Review The Whaler - Kaikoura

It's meant to be pub food but really it was outstanding. We stumbled upon this cos we wanted to see the rugby . Pleasantly surprised. The fish was so fresh and well oresented. Lovely atmosphere. Just all round good. Worth a visit

Popped in here on a quiet Sunday night. Staff friendly and left us to enjoy the space and view. Huge sized meals for a good price. Good history around the building.

Awesome food and causy place to be for a drink or eat while travelling from Picton to Christchurch

Starting off positive - Mains were excellent with good sized portions. The chicken was a little dry but the peppercorn sauce made up for it. The ribs were a winner and practically fell off the bone. Dessert was where things fell down. The dessert special was a mango, rhubarb and beetroot crumble which intrigued me, but in hindsight should have been a warning! Firstly, why the mango and beetroot? You couldn't taste either, so just do a really good rhubarb crumble! Secondly, a crumble should have a fruit base with crumb on top. This... thing... had a crumb base and then extra thick chunks of crumb on top, almost like it was trying to be a pie, but failed at the last moment. Thirdly, it was twice the size it needed to be. Unless your menu says otherwise, keep the different items to similar portion sizes! As for the creme brulee - the star of the dish is the layer of caramelized sugar on top. Putting icing sugar on top of that just ruins the point! It was a good dessert just trying to look too fancy. I've seen other restaurants use edible flowers to make it look great. On the other hand, I saw other patrons with seafood dishes and the brownies which all looked excellent, so maybe we were just unlucky with ours. Finally, service was fairly slow taking about two hours for mains and a dessert. It felt like we waited for our dessert for as long as we did for our mains. Overall I would recommend checking this place out for lunch, for their mains, or just for a great place to hang out for a few drinks. The bar itself and the atmosphere is pretty great and had a relaxed vibe going. Just expect to wait a bit for food.

Decent pub food, excellent chowder and fish. Staff really busy on the holiday weekend but stayed cheerful and very helpful. I'm never that thrilled with Monteith's (DB) beers but this is a really good pub.

A solid Monteith's pub in Kaikoura. Loads of space, and a couple of pool tables. There's an upstairs deck which would be awesome on a sunny day. Didn't have any food while there, just drinks. Staff were OK, the ambience was ok too, would love to see some live music at a place like this! All in all, not a bad joint.

Very nice bar area to sit in and enjoy the sun at the window 😎 Had some nice beer and good Sauvignon Blanc. We enjoyed a lot. Unfortunately we needed to wait more than an hour for our fish of the day but we were told before. Lovely bar! But not if you are hungry.

Nice food with large portions and reasonable price. Friendly atmosphere. You place your order and pay at the bar.

The burger patty seemed like it was pre-cooked and re-heated, but otherwise the service was what set our experience apart - it was fantastic, from intitial food order right through to after the meal - even though it is just a pub!!! The selection of beers was amazing too and a great spot to quench a hard earned thirst

We like the ambience here, cozy and seems a nice place to socialize or gather with your friends! I ordered chai latte and kids steak meal because I wasn't really hungry at that time while my friend ordered for squid (calamari) rings and hot tea. The serving was fast but for me the foods were pretty average. PS: they have a juke box and you can play your song for free (it's on a tablet next to the toilet)

Great food. We didn't wait too long for the food. BBQ port ribs was yummy.

Great place! Were honest with is about the wait times on a busy night. The staff were all friendly and wonderful, very accommodating. The place has a nice atmosphere, and it has reasonable pricing! (Had a sirloin steak with fries and salad for $24.95ish). Great experience, thank you.

We got BBQ ribs and the porterhouse steak and were really happy with the food. Lovely little restaurant and bar and even though they said they were short staffed the meals came out quickly.

During my 3 years in New Zealand- the best place for both lslands. Girls who are working here are doing just great!!!:)

Pretty good chowder, found scallop, prawns and a big piece of fish in it. Soup main was nice. Kids meals were fairly good value. Required to order at the bar. Prices perhaps a little steep but overall fairly good.