The Stables Restaurant Matakana

Was absolutely wonderful. The food was fantastic and the staff were absolutely amazing!! Brilliant birthday dinner.. I'm so full, but so impressed. Highly recommend this place to all wanting a delicious meal with excellent service!!

Highly recommend this wonderful restaurant. Service great, staff were great, meal was superb and you definitely don't go home hungry. Will certainly be back.

Literally the most amazing and most accommodating venue ever! I never in my wildest dreams thought that planning a wedding would be so stress free but Nic and her team made it such a breeze…infact I actually enjoyed planning it! We got married at the start of May which was always risky but as they have an indoor/outdoor option which both look amazing it didn’t really matter what the weather was doing! The staff were AMAZING and so so lovely and the food was DELICIOUS (I will be stopping in at smiths in hopes to get a taste of their amazing food again). We can’t thank the team enough for making our special day so perfect 🖤

We had our wedding at The Stables. Nic is their events coordinator, she is very organised and thought of everything we needed. She asked relevant questions to ensure every last detail was how we wanted it for our special day. They were able to order in our favourite drinks for our wedding. The venue is beautiful and they have recently renovated their garden too! The food was yummy and the staff were awesome. The outdoor area looks awesome at night time too. Highly recommend.

It’s been a while since we have been equally impressed across our main 3 areas of rating a restaurant. In order of the experiences- Customer service is 5 star, as a team they are in unison with each other, my husband commented saying he likes the fact that you can’t tell who owns the restaurant because each of the staff display a passionate sense of ownership for the restaurant. Very proud, friendly staff who are not obnoxious, and we really value that. A sense that a place is more than just employment, a togetherness on the floor that is true kiwiana manaakitanga and it is shared throughout. Family friendliness is a 5 star, we like to dine with our young family of 3 children often, and The Stables team are at the front of making the experience a pleasant one. The contemporary country setting is beautiful, horses going by and accessible playground equipment outside on far side of the park. Great for the children to run off steam with relaxing scenery as the backdrop. Yes, they have colouring ins, as entry to a competition to get a half price meal for the next visit. A thoughtful and effective way to have children waiting patiently for their meals is always a tick. That brings me to the 5 Star kai (food). Perfectly prompt, signs of a well organised kitchen and it definitely shows! Quality fresh local produce with presentation seen in a la carte dining. I thoroughly enjoyed my fresh line caught Leigh snapper. My husband enjoyed the crispy duck breast dish and my eldest had the chicken supreme, 10/10 all three cooked perfectly tender. We were so impressed by the dedicated chefs, and The Stables not missing a beat. Also, the garlic bread with olives is a must! Now for the childrens menu, simple quality indgredients which for our youngest fussy eaters was perfect, especially because our children have ASD tastebuds, so we usually find that even the herb sprinkles over pizza, chips or pasta is enough to turn our children away. I asked kindly that if they do usually serve with herbs, if they could leave them off and it was honored with no problem. Not once did we feel our requests were an inconvenience, which these days is hard to find. The Stables child friendliness was apparent and well received and anyone who dines with a young family will know how important this is. Drinks- gin lovers must try the Rhubard Tonic. We enjoyed all our drinks especially the TED Otago Pinot Noir. Deserts- don’t give it a miss! We value experience over pricing so like anyone else like to feel that we got what we paid for and we absolutely feel we did and very happy to tip this place. Just entirely worth it and highly recommend. Thank you for contributing to a wonderful Mother’s day, it was the first without my husband’s mother who recently passed away and we couldn’t have asked for a more memorable way to have commemorated the day. We will definitely be back to try your steak and rib Fridays!

This place is great and there's a lot to see. Very well set up country barn and ranch atmosphere. Including horses, carts and, of course, barns. There is a cafe, restaurant and bar to choose from for food. There is also a souvenir shop and a huge, wonderful playground. There was a lot we didn't have time to see here. We had the sunday roast (pork) and snapper. They were both beautifully presented and absolutely delicious. We could not fault our meals, or the restaurant at all. The atmosphere, service and setting were great too. Even if you just want to stop for a break and food while driving north this place is definitely worth it.

I facilitated a workshop at Stables yesterday, and the whole experience was first class. From the comms with the events team, set-up requests being accommodated, and then the welcome and treatment of myself and my guests on the day; it was all very high quality stuff. I'll definitely be coming back to use this venue again... luxurious surrounds, and great people, its a great package.