Waterside Restaurant

Great experience. Perfect for kids as had great kids menu. service was fast. Thank you first table.

Great place to go and suitable for a family meal whilst on holiday.

Staff were amazing, food was lovely and we left feeling satisfied after 3 delicious courses. The lamb was divine, the highlight for me, cooked to perfection and a generous portion. Family friendly dining with a little bit of class, perfect for kids who want a giant freak shake and burger and for the ladies who want to put on a bit of lippy for the occasion.

Had an awesome experience at Waterside on Saturday. Went for a lunch date with my two girls, both got combos and man was there a lot of food!! The kids lasagne was amazing and so was my steak sandwich. Had friendly wait staff that came and checked on us regularly.

The service was fantastic, friendly & attentive. The food was good. Great options on the kids menu, which my toddler loved. The highlight of the night was the chocolate freakshake dessert, very impressive, big oohs & ahhs when it came out! My toddler loved it as much as I did! Great night out and kid friendly. Would definitely recommend a visit!

Freak Shakes!!! WOW!!! So good, Service was super friendly and right on. Food and atmosphere perfect

Great lunch with a great view

Loved this restaurant!! The food and service was superb!!! Loved the eye fillet with surf add!!! The freak shake was also a winner!!!!

We enjoyed our dinner at Waterside. It was well presented and tasty. Our only comment would be that we felt a bit rushed by the waiter.

Excellent food - we requested changes to the menu and they were very accommodating.
We very much appreciated that the background music was pleasant and quiet.
Would definitely return.

Just wish the had heater on as it was cold

The restaurant was inviting and the service was exceptional. The food came fast, I had the fish and chips the fish was Devine. Fresh and cooked to perfection. I had a lovely experience and I will definitely go back. 5 stars from me

We had a great time! Ordered a lot of food and walked out super full, first table is great! Especially for young couples who haven’t got a lot of spare money to go out for dinner often!!

Prompt friendly service. Tasty, generous servings.

About the food 3/5:

My friend and I had 3-course meal, to start with we had calamari and mushroom the calamari wasn’t that good it was tasteless.

For mains we had fish of the day and salmon is not too bad but nothing special.

Ultimately for the desserts we had chocolate pate and pear crumble, the chocolate was great but the crumble was disappointing they took shortcut in preparing the crumble is just like muesli based.

So overall food experience in this restaurant was average nothing special or wow factor. Won’t dine in here again.

About the service: 5/5
They make up with the service because it was excellent and fast! I can’t complain about it.

Great meal and excellent service ,thank you would go again

Wonderful dinner at the Waterside.
Delicious garlic bread. Steak and vegetables cooked to perfection.
Staff were friendly and attentive.
Thank you to the team.

Had the greatest platter ever! Food portion was good, service was amazing, definitely would come back!

Fantastic service, delicious food, a great dining experience

No problems

The service and food was good, it was great to have the same person looking after us for the entire meal.

From the time we stepped foot in the doorway through to thank you and see you again soon, I'd say it would have to be the best service I've encountered before. Our server was a gem, very bubbly and easy to spark conversation with.
The smell through the restaurant was divine, knowing that it was hubby and I and another couple only in the restaurant, it had to be our food I could smell. After what only seemed to be a few minutes wait, our food arrives at the table.
Holey shit!! What decent portion sizes, omg that smell and at this point mouth drilling. I enjoyed every last bit of my meal (mussels) and hubby, well no crumb I sight (beef burger).
I fully recommend and will be going back very often!!
P.s please bottle that sauce!!! It's amazing

The food was very well cooked and everything tasted wonderful! But it did take awhile for the food to arrive to us and it seemed like others were getting the food before us. Other than that has a wonderful night and will definitely be back again

Another great experience at Waterside. Always forget how big the meals are. Good value and tasty food. The jalapeno poppers and white chocolate cheesecake were awesome. Great service too.

Thanks for a lovely evening with the family around the fire place, service was awesome but food wasn't as good as we have had before.

Wow!
Service was awesome and the food even better! Would highly recommend anyone travelling to Taupo to go here! It’s so good!

What a great evening! It was fantastic to see how quickly the restaurant filled after we arrived. Probably the look & feel of the place would have helped, I'm certain. A big "thank you" to Shauny, who looked after (and put up with) us! It is no wonder that this was the 3rd time that we've been to Waterside, and it won't be the last. Thanks Waterside (and First Table). Cheers ... Bruce

Great food and service with a fabulous view over the lake.

Went on a lunch date with my 5 year old for my birthday. As soon as I walked through the door we were very warmly greeted and offered prime seating either by the fireplace or the windows to have a great view of the lake. The woman put down some crayons and a kids menu that was a colouring sheet, for my son as soon as we sat. Service did go a bit downhill when a different waiter took over - he was very polite and apologetic but inexperienced (got the feeling he had just been employed). We ordered a few things to share and it was a good selection that both my child and I enjoyed. Had a freak shake for dessert that was amazing to look at and to eat! We shared it between us and still couldn't finish it.
Child friendly, attentive but slightly inexperienced service, warm, inviting environment, good value for money, food filling and tasty but relatively standard (but we only ordered simple things)
Overall about a 4/5 for fitting the experience I was after for lunch. We will be returning.

We thoroughly enjoyed our casual lunch date at Waterside. Food & drinks were delivered in a timely manner and we all thought our meals and coffees were delicious. They were very accommodating of my little tag along too (a 10months old). Look forward to going back again.

Great food, service and location

Fabulous food, fabulous service, fabulous restaurant. We were a group of four dining out on a quiet Monday night and honestly, we were not disappointed. The fire was going inside, making the place toasty and warm, and from the moment we walked in the door, we were well looked after. The waiter recommended the jalapeno poppers as a starter and, wow, were they good!! Thanks Waterside, we'll be back

Another great meal, steak was delicious! Staff very attentive. Make sure you try the chocolate pate for dessert, also the freak shakes are amazing! !

Lovely food and friendly staff :)

Fantastic service, food was amazing and child-friendly with a great kids menu. Very impressed and will dine again there.

Excellent service, took great care to make sure one diner had gluten and dairy free options, delicious food and generous portions. Would highly recommend the Waterside Restaurant. We'll be back.

It was an awesome experience since its my first time to book at first table. the resto has a very relaxing ambiance, the food are very nice and so are the staff.

Amazing food and service... the kids loved the freakshakes. Highly recommend.

The food was top class - both the mains and the dessert. The rhubarb dessert was delicious and different from any I've found elsewhere. Friendly staff.

We would definitely recommend Waterside Restaurant, Taupo. The service was great and the staff friendly. We were recommended the lamb rack and were not disappointed. It would have to have been one of the best I have had. Tasty and melt in your mouth, cooked to perfection. Thanks so much.

Dined on a Friday night but walked past the corner on the Thursday prior to see a row of happy diners with their meals, one couple noticed us looking in and gave a recommendation thumbs up.
True to their recommendation our meal, salmon and roasted snapper was delicious.
For an entree i had pork wellingtons, appearance tick, sauce and pastry , tick the filling was to some probably ok but a pork sausagey blob mixed with whole mustard seed, not sure whether it was yellow and black seed or something else, was taste negative. The idea great but more thought to the mix is needed. The crispe pastry with tasty tomato based sauce made it edible

A lovely dining experience with great service

Great service and lovely food

Great food, would highly recommend the salmon!! Yum. Fantastic friendly service!

Had a delicious meal with my family at th Waterside Restaurant in Taupo while travelling back to Hawkes Bay. Th staff were very accommodating and excellent service. Would definitely dine there again. Highly recommend, with five star rating. Thank you so much.

Yummy food, perfectly cooked & flavors. Lamb was melt in your mouth, top notch! Service was great & restaurant views were outstanding as we watched the sunset. Will definitely return.

Each item of food we had was outstanding. Very delicious and generous servings. The entrees were very filling, so I would recommend sharing with others if you plan to have a main and dessert. The holoumi sticks and won tons were amazing, as was the chocolate pate. The location is great and the service was excellent. A popular place, it quickly filled around midday. I would definitely return another time.

Good food but service was a bit haphazard.

Such fantastic service and very yummy food, we will definitely come back!

Had a range of shared plates that were yum! Pretty good for a lunch experience