Botswana Butchery

Nice outdoor patio overlooking the ferry terminal, a little pricey for lunch — get the salads!

Had dinner here last night. They were short staffed — to the point where our waiter told us ‘you’ll have to wait for your drinks theres only one bar staff tonight’. Not sure why thats our problem and being that the restaurant was full seems like a major oversight.
We also had to wait over an hour from ordering until our meals were served. We had a group of 7, my meal came luke warm and despite wanting to send it back it was already past 10pm so just took it. Other than my main though my fellow dinners mains were good as were the sides (especially the Mac n Cheese).
Service staff were friendly but as I’ve already said overworked — so much so were were clearing our own plates to the nearby tables.
For a restaurant charging $ 30+ for some entrees I would expect a lot more — particularly staff on hand.
Also we ordered drinks and at least 3 came in dirty glasses!

This is really 3.5 but I am rounding up. I loved the meat cleaver door handles.
The service, décor an ambiance were great, but I really was not wowed by the food I tried.
The peking duck was very average, no crispy skin that defines a good peking duck
The asian dumplings were ok, but not memorable. I’d avoid the Asian items on the menu.
The Chargrilled coastal lamb with pancake with Auvergne purée and courgette fritter/​pancake was excellent. This was my favorite item.
The Eye Fillet was good, but not remarkable.
This is a nice place, but for the price I was expecting a little more.

Had the flounder. Wonderful location right on the water and great service. Definitively coming back!

Botswana is almost always my first go-​to option whenever the restaurant I had been eating at hadn’t satisfied my sweet tooth. Their dessert menu is extensive and there is of course a large wine list to choose from too. They can serve dessert in the bar area, which has some comfy sofas. The panna cotta is usually very well done, creamy with an ample amount of vanilla and fresh fruit. My friends also love the Baileys crème brûlée.
Steak is of course superb here too. I’ve found that the restaurant gets busy later towards the night, say around 9pm. So if you have dinner at 6/​7pm, don’t be alarmed that it’s rather quiet. As with most restaurants nowadays, they take online bookings — easy!

We have been meaning to try this place for a long time, though held off as initial reports were fairly average. We decided restaurant month was a good time and the menu looked attractive so off we set on a Sunday night, my wife and I, with high expectations.
We were seated promptly, offered water and drinks. They arrived quickly. My wife reported her Hot Chocolate was good, my Tomato juice, with a little spice and no ice, arrived with no ice and no discernible spice (though it had pepper on the top so I guess spiced was technically correct).
Our entrées were out super quick (in fact there was almost no wait between dishes), mine was better, being the Tuna Tartare, fantastically presented, delicious if not a tiny bit acidic from the dressing. I actually prefer my dressings more acid, but it was a little overpowering even by my standards. Delicious regardless and I would have licked the plate clean if said behaviour was socially acceptable (certainly not). The bits of «toast» were wonderful, though sadly, a little brittle as well. The baby cos hearts were fantastic, beautiful crunch.
My wife’s Entrée she declared as ok, not great, which was the cardrona lamp soup with barley. The soup was nice enough, not amazing, but sadly the lamb bits were almost non existent. Barley isn’t something I love in soup, but it was nicely cooked.
Mains were Fish and Beef Cheeks. The Beef came with a lovely mash and some nicely cooked onion pieces etc. The beef itself was very strong, and whilst I know it’s supposed to be strong, was stronger than any I’d had before, not quite balanced. It was the nicer of the two mains.
My Warehou was a bit overcooked, and came on top a Capponata. I had hoped for better honestly. Sadly it was a pretty small portion (fish amount was sufficient, but the rest wasn’t enough for me).
Dessert was a lemon pie, very nice, and a dark chocolate mousse which was ok, fairly forgettable.
Overall, Service was great, however the food missed the mark by a little bit. Wouldn’t take much tweaking to make it amazing.
We will likely return in 12 months and give it another go.

Gosh, I wish I could give this place a big thumbs up, but sadly I can’t. I’d missed out on coming here with friends recently, so I was very pleased to finally be going. All started well, we were greeted by the new maitre de, Ann Thorp (Kia Ora cooking show). We were seated at a large table on the ground floor with lovely views over the marina, you can’t beat Auckland’s waterfront at night. The place itself is beautifully decorated and I have popped in before just to drink at the bar. The service this night was a bit patchy, it took ages to get someone to come and get our drink orders. When the food arrived, it was good but the common reaction across the table was that the steaks were cold (as in left sitting for so long they were no longer hot) and not all arrived cooked as ordered. I guess this was the fault of just one staff member and doesn’t reflect everyone’s effort, but it was a let down at a place where I had anticipated having an amazing meal.

I ate at the Botswana Butchery in Queenstown back in January. Maybe it was just because it was my first time at BB, but the Q’town version seemed better. Menu was similar, in that the grilled meats part was the same, while the dishes was changed for the season had the same flare. I had the rabbit risotto and grilled venison. Both really good. Service was also top notch and décor very nice. Not quite as interesting at Q’town and had more of an urban steak house feel. Impressive wine list and we had a gorgeous Gigondas and Cloudy Bay Sav Blanc. Location can’t be beat, right on the ferry wharf; walking distance from our hotel.

This is my 2^nd visit to Botswana Butchery which I will always look forward to, its a great place to go for a celebration starting with a nice wine in the bar, not too many restaurants now days have a totally seperate bar area. Usually there is a lack of space and drinks have to be had at your table.
There is certainly a section on the menu entitled «From the butcher’s block» — half a dozen steaks but I chose from the regular menu and had just a main as from learning from my last trip I did’nt manage 2 courses with a big drinking night to ensue. The Slow cooked shortrib, stout and oxtail sauce with caramelised carrot, shallot marmalade, spinach mousse and wild mushrooms was absolutely succulent, moist and fall off the bone delicious. With some sides of beans it was more than enough. I highly recommend this dish.
The handsome, aesthetically eclectic refit — bold lampshades, padded leather walls and sofas on the terrace — makes the most of the sensational setting. But Botswana Butchery is in a part of town where there is pretty stiff competition. So I think they should keep up the good service and the great food as I have heard a few reviews that are not perfect.
A friend we dine with regularly that also chose this restaurant on this particular night loves his steak so I am sure we will dine here many times to come.

This is the best place to have lamb excellent friendly service & very knowledgable staff my hat is off to the chef and the managing directors of the Resturant. I will be back again soon. Cheers

Maybe this was an off day but disappointed in my lunch dining experience. When sitting waitress asked if I’d like water… she brought a $ 9 huge bottle of Pelligrino! She could have taken it a step further and sized me up as ONE person and asked if a small or large bottle. Salmon was my choice and it came out RAW! When returning it, the other waiter said «I guess you want it Salmon jerkey»! Whuttt? I told him I’m not Japanese! It came back piping hot and edible. Topping that, I was stung by two bees in my armpit! When showing it to the waitress she sloughed it off. I even showed her the stinger. I was eating outdoors, but hey for $ 70 for Salmon, massive bottle of water, spinach you’d think they would have offered some kind of customer service gesture! Lets top that off with unacceptable service for this hyped restaurant. Sorry, I’d give this a «C» dining experience. Could have eaten in the hotel for cheaper!

Wow! A perfect rating for a restaurant that is practically in the ferry terminal and must get a ton of tourist trade? Why yes! And let me tell you why.
A local suggested this place to me when I asked for a restaurant within walking distance of my hotel. The funny part? I couldn’t remember the name. I mean lets be serious, Botswana Butchery doesn’t roll right off the tongue.…but I remembered it started with a «b» and after a few look ups on my Unilocal app, I was in business and had dinner reservations for that night.
The host warmly greeted me at the door and asked if I wanted to have a drink first or go right to the table. While the bar looked inviting, my tummy was growling so it was off to the table I went. I had a choice to sit outside but know if you go that given the close proximity to the ferries, there may be a bit of a fuel smell out there, so I chose to sit indoors at the banquette that runs along the back wall.
I love the décor of this place. While I think the building it is in is the ferry terminal building, they have done a nice job contemporizing it with shades of tan and black. I loved the upholstered chair I was seated in as it sat at the end of the table allowing me to effortlessly talk to my dining companion. And if you go to the restroom, be sure to check out the cute cleaver handles that open the doors!
Our server, Virginia, was terrific (know that her name said in French is so much better than how I’ve written it here). She was helpful in explaining the menu and in making sure we got exactly what we wanted even down to my complicated drink order. What a pleasure to be served by someone who actually acted like they liked their job!
We, started with some of thier fresh oysters and sashimi appetizer. The sashimi was fresh and delicious and was a sizable.portion.
For my entrée, I went with the fish of the day which was a John Dory cooked simply and served with lemon. I also ordered some whipped potatoes and the veggie of the day (know that these are plenty big enough to share). My friend went with a steak. All the food was perfectly prepared and served with a smile. And for, dessert, we had the crème brûlée which was just decadence on a plate!
All in all this was a great dinner, in a relaxing, upscale environment, and isn’t that just what you want when you go out? I like the playlist were «oldie classics» like Frank Sinatra, Celine Dion and other crooners throughout the years.
And while the listing says the dress code is «dressy» I think because of its location near the ferry, there is a bit of range in what you can wear here. Nice casual would work just fine as no one was dressed up on the night I was there.
Botswana Butchery? Your name may continue to elude me, but the food, service and ambiance I experienced within your walls will not! Word has it there is another location in Queenstown and lucky me. .. . I’m headed there next!

Last night arrived late just after 10pm read rave reviews they were happy to accommodate the two of us. Waited a good 20 minutes for. Lamb on the bone, this was overcooked and a little dry. Perhaps because we were late but I expect better from something that costs $ 89.95 (for 2) it should never have left the kitchen. We were never given the option of tap water just still or sparkling. Only when we refused a top up did the waiter bring tap water. A mistake was made in serving a wrong fdish we didn’t order Service was average. Will not be back. Expected much better from a restaurant rated this high

I guess I am the only person not giving them a 5star. The reason is, I expected more for the price I paid. It might be a one off incident, but the waitress took the wrong order. I ordered the Peking duck for starter, she bought me fried chicken. I mean even if it was noisy I wouldn’t have expected her to hear me wrong. So I ended up eating something I didn’t order while I waited for my duck. Ok, the fried chicken was delicious. :-) So it was a good mistake. I have always had issues with confusion cuisine. I would have not expected a western restaurant to be able to serve a good Peking duck. But that was also delicious. It was also a generous portion. Enough to make 4 wraps. It’s actually pretty good as a sharing plate. Then I got the fillet with the chipotle BBQ sauce. The sauce is super good. Just the right amount of spice and heat. Goes very well with my medium rare steak. Okay, I would have given them a 5star review if I didn’t end up paying for the extra chicken which I ate which I didn’t order. Apart from that, everything including the food was excellent. A good place to spend your hard earned money quickly.

Botswana Butchery has to be one of the best restaurants in Auckland, the service is perfect, the food always exceptional and a great wine list as well as having a busy but sophisticated atmosphere.
I highly recommend the Peking Duck to start with.
Enjoy.

WOW, eaten a few times here this year, loving it! TOP DRAW. Had a few evening meals and even a lunch there, all superb.
Evenings are busy, especially at the weekends but its well worth it. Top end of my budget but worth it as a treat.
Some amazing starters with a fantastic mix of tastes/​colours and food combos.
The mains are just the same …
Service is always good and some lovely seating upstairs, looking out over the ferry harbour.
If you like good food you must try this place

If you have a special occasion Botswana Bucheriy is the place to go. I had a friend visit from Australia. I reserved a table outside opposite the viaduct so that we could watch the water whilst sitting sitting on comfy sofa like seats. The menu is A-​la-​Carte so you order you main and separate side dishes. I ordered the Eye Fillet medium rare with the coliflour cheese and Asparagas with a chardonnay glaze. The service was excellent and the waiter’s knowledge was good too. The portion size is good so you do not need to order a starter. We shared the petite fours for afters, however these were not good.