Review Jano Bistro - Wellington

Went here as our first fine dining experience we didn't know what to expect. We ordered the valentines menu and it was.. well, different to what we were used to but in a good way. The food and drink pairings was very well thought out, the food presentations looked exquisite and tasted different from what it looked like. But they were good. Very creative menu that they crafted that day and it was amazing. The staff are knowledgeable and accomodating, the service was fast and the food came out at the right pace. Atmosphere was also lovely because it felt quite homey, well being an introvert and all I find it great. Wagyu was cooked so nice, wish we could have had more so yeah, I will definitrly visit them again to check their other menus to see the chef's creativity with the food again. :)

We had a perfect Dinner on Christmas Eve here. The Chefs served us a wonderful 9 course dinner and each dish was delicious! If you have special occasion or just want to treat yourself, just Go here.

The food was absolutely amazing. They got the vegetarian dish Perfect!!! I'd love to come back.

What a place! Absolutely loved the atmosphere! The staff really took the time to make the experience unique. We got stepped through each meal and each wine. I hadn't eaten this well in a long time. It is spenny, but quite worth it in my opinion. Would recommend and will be coming again!

Worth every penny that we spent! Out of the 3 chefs one was on holiday and the other two did a fantastic job serving us heavenly delights. The service, food and vibes were truly exceptional. Enjoyed every moment of it. Thanks heaps Aki and Pierre! We will be back again to experience the magic.

Amazing!!!!! Jano delivered a stunning meal with every dish being delicious and the wine pairing beautifully matched. This may be my new favorite place to eat and I cannot wait to go back! I also love that they can accommodate dietary restrictions as long as you give them 72 hour notice.

We enjoyed a lovely 9 course menu served by the chef on Christmas evening. It was an maxing experience with very good food. Great place for an special dinner in Wellington.

A beautiful 9 course degustation with great service and optional wine pairing. The menu changes based on seasonal produce. The chefs bring the food out to your table themselves to explain what's on your plate and how it was prepared. A great little find in central Wellington and highly recommended.

This is an experience. Yes, it is expensive and you will spend over 2 hrs there, but the staff makes you feel special and you know that what you're tasting is well crafted. It wasn't pretentious as many fine-dining places tend to be. The skills and quality of produce shows and it makes it definitely worth it.

We went to Jano for the first time last weekend. I had heard really good things about this place. The tasting menu with matched wines was a memorable event. The dishes are creative, beautifully presented and taste amazing. The service was impeccable, the wine match was spot on. If you are looking for a special experience, I recommend Jano.

So we had the degustation meal $110 supposedly 7 courses. We also opted for the $55 wine matching with the courses.<br/><br/>1.Starter of salmon with fried curry leaves and citrus jus was delicious .<br/><br/>2. Beef tartare with fried vermicelli- wow<br/><br/>3?? This was a lychee palate cleanser which I've never had called a course on any degustation meal I've eaten before hence 7 course query.<br/><br/>This dish was with vodka foam and freeze dried raspberries on a lychee sorbet. The foam was lacking in flavour and a little like bubble bath foam in flavour but the small scope of lychee sorbet was lovely.<br/><br/>4. Fish with Kina and crab bisque was nice.<br/><br/>5. Duck - heavenly <br/><br/>6. Cheese balls rolled in walnut and deep fried with truffle sauce- bombed! Cheese was not flavoursome enough and couldn't taste any walnuts. This part feel very short of the standards up until now and although it was nice it didn't stand out. <br/><br/>Also a wine match was not available with this part so we had to buy an additional glass to go with it!?<br/><br/>7. Dessert- tropical fruit dessert- made up of a slice of poached pineapple, some crumbs, a fruit fluff, and best bits a nice sorbet and macaroon with passion fruit blobs. <br/><br/>Again not up to preset standards and a shame.<br/><br/>Tea & coffee an extra cost and good.<br/><br/>All in all a very nice meal and wonderfully informative staff that sadly missed an excellent from us because 2 meals were not up to what they should have been and let it down along side as well as a palate cleanser being counted as a course.

Been there 3 times over the last year: hands down to the creativity of the menu of this place. Shot to the Chef: what a talented man! Amazing plating, unusual recipes and great service. The food explosions on your tastebuds are something you need to experience at least once in your life, period.<br/>Don't hesitate and go for the full menu with wine matching, its well worth the price! Matches a lot of michelin stars in France: foodgasm!!

Having heard many great things about Jano Bistro, we weren't disappointed. Welcomed by the owner and waiter - the menu was explained kindly and questions about the food and wine were welcomed.<br/><br/>A friend and I started off with the entree platter with a glass of wine. Entree platter was great, I would have the goats cheese again if I could. <br/>Mains were a great surprise and the market fish won our hearts! Snapper at its finest ! And mussels covered in quinoa was very unique! The other main was great too , vegetarian artichoke. <br/>However the show stopper was definitely the two desserts , feijoa and lemon. It was so yummy !! Couldn't stop with just one dish. <br/>Overall great experience and very cosy interior just like having a meal at a friends home. Will be back !

Our dinner at Jano Bistro was a testament to classic bistro style dining. Simple exquisite dishes, done to perfection. The Jano Tasting Plate gave a taste of each of the three entrees they had on offer. The goat cheese was a highlight of the meal, rich in flavour but balanced with the overall light feel associated with bistro dining. The two mains of Veal and Venison were a continuation of the classic style of Jano Bistro providing not only a fantastic mix of flavours and textures but also presented fantastically. Our service was fantastic, the waiter who seated and served had a great knowledge of wine pairings as well as the menu.

Last night I went to Jano on Willis Street with three lovely friends. You may be looking puzzled and pondering where on earth Jano is in Wellington? It is up the top end of Willis Street in a cute yellow cottage that was once Citron. For me, it was one of those places that you think you must try and then you forget to go. This time I remembered and my friends and I made a concerted effort to book a table. We were spurred on by the Entertainment Book voucher and the fast approaching end of the 2015/16 book. We all left feeling very happy that we made the effort and felt like we had had a special meal out.

I had the pleasure of eating at Jano this week. I had not read any reviews of the place so was unsure what to expect. I did look at the online menu and, to be frank, wasn't anticipating much. <br/><br/>I am pleased to say that all of my preconceptions were blown away completely. <br/><br/>The food was absolutely wonderful and the dishes were presented like artwork. (Powdered garlic as fine as talcum powder was interesting.) Service was professional without being stuffy; friendly without being over-familiar. An interesting wine list to boot.<br/><br/>The cost was not overly expensive for what is an excellent dining experience. Entree, main and dessert, with a bottle of wine to share and coffee to follow came to about $240. (Not bad considering that, for say, Pacifica Restaurant in Napier, you'd probably pay another $50 to $75 on top of that.)<br/><br/>Jano Bistro has to be vying for one of the best dining experiences in Wellington. Will go back very soon.

Absolutely fantastic. We had the degustation menu with matched wines, and the flavours were simply amazing. Attentive service from knowledgeable staff, and a cosy boutique atmosphere.

A amazing surprise in Wellington: a real 5Stars restaurant.<br/>the service was great, competent and courteous. The ambient is elegant,  tidy&clean and you can breath a warm atmosphere. No kids or noisy people, a good place for a date or for a special occasion.<br/>And the food....oh my.... was simply delicious. Tastes and flavours have literally danced in my mouth. I couldn't believe how much good was the "second" (Chicken with porcini and green beans). The choc dessert was special.<br/>Everything I've tried was amazing ( I couldn't resist and I stole a bite from my husband dishes)<br/>I'm Italian, I love good food and I think this one was one of the best I've ever eaten. I think the chef is a gift for all the Wellingtonians.<br/>My only complain is the place: a small character heritage building is too close to the highway, too far from the foot traffic. From outside no one could believe this is a food-gem. I'm glad my husband and I were enough curious to try this isolated restaurant.

The little two storey cottage at the top of aro St has seen some good and bad restaurants in its time. Jano is one of the better ones. It's also been a springboard to greater things.<br/><br/>To be honest I think Jano is Michelin quality, it's seriously good - but it's wasted with a dumb name in a dumb place. Put Jano in whitebait's interior, name it after Pierre Fenoux (the chef) and Wellington has a serious (at least one) Michelin star restaurant.<br/><br/>But clearly Fenoux isn't getting the coverage he deserves... Why is that?<br/><br/>Of the people I speak to, few have heard of Jano - is it the name? <br/><br/>On the night I went last, Jano had a little blackboard outside with something like "yes we are open" - is it the lack of foot traffic?<br/><br/>But also, is it the food? The cuisine is full of the trending stuff like local, fresh, etc etc but it is also highly considered, highly crafted ... clever, complex, at times challenging, and for that reason it isn't the sort of meal I'd want too regularly. It's not a bistro (Fenoux undersells himself), more a special occasion cuisine but in a poor space ... Yes I know it's cute but it's out of the way, it's all upstairs, the stairs are treacherous, and the upstairs space is quite small and pretty dull. This guy is a rare talent deserving of something better.<br/><br/>Last week we had the seven course degustation with wine match. I think it's pointless dissecting the courses - they are too complex - but simply say that almost all worked brilliantly, some didn't come off perfectly but who cares - we're talking about gastronomy not grub. The wines were very good accompaniments (matches are as rare as hens teeth).<br/><br/>Service was excellent - lovely people who were informed, or at least more than willing to find answers to our questions. My only suggestion is for the waiting staff not to go out for a fag between courses - it is unbelievably obvious for the people around the table when you introduce the next course. <br/><br/>Date night: definitely<br/>Birthday: yes<br/>Kids: no<br/>Foodies: definitely<br/>Big groups: no<br/><br/>Overall I think this place is a gem.

Having read the other reviews my experience was extremely different and I can only speculate why. Four of my family dined at Janos for Brunch today and none of us were terribly impressed with our meal. I chose the Meat Bread as it included a Goat Cheese mousse.There was NO mousse of any type. My meal was a piece of what in my opinion was a pretty mediocre sort of meatloaf on bread, with some  spinach  pieces that a few small crumbs of feta scattered on. The bread had a smear of what seemed to be mustard. No mousse ! no goat cheese  ! The dining inside was upstairs ( too steep for an elderly family member) so our only option was outside. Fortunately it was fine but it was very cold as the courtyard  was not in the sun. The coffee I had was not great and we had to go and ask for sugar.  Extremely disappointed and am left wondering if the other reviews were accurate.

I was lucky enough to be taken to dinner at Jano and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The ambience was warm and welcoming. I had the cauliflower entrée, pork main, and chocolate dessert. The presentation was on point and the flavours complemented each other very well. I did find myself experiencing food envy though, as the tarakhi main with lemon and beetroot, which my friend ordered, was divine, with the various elements well balanced and the fish just fell apart in your mouth! The waiters were also knowledgeable and friendly. Overall the service was impeccable and I was well pleased with the wine selection. Some may think that the dishes are rather small, however, this is a fine dining restaurant. That being said though none of my party left hungry. It only loses 1/2 a mark based on the slightly too dense cake element in the dessert and some other minor flavour factors in the cauliflower, otherwise it was perfect!

Had dinner here on Thursday with a small group of 6 people.  Everyone loved their dishes, they were beautifully presented and for the complexity of each dish served pretty quickly.  I am never a fan of dishes having to be explained in great detail as they arrive - but in this case, the waiting staff did it so well it totally worked.  For the quality and detail of each dish Jano is incredibly well priced.  Highly recommend!

Saturday 20 March 2015...spotted this cute little bistro on Willis and decided to try it out.  After half an hour of waiting we were just about to ask about our meal when the waitress arrived and apologised, but she had forgotten to place our order with the kitchen.  No problems, these things happen, but another 20 minute wait was just toooo long, so we left unhappy and hungry.  First impressions count....sorry Jano

Fabulous food, great service. A night to be remembered. Thank you for making our wedding anniversary special. Can't wait to go back soon. Thoroughly recommended.

We had a delicious brunch at Jano and loved both the food and atmosphere..outside little courtyyard tables with fig and olive trees planted for future shade and atmosphere. Nice to see more than run of the mill brunch items..eggs confit with black pudding tho my eggs benedict were the best I 've ever had..hollandaise was perfect. These people really know what they are doing. Really reasonable too for the quality and the muffins from front coffee to go server were brilliant. That said coffee was overly strong and service while absolutely 'charmant' did overlook a few basics...serviettes, sugar, spoons. All new though and can't wait to go for dinner...menu looks great and sure the food will be top class.

Jano Bistro provides a memorable dining experience and rises well above the standard of the average Wellington fine dining restaurant.<br/><br/>The food is creative and it will surprise you. Clearly the chef knows food and is rewarding his customers with his skills and imagination. <br/><br/>The portions and prices were what you'd expect for fine dining (more for the gourmet than gourmand experience) but the food is of very high quality with fresh local ingredients so the value is there.<br/><br/>I dined with my wife and we had the place to ourselves on a Wednesday night but I believe they are busier on weekends. We'd highly recommend a visit whilst it remains relatively undiscovered!<br/><br/>

This restaurant is a gem. Decor is fine clean lines with small items of interest on the walls. The menu is elite and out there. The food was innovative, considered, and divine. It is fine dining with succulence, iridescence and candescence ..it was oh so good..... The service was excellent. Staff were professional and versed in the menu and the various techniques used to produce such delicate and subtle flavours. They were competent and confident with just the right doses of friendly and sophistication. The chef Pierre has to be congratulated. His food is different and seriously good.  We wanted more. Dianne also is stylish and knows about the finishing touches like the red demitasse and the tiled plate mats. We will be back. I suggest you book for your upcoming meal this place is going to sing. Congratulations Pierre and Dianne.

Jano is amazing!  My partner and I had such an enjoyable evening here and would highly recommend it!<br/><br/>We had a three course meal each and were absolutely stuffed after!  All three courses were beautifully presented and the different foods on the plate all complimented each another perfectly.  I strongly dislike mushrooms and don't eat olives...however I devoured both, which is a first!<br/><br/>The staff were all very friendly and highly professional, setting a very high standard from start to finish.  The waitresses were very helpful in recommended wines to try too.<br/><br/>We look forward to going back, and a huge thank you to all the staff for making it a special evening! <br/><br/>Rob & Katie