Farside

I came to Farside one Saturday night in April with my older sister and my cousin who had just turned 18. My sister and I wanted to take our cousin somewhere nice and different for celebratory drinks. My sister suggested that we try Farside as she had been once before and had met the owner Eddy through friends.
Farside is a small bar located down Parnell Road between Renkon and Burgerfuel. If you are looking at a map, it is quite hard to spot and most of the time, you will walk straight past it!
We only went for drinks, but they were all delicious! Farside has an extensive cocktail list, which my cousin and I happily chose from! All the cocktails had cool names and interesting flavours, which is something you would not find in a bar/​club in town! Overall, the best drinks we had were a Margarita with a salt rim and a Cosmopolitan with a sugar rim (see pictures) — both were yummy!
The décor was nice and the music interesting, which we all liked. Farside plays all sorts of music, so it is great for everybody! It had a cool vibe to it all night — we even had a boogie in the corner when Queen came on!
Farside also serves a range of bar snacks including cheese and cold meat platters with vegetarian options as well, which would be great to share with a group of friends — and a few of their amazing cocktails as well!

The best cocktail bar you will find in Parnell. Farside has been through many iterations over the years, but it has always remained a cocktail bar and seems to be alive and well with the Parnell locals. Fairly small, but opening on to the street it is great to visit in the summer months for an after work drink or it makes a good place to start out the evening. Look for the cocktails where they are using their supply of fresh mint or basil is my advice!

A tiny little bar specializing in cocktails right in the heart of Parnell. It reminds me of some of the tiny wine bars you would get in London in the 1980s — no I am not that old but I did see that famous episode of ‘Only Fools and Horses’! It’s not really a guy place as there is not much of a selection of beer and no sport on the TV. This is more for the ladies, especially the ones who were fans of ‘Sex in the City’. Having said that, I came here with some friends recently and had a pretty good night. The music was cool and had an Ibiza vibe to it which made everybody in the bar chilled out. As regards the cocktails, they were expertly made by a guy who looked like he knew what he was doing. We got some Mojitos and were quite impressed with them — mojitos are hit and miss in Auckland and it was encouraging to see they got them right in this place.

Farside Bar is a small and subdued bar on Parnell Rd, no where near as wild and quirky as Gary Larsons comic of the same name. Its dim and cozy interior is definitely the strength of this intimate bar.
Like a lot of new bars, the recently opened bar offers a range of craft beers, with the Farside specialty being cocktails. Unfortunately the dark bar makes seeing what is on offer very hard, especially with only one limited and non-​descriptive cocktail menu chalkboard. While there was 3 staff members working, only one had the cocktail mixing responsibilities (which probably was just as well seeing as the the other two had limited drinks knowledge and busied themselves making small talk).
Farside could be described as «a bar that makes a personal cocktail experience for each person» if the staff had more actual cocktail experience. The bar has potential but still seems to be finding its feet.

I went to the Farside bar for a quiet drink on a Wednesday night. It was a good drink, and definitely quiet, so both goals were acheived.
I remember this place when it was Denim, and I think it had a bit more going on in those days. It’s far more relaxed now, and the changes have made it feel more like a neighbourhood local than the swanky bar that it used to be.
The cocktail the bartender made for me was delish and the service was great, just not a lot of other patrons on the night it was there. Could have been a one-​off and maybe this place goes off on the weekend. I’d go back for another excellent cocktail to see.

You may have walked past this bar and not even realised. This bar is fun sized, and this intimacy is one of its points of difference.
Farside have an extensive cocktail list, and the bar staff are really friendly and good at making these delicious creations!
I also really liked the mix of music playing when I was there. I stayed longer than I intended too, which I guess is a good sign for a bar!
You’ll find Farside Bar not far up from Burger Fuel on Parnell Road. You can also hire out their venue for private functions.