O’Connell Street Bistro

The Connell Street Bistro is an Auckland institution. Owned by fabulous restaurateur, Chris Upton, it is the epitome of chic bistro dining, with outstanding refined but understated service, incredible food and a killer wine list (I was quite excited today to see an Australian Howard Park Chardonnay available by the glass!).
The ambiance is also very understated and is also particularly glam at night. And since the closing of O’Connell Street itself, into a pedestrian walkway, diners now spill out onto the pavement during the lunch service.
I met a friend for lunch today and we almost couldn’t decide what to order! In the end we settled on a shared entrée of duck liver parfait with caramelised onion and brioche, which was delectable. I followed up with the Alaskan Crab risotto and my companion ordered the fish of the day — orange roughy. With a mandatory side of fat fries and toasted beetroot with goats cheese. All faultless.
And just when we should have removed our girdles and gone home we also decided to include dessert — my friend had the Tarte Tartin, which she proclaimed was magnificent, while I had a chocolate ganache, amaretto jelly and coffee sorbet creation which was heavenly. All washed down with a Pedro Jimenez sherry — which is so good it’s criminal!
And so … We were sated. I’ve never had anything but a top class experience at this establishment and Chris and his team really know what customer service and fine dining is all about!
Thanks, Chris. We’ll be back!

Some perspective, have been coming to O’Connell Street Bistro for many a year now. This was a return visit after a number of years living overseas.
The food is a real delight, rich complex flavors and beautifully prepared.
To be honest I think what brings them down is that they rest a little too much on their past successes and awards. The service is stiff and stand’offish. We tried a number of times to start a conversation and just got stared at blankly. It got to the point it was uncomfortable.
I have seen managements responses on another review site to this sort of feedback and they are not accepting of it in any way.
A very sad return for us. It has lost something along the many years of success and should look carefully at how it can bring that real warmth of personality back into play.

O’Connell Street is hands down my favourite place to have dinner in Auckland, and the reason is pretty simple: the service is always outstanding. The staff here know when you want to chat and when you don’t; they know if you want advice or are happy to make your own way through the menu; they can tell you about where the ingredients come from and the difference between oysters from Bluff and oysters from the Marlborough Sounds. In short, they are the best in the service game.
Don’t be a noddy and try do your own wine matches here, unless you are also a highly experienced sommelier; they have pretty much the best wine list in town so make sure you make the most of it.
The food is very, very good, and tends towards the simple done well, with flourishes that complement the main focus rather than turning into a mélange of different tastes.