The Lakes Restaurant

Lovely evening soaking up the sun and atmosphere... the food was amazing and the staff were friendly and welcoming!

My sister and I really enjoyed our meal. We had the baked camembert and the pork belly or starters followed by the fillet steak and the lamb. Very generous servings so there was no room for dessert. The service was great so all in all it was a very enjoyable evening.

Service was good. Restaurant is a little run down.

Super location at Clearwater Golf Course with a lovely outlook of the golf course 18th hole, lake and nearby immaculate homes... as you wine and dine on yummy food, the cheese board to end with was exceptional. For the main course the sirloin steak was cooked spot on and the caralmalised onions were very tasty, the fish was also presented well and tasted accordingly. The desserts are well worth a thought.... even if you are full.

Excellent food, service and surroundings. Thank you to all the staff involved in providing a first class experience.

My friends and I had a lovely time here. We had a table by the window with a view which was great. Great service the waitress had the pasta changed to vegan without me asking as I ordered pasta and it had egg in the pasta so they changed to potato nocchi food was delicious and we will definitely come back.

Generally the night was good, but maybe the expectations were a bit high. Being at Clearwater I was expecting something very special, the setting could be one of the best in ChCh overlooking the lake and the 18th hole is a big plus, however, the restaurant is showing signs of age with torn seat covers, chips in the table, a floor in need of new varnish, a general clean of cob webs and dirt would have helped, and dirty windows spoiling the view it was a bit of a let down.
As said the food was generally good but slightly missed on the wow factor.
I am sure that with a little bit of an upgrade all round and a good clean, and keeping it clean, a slightly more extensive menu and a bit of work on the presentation this restaurant could very easily stand out, lets hope someone does this and we get a chance to go back again.
Generally not a bad night but more a 4/10 than the 10/10 i was expecting.

Great ambience, setting, service, and top quality food!

Lovely place, we really enjoyed our dinner.
Our waitress was very nice and helpful

Beautiful surroundings, tasty meals.

We love dinning at The Lakes Restaurant ! The food is superb and the wait staff are very attentive , caring and helpful - the atmosphere and the ambience of the place is beautiful and the views from our dining table are gorgeous :-) We can't wait to dine at The Lakes Restaurant again and again :-)

Lovely ambience, delicious food and super friendly, attentive and knowledgeable staff. Will be back!

Great views of the lake, nice food, thankgod for first table , wait staff were nice, duty manager not so much

Friendly welcome on arrival. Beautiful views and relaxed atmosphere.
We started with the tasting platter which was a delight and plenty for 4 adults as a starter. Mains are a very generous portion so if you fancy desert perhaps consider the entree dishes also generous and delicious.
Thank you for an overall enjoyable dining experience.

Great food. Steak cooked perfectly. Anika was lovely.

Overall a nice experience great staff and surroundings .

Great views of the lake and golf course from our table. Service and food was excellent - will be going again.

Beautiful scenery and the food was amazing as well. Best lamb I've ever had and the baked camembert was to die for!! Very great place to celebrate my birthday

Food and service were great. Salmon was delicious and sirloin as well. The desserts were yummy! Our waiter was very nice and attentive.

Stunning venue and view from the restaurant. The food was absolutely delicious and plated beautifully! We loved every bite. Staff were wonderful. Very thoughtful and attentive. A great dining experience.

Welcoming relaxed service
Enjoyable well presented dishes Outstanding apple tart dessert
Wonderful setting
Good value drink menu

A very pleasant evening meal
Exciting news that a refurb is coming up soon

Lovely meal, great service. We didn't feel rushed at any point, even though they were busy. The food was beautiful, I would have exactly the same thing next time I go.

This is a beautiful setting. We enjoyed the fact that it wasn't noisy and we could enjoy a conversation at the table.

Always a nice experience & atmosphere. Only request is to please change market fish special as last few times it has been same meal. Would be nice for different choice of fish occasionally.

Love the view, and i had the seafood fettucine it was delicious!!

A return back to the Lakes Restaurant at this wonderful Location.
The Lakes for us, has become a favourite place to dine and relax and has become a real favourite restaurant amongst the many restaurants that we try,
This visit, the service was, as usual , very good while the food was still good too.
The salmon was the Atlantic Salmon which was
a notch down on the usual New Zealand Salmon and was more a light pink colour and seemed bit dry to us.
It is easy to understand that on current prices for N,Z. Salmon that chef would choose to buy the lesser product.
Fair enough too, just maybe being a change in your offering, the menu should state the salmon as being Atlantic salmon.
The Entrée was the just the very best out for us with the cheese- a baked Camembert in the dish and bought out with the addition of the very delicious Fig and Pear chutney making for the best entrée experienced in a very long time.
I would say to my 100,000+ readers that this is a must try dish - good enough to entice us back several times just to enjoy this yummy dish.
To finish, the trio of sorbets turned out to be an ideal way to finish out meal - perfect.
To summarise, I feel that the Lakes although a little bit out of the way, is simply worth the effort just to enjoy the atmosphere and the food always at very good standards.
Do try the Lakes and see for yourself.

Beautiful setting and great service. The food was fresh, expertly prepared and presented. While the mains were delicious the desserts were outstanding. Colourful and full of flavour. We had the champagne jelly and the gelato. Highly recommend.

Gorgeous setting for a lunch date. You feel like you’re somewhere special as soon as you walk in. The baked Camembert with fig jam and breads was delicious. The steak with peppercorn sauce had the BEST broccoli I’ve ever tasted to accompany it. But, the real show stoppers were the dessert. Vanilla, vanilla, vanilla was exceptional and the Dutch apple pie was beautiful. Highly recommend

A really enjoyable experience.

very good service very relaxing and the food and wine was beautiful just like little bit more food on the plates but I would go back there again

Had a delicious meal and great service from our waiter Ben!

Well presented and well cooked meal

Having not been here for a couple of years, now remember the great views, ambiance and service topped of by great food. Background music was at just the right level for conversation and staff suitably attentive. Well recommended.

Love the new menu. We chose 3 different dishes between the 4 of us. All we're delicious.

Amazing food

lovely restaurant, great food

Excellent food and service. Great value

Nice view, good food, friendly staff

The service friendly, nice chill atmosphere. The food was lovely and came out at a good timing not too quick or too long. Would definitely visit again

Great service, lovely food

We had the tasting platters which were very nice, followed by PLT sandwich and fries, Salad and salmon.
They were all very nice.

We all had an amazing meal, the food was absolutely delicious and the service was excellent. Couldn't have been better.

The food and service was excellent.

When we arrived, we did find it a little hard to find our way to the actual restaurant part. We were waiting a wee while to be greeted and seen by anyone, which was really disappointing. However once we were passed onto a nice gentleman who took over from the first younger one, it was fine. He treated us well and was very lovely. We could not fault him on his service at all. I feel bad that I don't recall his name!
The food was good, all except our steak, which was overcooked for both of ours. My fiancé's was supposed to be rare, mine medium rare, and both were medium to well done. The flavour was there, it was seasoned well, better than most places we've been to, but the fact that it was severely overcooked was disappointing. All of the other food was amazing though, couldn't fault any of it.
The scenery was so lovely. I can imagine over summer how much more beautiful it will be there.

We dined on a non busy Tuesday night. Great quick and efficient service, the food was presented nicely but was average, chowder did not have much variety of seafood but was nice. I had the fillet steak which was charred tough on the edges. My partner had a salmon dish which was quite nice. The dessert was a sponge type and was a bit tasteless. However you can't beat the view over looking the lake and golf course. This place has the potential to be one of the best.

We had a fabulous dining.. love the atmosphere and the staff are so friendly and helpful.. highly recommended

Lovely meal as usual!

Great view. Good food. Excellent cheese board. Very good service.

Food was lovely & the service was excellent. We really enjoyed it.

Food was great and we felt reasonably priced. Good sized portions for fine dining. Decor a little outdated and lacking atmosphere but that will not stop us going back. The outside seating overlooking the lake looks lovely for a warm night.