Review Groper Garage Bar & Restaurant - Kaikoura

When coming to Kaikoura, a local highly recommended me to try fish & chips, as the city is known for it I searched online for restaurants serving so, and Groper Garage Bar & Restaurant looked to me like the best option Friendly staff, I was greeted outside by a young waiter big smile, and once inside got to befriend Neet Nair the manager, cool guy too I asked for a recommendation, and went for Battered cod & chips As a drink I had cranberry juice Oh, and as their name suggests it, it's more than a restaurant, a bar too, and features pool tables, TV screens, and rock music (that isn't loud, just enough for a nice background music), with lots of different seats and types of Highly recommended!

The music was quite loud. Service was good but you need to order at the bar. Food tastes great. I was here with teens and they were able to find items they liked. They have traditional Kiwi nachos with beef chilli on the highly recommend having them

Groper Garage is definitely one of the best go-to-pubs in town. Very friendly staff and good service. Karaoke nights are the best night for me. Pool tables and other board/card games are available too. Pizzas are topnotch and the tap cider is my favorite.

We wanted fish & chips from other famous venue, but wanted beer with it, so we ended here. Absolutely no regret as their fish & chips were as good as at Coopers Catch, maybe even better – served with lettuce salad, tomatoes, carrot, etc with balsamic dressing. We also had supper yummy burgers and lots of pints of local beer. It was incredibly busy and waiting times were long, but staff kept smiling and was friendly as :)

We were met by two friendly guys in the courtyard and were able to pick a great seating for two in the corner. It was a warm sunny evening great to dine out. The meals were fantastic as the photos show. The marchos meal was so fantastic, I couldn't finish it but I gave it a good go. So no desert for us. Highly recommend this place when next you are in Kaikoura.

Very friendly and helpful staff, very quick for the food to arrive with great sized portions for the price. Would definitely come back in the future.

Great food, drink selection, atmosphere and price. Would definitely recommend and go again next time I'm in town.

Chicken and bacon pizza was tasty. Place has friendly vibe and awesome outdoor area with plenty of heating. Little pricy & wouldn’t win “best ever pizza” in my book but it was solid.

Great place to eat,very nice and helpful staff.will be back. 300gm ribeye and chips,blue cod and chips,

I went there on Halloween night, the atmosphere was chill and really calm, the man with curly hair was super friendly and very pleasant, honestly a restaurant like that is worth everything in the world !!!

Had a few beers there after a days fishing, great atmosphere and very helpful friendly staff

Battered blue cod was delicious! Could have had a little more salad & less fries but I'm just being picky 😊 Lovely atmosphere & great staff.

Great spot on the main road. Good mix of bar and food.

Second time here, nice spacious environment and great service, seafood dishes are very fresh and tasty, came all the way from Chch just for lunch here. Must go to place in Kaikoura 👍

As Groper Garage was only newly opened, their kitchen wasn’t working at full capacity for dinner. We decided to search TripAdvisor and headed to The Pier Hotel for dinner. When we ordered, we were told that there was only one chef in the kitchen and there could be a delay for our food. We didn’t mind waiting, especially when we had this breathtaking view from our table…

A rather standard lunch at Groper Garage in the west end of town. Open chicken sandwich and salt & pepper squid

Pretty good. Stopped by after seeing some seals great food and beer

Just had a very nice pizza, and lovely fresh tarakihi. bread and dips to start. good service, pleasant staff. unfortunately one of our group of three had to wait for his meal as when asked where his meal was the staff said the printer had missed of the tarakihi when the order went to the chef. didn't have to wait long for it once mistake was realised and staff were apologetic. 6.2.13. Wednesday night so not overly busy, can imagine its a good place for younger people at the end of the week. menu good for all types.

Fantastic 2012-13 New years bash guys! Staff working hard and the band was AMAZING!!!...loved it, especialy the fact that they sang/played a couple of thier own songs :) We hope you will be using this band again. Also glad to see the security not wasting time getting rid of the riff-raff.

I went to your store in Kaikoura today about 9:10am and approached the service counter. 3 staff were behind the counter and 1 other couple as customers sitting in a booth. <br/><br/> 2 staff had their backs to the counter and the other staff member a female doing some sort of kitchen prep was facing me. She looked directly at me and stared never even said hello or acknowledged me in anyway. <br/><br/>I was seeking to get some coffee and breakfast. At no time did any staff acknowledge me or did she let the other staff know they had a customer at the counter. All she had to say to them was hey you have a customer but I guess customers area bother and no worth acknowledging. After watching her stare at me and the other staff never even turning around for about 3 minutes I left and took my money elsewhere. As a local not a good start for a new business. If you were on Trip Advisor imagine the review this store would have. 1st time being there since opening remember many other coffee shops in town eager to serve me and take my money.<br/><br/> I would suggest you retrain your staff on greeting customers and service standards and yes I will be linking this on my Facebook and Twitter. To the management better up your game in this town on service as the high season is too near and you can't afford customers walking out the door if this is happening everyday imagine what these 3 staff are costing you in sales for failure to serve your guests. I am sure I am not the first but maybe the only one willing to write about it.