Review Harbour Light Bistro - Nelson

My family and I had an excellent time celebrating my 21st at Harbour Light Bistro. We came on a Tuesday, so it was very quiet. The staff were very attentive, not overbearing or pressuring at all. The manager on duty, Matt, was a wonderful, friendly host to us. The food on the set menu was all beautifully cooked and well worth the price. We will love to come again.

So delicious I went twice in one week! Definitely the best food I've had in Nelson by a long shot. Everything was cooked to perfection and the flavours were amazing. I would have gone a third time in the week if I could!

It’s such a beautiful place. We had an amazing dinner there. The view of sunset is breathtaking, and the restaurant itself is fine decorated. The light inside just made everything nice and warm. We enjoyed all dishes too.

A restaurant with a great sea side view! Friendly staff and delicious foods! The lunch set is served with reasonable price. It's a relax and cozy environment as can enjoy the meal with the sea side view,cheer!

Great location with water view, amazing ambiance, food cooked to perfection, genuinely good service. The bouillabaisse and whisky cured king salmon were very good .

Lovely place, really nice atmosphere. Great views from the second story out across Nelson Harbour and Haulashore island. Staff were pleasant and friendly. Lamb rump was divine.

This was a fantastic restuarant. The staff were incredibly friendly efficient and professional. We chose from the set menu for 58 dollars. Exceptional value for money and the food was sublime. Best cooked steak I have enjoyed in a long time. Cannot recommend this place enough

This is an amazing restaurant. The views upstairs are absolutely stunning! I found the food to be top class, tasty and beautifully presented. Highly recommended.

We chose the 3 course meal which was pretty good value. Spicy pumpkin soup starter, then onto lamb on a bed of kumara mash followed by a ginger cake dessert. Mmm was so good. Full flavoured dishes. Cosy atmosphere with great views of the sunset across the bay.

Absolutely incredible experience. Fantastic service and the food was amazing! Would 100% recommend to anyone and will be back again.

Harbor Light Bistro seems to take their job very seriously. Different level of quality food they are offering and very nice customer service. I had fillet steak before which was absolutely beautiful (loved the potato terrine) but I wanted to try something new so I had confit duck leg the other night. The balance of the tastes with all ingredients was great and also very surprised by the perfect textures of those. Duck is crispy outside and very soft inside, pumpkin purée was smooth and bok choy was crispy enough and super delicious. I'm not a person of saying that something is the best in my life cause it sounds exaggerating but, lime pie as a dessert which the FOH staff recommended me was the best dessert ever in my life. I strongly recommend this place and thank you so much to the whole team at Harbor Light Bistro. Appreciate the great dining experience there. :)

a sumptuous feast for a great price. Here you get more than you pay for. The food is ravishing, witty and very well prepared. While complementing the chef and his fine food, he praises his colleagues and his crew for their contribution. This restaurant is special, everyone who works here clearly loves food and what he or she does. If that isn't enough already, the house is gorgeous and Oh, the view over the bay is wonderful. Perfect place!

Outstanding. I've eaten at places that cost twice as much and this place rates. Fresh, local ingredients, a view to die for, even got to watch [124308757608326:Nelson Triathlon and Multisport Club] having a swim! Waiting staff were very good, without being excellent, and parking is non existent, but still 5 stars.

Well done Harbour Lights. Just finished a meal there last night. Totally exquisite, complete with excellent service. Would recommend dining here to anyone that appreciates good food. We will certainly come again. Ray Watson Wanganui

Absoulelty delicious. Great services & lovely atmosphere. Starter was ok, but our mains were cooked to perfection. Such tender beef, just mouth watering & same with the lamb. Wish I had skipped the starter & had the main followed by a dessert instead. Highly recommend & definitely will go back again, thank you very much.

Fabulous service from the minute we walked in. The food was incredible. My husband had steak, my sister had the lamb and both stated the two dishes were cooked to perfection and melted in the mouth. I had the ravioli which was absolutely delicious. Will absolutely visit Harbour Light again, highly recommended.

My friends and I dined at Harbour Light this weekend and it was absolutely delicious. My steak was cooked to perfection and melted in the mouth, my friends were thoroughly impressed and satisfied by their meals. Truffle fries are always a must, and wait staff very polite and friendly. Will definitely return next time I find myself in Nelson.

Great food and reasonable prices, lovely venue, with beautiful view of the sea. staff were excellent

Went for lunch. Exceptional food with a spectacular view. Wait staff was friendly and service was great.

Lovely venue, delicious food and wine, wonderful service - an extremely enjoyable experience. Thanks to all at Harbour Light.

Very nice food and an amazing view. The view itself makes it worth spending an evening here. The vegetarian choice is a bit limited (only one main dish: baked pumpkin gnocchi, spinach, portabello mushrooms and mustard sabayon), however that one is really good.

I have had several meals here, and the meal is always perfect and delicious. The service is outstanding.

Beautiful view, wait staff were great and the food was absolutely amazing, 10 out of 10! will definately be back :)

My family took me here for my 21st birthday last weekend and I will remember it forever. We got the balcony seat right by the window on one of Nelson's finest days. <br/><br/>The staff were amazing and very attentive. The food was delicious, they had matched everything so well on the plate together which...

Best restaurant we've been in the 2 weeks we were in New Zealand. The staff was nice enough to let us have dinner even when they looked like they were about to close when the customers left had gone. Steak and monkfish were delicious.

excellent view, good personal service and delicious menu.  We loved the simplicity of the menu (not masses of choices that you get overwhelmed), and it delivered on expectations. Keep up the good work, highly recommended

The service was a little slow but with good friends, wine, and lots of conversation that didn't really matter. The slow service was explained to us prior as a large group was in. The menu is minimal but has everything you desire. The steak was so succulent and fish of the day was also very nice. Overall an excellent evening. Food and service was worth an extra visit or two.

friendly staff. Nice setting. Only thing was vegetables tasted like dirty dishwater. Not sure why.<br/><br/>Also drinking glasses smelled bad and were unpleasant to drink from..that usually means they're being washed in a dishwasher that needs its filter cleaned out.

A fabulous atmosphere, food and service.  Our first trip was nineteen years ago.  I was pregnant and it was under different management.   we came back for nostalgia and fell in love with the place.  reasonable cost too!

A bit disapppointing. We booked weeks in advanced a party of 9 in the belief that this would be all ok. We were advised to confirm a few days before the event ???????? I was under the impression that a booking was a booking but that doesn't seem to be the case. We attened two days prior to our booking to confirm our booking as per advised however we were advised that a party of 15 for an 80th birthday have been booked and we would need to phone or attend again on Saturday in an attempt to confirm our booking. This was the third time I was advised that the 80th birthday party took priority to our booking and as a result they are more important than our booking and that we should just put up with what we got if anything. ho hum :(. This was a small wedding party dinner which is why we booked weeks in advance, and no we don't believe we are special but it would have been nice to know that when we make a booking it is honored.

fantastic service, very attentive staff, didn't have to wait at all to be seated, and they could not do enough for us.<br/>Venue had a nice atmosphere nice lighting, and amazing view of the harbour,<br/>menu had a great selection, i went with the fixed menu with the accompanying wine and could not fault it.<br/>highly recommended and will definitely be returning to enjoy the experience

We had a staff function there last year. The staff were very accommodating and the food was great. We'd certainly consider going back again.

My husband and I have dined here on quite a few occasions and usually enjoyed both the service and tasty meals. The most recent visit we were a little dissatisfied with the food standard. The waitress could have dressed a little more appropriate also (maybe by doing up a few buttons on her shirt). We had a good sense of humour about it, but both agreed that it wasn't very suitable for work attire. Such a great location, and believers that everyone deserves a second chance (every has bad days).

Great location, great food and awesome service.<br/><br/>We've only been once and never returned as there are only a few dishes on the menu and it never changes... I keep checking online and hoping to find a reason to go back........

Worst. Meal. Ever. We don't get to go out to dinner very often having a young one at home. Furthermore, we aren't complaining people and are usually quite easily pleased provided the food and service are good. <br/><br/>We started off ordering Crayfish Soup (who calls it crayfish 'soup'? - seriously). It was, to say the least, inedible. The broth was very strong and tasted overcooked (nothing subtle about it) and there was no crayfish - something peculiar having been given the name crayfish soup. There was, however small pieces of fish that had the texture and flavour of fish defrosted and placed in the soup. We couldn't and didn't eat it.<br/><br/>We thought that the main couldn't possibly be worse. You see, I had ordered chicken which is almost impossible to cook badly, right? Especially for a trained (presumably) chef. We received our main meal and I cut into the piece of chicken before me only to discover blood near the bone! I called the waiter over and told him about the bloody meat. He said something about it bleeding from the bone (like that was better or something) and said he'd sort it out. He took my meal away and we waited for its imminent return. About 5 minutes later the meal was brought back to our table. It was with great disappointment (again) that I noticed that the entire meal had been microwaved! Yes, that's right. Everything on the plate was piping hot, including the olives. Furthermore, the potatoes and other vegetables were now well overcooked and not entirely palatable. As dispensation for the bloody chicken I had received, two coffees were offered - a token gesture for what had been a highly disappointing evening out. Apart from the food that wasn't edible, the other food was average at best. The dying question to ask when dining out is "Could this have been cooked at home?". To this I answer a resounding "no". <br/><br/>We'll never go back and neither do we recommend the place to anyone else.<br/><br/>Footnote: We dined at the Waterfront before change of ownership and loved it. Food was great. Service was excellent. For this reason did we choose the same premises only to discover a completely different tier (a much lower one) of experience.

Pre Christmas celebration for 4 people. Great table, lovely views. Waiting staff were very attentive. Food was divine. Everything piece of food was superb, the flavours were lovely. Heading back this week for my birthday celebration. Top Marks. Thank you for a world class dining experience.

I just ate at Harbour Light Bistro and can honestly say that everything was amazing, it was definitely the best meal I have had dining out in a long time, everything complemented each other and the staff were very helpful.

Fantastic service, very friendly and well informed, great food and reasonable prices. Thanks for being so tolerant of our rather ditzy dining group. Enjoyed the salmon and scallops. Good local wine list.

we went for a birthday dinner .service was excellent and food was first class.<br/>A party of four we had lamb , steak ,fish and a chicken caesar salad .<br/>we all loved the food.<br/>we shared sweets fruit salad/lemon and lime sorbet:lemon meringue pie and chocolate terrine.<br/>all fantastic, will be back there