect and rudeness towards his staff anywhere. I'm guessing that he also had no clues that his poncy British accent could be heard by many. I feel so sorry for the new girl that was on that day and can only hope she realises that not all employers are as incompetent and obnoxious as this young man was. Unfortunately for us the experience was souring.

Like previous reviewers I have been going to Black Barn for many years and it's a great setting with a lovely ambiance. The food is usually good though the wine list is somewhat limited.<br/>However the service is always poor due to the young inexperienced staff. Staff are always pleasant but unfortunately not very professional. Management need to work on hiring a quality Maitre d' who can train the young staff properly and be able to lead by example.<br/>If service is a sticking point for you I suggest you eat somewhere else.

I have lived in Havelock North for 6 years and live down the road from Blackbarn. My husband and I regularly go to Blackbarn for lunch just the two of us, however when ever friends and family visit from out of the Bay we always take them to Blackbarn. The food is good, the wine is great, the scenery is beautiful and the service is better than any where else. However, I am feed up with Blackbarn not updating their menu on their website. Getting there to order the most amazing dish that I can't wait to have as I have seen it on their website and they do have the dish that I want. To me this is not good enough as other vineyards are on to it much faster than Blackbarn. It will a long time before we go there again or even take other quests to Blackbarn. Such a shame.

Great wine, great view, good food, okay service. Sums it up really.<br/><br/>The maitre d let the place down, I think he thought we were in some haughty Paris restaurant not rural NZ, what a buzz kill.

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.<br/><br/>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.<br/><br/>If you are looking for fine local wine and a fresh local taste, this is the place.<br/><br/>Only a short drive from town.

Really disappointed. We had so many recommendations from friends to go so we went to celebrate our anniversary. The table we sat it was covered with so much dust even all over the glasses. The wait staff overlooked it until I asked them to change our glasses due to the dust. The exchanged glasses had watermarks all over them. Bad start really, then they got our wine wrong and when they asked how our food was I asked a question and they actually didn't answer and walked away. The food was lovely but the wait staff ruined the experience. I do not expect this at this calibre of restaurant so I do not speak favourably to my friends of our experience and there are other great wineries in the area to spend your money at.

We took our family from overseas out for lunch here on the 28th Dec 2011. Even though we didn't have a reservation they made us a table and took our orders straight-away. The entree was served shortly after but the mains were served 45MININUTES after entrees all cleared up. This was quite intolerable because we had quite a tight schedule for the rest of that arvo. The mains were all a bit TOO SALTY for our tastebuds. Presentations, floor-staff service and food taste (apart from the over-saltiness) were good 7/10. We ran out of time to order desserts but had beautiful cups of coffees. Amongst all the many winery restaurants I don't think we'd be returning anytime soon.

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!<br/><br/>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.<br/><br/>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.<br/><br/>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.<br/><br/>Outstanding local organic food (The beans tasted out of this world), outstanding service, totally impressed.<br/><br/>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.

The main of Lamb was perfectly cooked, but the desserts were very disappointing, and not good value for money. The Lemon one's ice cream had melted, and the cake was tiny. The other dessert was a white raspberry panacotta, and this was also tiny, although tasty - not worth $14. If you are a big dessert fan, skip dessert, and head off to Rush Munro's.

Happy Tweets<br/>- Stunning table views across Hawke's Bay from the hills to the city to the sea<br/>- Beaut Sav Blanc &amp; Merlot Cabernet Franc<br/>- Shade under the vines, entertainment - a real destination winery <br/><br/>For latest offers click here: http://www.tweet2eat.co.nz/2010/11/black-barn.html

I have eaten everywhere in the bay and It shows. I have had countless wedding, lunches there. Every place runs hot or cold, We have never ever had a bad experience. Its not the french café but its never disappointed and you'd say no. That why the win the best dish each year here in the Bay.