The Tin Soldier

Overall very nice although very very salty. Presentation was also very nice. Décor is nice. so everything was nice lol. We went in a group of 5 so we ordered 5 meals each and about 4 sides. We ordered the soup of the day, pie of the day, fish of the day, pork belly, steak, fries with garlic aioli, Broccoli gratin, roast pumpkin, and 2 steamed chicken buns. I DIDN’T get to try everything (sadly, some eat way too fast to let me try hahahha)
I had the pie of the day which was a chicken ginger (and something else, maybe just vegetable) pie and boy was it delicious!!! until i got half way and then it was just WAAAAAAY too salty and strong to handle. The mash on top was velvety smooth and very creamy which i liked. Chicken and ginger is such a winning combo! if only it wasn’t that salty/​strong/​rich then i could have eaten the whole thing… The charred vegetables on the side were very tasty tho!
Fries were… over fried but no one can’t stop me from finish fries lol and extra crunchy and golden is good enough for me. Also very salty tho. Aioli was delish as always!
Broccoli gratin was all white sauce… and really rich. i think it would have been a tad better if it was balanced better (vegetable to white sauce ratio)
Roast pumpkin was the highlight tonight. It was soooo tasty, the combination of everything on the plate was magical. Feta cheese, sweet roasted pumpkin, some sort of sauce? and this crunchy herb (sage) but really… so good.
Service was… ok… two waiters/​waitresses came to serve us and a few orders were forgotten or confused along the way… we had to ask a few times?
Overall everything is way too expensive for what we were eating … especially portion size… i thought it was quite casual eatery rather than fine dining? oh, a hybrid. i would have given a 4 star if it weren’t so salty and a tad cheaper.

If you need some quietness and great atmosphere to talk, this is the place. The interior is soft with dim lights, clean and modern.
You are served with complementary brown bread rolls with olive oil when you dine which is pretty nice for a restaurant. I’ve been here for a few times so will tell you how they were.
Soldier Boy Jammers ($ 16), seemed to be their signature plate, was slightly average with just minimal filings. I think I still love the Monsoon Poon one the best.
We also had fish pie, fried chicken and the duck which was all just okay. Display/​presentation of these dishes were wonderful though especially the fish pie — they looked so adorable with little mashed potato swirls we didn’t want to ruin it! However we could only taste the potatoes in those… (I have noticed that their menu changed since I last visited)
It is so nice to have a place on Ponsonby road where you can have a conversation without shouting at each other. Tin Soldier lets you do that as they have a bar area separated with a restaurant side. Service was good and you can enjoy yourself if you go there for just a few drinks like we did last week. Hand-​cut chunky fries ($ 9) were really good with crispy skin and soft insides — so good they were gone before we knew it!

Well this is still one of my favourite spots in Auckland. The food is on the better side of good. Not the most amazing I’ve ever eaten but great service and ambience. We love Amanda the owner.

Tin Soldier– sooooo much potential but hasn’t quite made it.
We went here for a Thursday evening work dinner, we were able to make a table reservation which was a huge bonus these days.
This place could be so cool, but to be honest it really lacks atmosphere and ambiance. The staff were very friendly but not hugely efficient, the drinks took quite a while to come.
The outdoor seating is probably the best option esp if its a sunny day.
We took our waitresses menu recommendation which i have to say was good. The salt and pepper squid was AWESOME, possibly the best I’ve had, the squid was super tender. The potato chips were also amazing with Parmesan and a truffle oil aioli.
We shared a few of the dishes between 5 of us, there was plenty to taste, the dishes were all a decent tapa size.
The food was good here, but for me a place also needs to have some atmosphere. I would go back mainly for the amazing squid, i wouldn’t be going back for the social aspect!

solid wine list: check
unique dish combinations (think peanut & cucumber nam jim): check
swanky décor replete with elaborate candlestick centerpieces amassed with layers of the evenings melted wax: check
coziness factor: TRIPLE CHECK
the problem?
(1) holy mother of expensive
(2) not.enough.food.
unfortunately these two rather major points limit the tin soldier to «nightcap status» for this girl (that is, until i’ve hit it big, or something).
ps — who else did a double take on the red wine «stained» menu?

I’m pretty sure a certain nationwide newspaper gave The Tin Soldier 5 stars. That is pretty next level for the newspaper — you hardly ever hear about 5 star restaurants. That’s the reason I went to the restaurant in the first place. It was very nice, but I don’t think I would give it 5 stars based on my one experience. The food was good and simple, the drinks were also nice but expensive.
The place does small and large plates, with the intent to share. We over-​ordered. The chicken liver paté was good but I was weirded out by the fact that they put the paté on your toasts for you. Kind of like when places butter your bread for you, I don’t like it. The chips were good but nothing to write home about. The fried chicken, the same. The pork dish I got was quite good, dad liked his onion soup. I was bloody full but I ordred the ‘smore anyway. I couldn’t finish it but what I had was very nice, albeit extremely sweet.
Our waitress was friendly and very capable. The bill was large. That is all.

Nice ambiance, sophisticated, but not over the top, dimly understated. I enjoyed the premise, that you order several dishes amongst a few people to share. They are clearly enthusiastic about providing a great dining experience, with an original menu which comes with an explanation from the waitress, and effort is also placed into the foods presentation. The lamb hotdogs were amazing, but the other plate we ordered, some kind of chicken liver, didn’t really jive with my palette. It is definitely worth a visit in my opinion, fine dining in a casual kind of a way, which perhaps might not seem so casual when you get the total bill at the end.

My selection this year for a Valentines Dinner was the Tin Soldier and it’s set menu special. The subtle entrance leads to a bar area with high stools and raised tables that are very a la mode on Ponsonby. A few steps down towards the back of the bar leads to a dining room where the majority of patrons eat, although we left it late to book and were seated in the bar area. This led to a less formal and more relaxed environment which suited us just fine on a mid week evening. 4 courses plus champagne cocktail and petits fours went down a storm with my girlfriend. The food was excellent, including a greek spiced lamb sausage starter, but service struggled later on in the evening under the fully packed restaurant and bar. (4 stars for food, 3 for service)

What I loved about this place was their ability to turn average/“safe” sounding food to a whole new level. Something I wasn’t expecting but very pleasantly surprised. We stopped here for a shameful second dinner… and I’m so glad we did. The ambiance was lovely, (it was still newish at this time and we got there quite late so it wasn’t very busy) and all the waiters were super friendly. The food was pretty faultless and what I loved about it was that the dishes is they are designed to be shared (I get food envy and I always want to try as many things as I can).