Christchurch, New Zealand
Nice menu but overall bad service and execution
Dined
in August 2014
While in Christchurch for the week, waiting to go down to McMurdo Station on Ross Island, we heard about a pizza
restaurant that everyone was talking about called Winnie Bagoes, so my coworkers and I walked down the streets seeing
the destruction of the earthquakes, from 2010-11. Their
menu looked really good, as did the pizza, but there were flaws that give this
review a little less than a perfect rating.
Scroll down to read the main review
World’s Top 100 reviewed:
The Test Kitchen, Cape Town, South Africa
The Tasting room at Le Quartier Français, Franschhoek, South
Africa
Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud, Dublin, Ireland
Follow Wine, dine, and Play:
Star
ratings chart:
5 stars
|
Extraordinary
|
4 stars
|
Outstanding
|
3 stars
|
Exceeded
expectations
|
2 stars
|
Above average
|
1 star
|
Average
|
No star rating
|
Basic,
poor, or appalling
|
Review basics:
Overall Star rating by
Wine, Dine, & Play:
|
2 of 5
|
Quality of food:
|
7 of 10
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Presentation:
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7 of 10
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Wine selections by
region:
Scroll below the main review section to see the tasting
notes of the wines chosen.
 |
4 of 10
Old world:
1.
France:
Champagne
2.
Portugal: Douro Valley
New World:
1.
Australia:Yarra Valley, & South Western Australia
2.
New Zealand:
A). Marlborough: (Wairau Valley,
B). Hawke's Bay: Te Awanga,
C). Otago: (Central Otago,
D). Other: Gisborne
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Customer service:
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3 of 10
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Ambiance:
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6 of 10
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Corkage fee’s:
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American Restaurant standard is $25.00 per bottle
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Restaurant style:
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Casual
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Dress code:
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Casual, or Conservative attire
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Reservations:
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Not Required
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Walk-ins:
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Accepted
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Child policy:
 |
The Restaurants reviewed on
this site may have a child’s menu or cater to them; however for full
enjoyment of food and wine, it is recommended for children not to be in
attendance. Hire a Babysitter. See Alinea Baby Gate,
god I love Alinea.
|
Cuisine style:
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New Zealand (Kiwi), Pizza, & Vegetarian
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Music styles:
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Background instrumental
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Experiences:
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Rustic, Tourist grabber,
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Gratuities:
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Industry standard is 18-20% added to parties of 6 or more
|
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Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express
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Parking:
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street parking
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Transport options:
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Bus, taxi, limousine, personal vehicle, and walking
|
 |
The restaurants reviewed on
this site may have Wi-Fi, but do not require you to go online, because the
excitement of the food and wine alone will keep you too entertained instead
of checking your social media and emails.
|
Noise level:
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Medium
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Smoking:
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Nonsmoking restaurant, and nonsmoking patio
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Food price per person
(Excluding tax & gratuity)
Price chart:
$£€¥ - Under 50.00
$£€¥ x 2 - Under 75.00
$£€¥ x 3 - Over 100.00
$£€¥ x 4 - Over 200.00
$£€¥ x 5 - Over 400.00
Currencies
chosen reflect the world’s major travelers and restaurant connoisseur's
My food bill:
|
Currency:
|
Country :
|
Price chart:
|
$26.99
|
New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
|
 |
$
|
$19.90
|
United States Dollar (USD)
|
 |
$
|
£12.98
|
Great Britain Pound
Sterling (GBP)
|
 |
£
|
€17.38
|
European Union
(EUR)
|
 |
€
|
$24.92
|
Canadian Dollar (CAN)
|
 |
$
|
$25.41
|
Australian Dollar
(AUS)
|
 |
$
|
¥121.90
|
Chinese Yuan
(CNY)
|
 |
¥¥¥
|
Visit these sites to
get up to date currency rates:
Alternatively, visit:
From restaurants home page:
Here at Winnies every pizza is hand made from scratch, using
only the freshest ingredients and plenty of them on every pizza we make. Our
topping are extremely generous and extremely tasty. Forget what you have had in
the past, once you try our pizza there is no going back.
Pizza is a great sharing food and what better way to get
your mates together for a great relaxed meal than with us. Winnie Bagoes is
built for large groups and they are our speciality. Birthdays, Work Do's,
Fundraisers or just a great night out with ya mates we can help you out. All
you need to do is drop us a line and let us help you organise a great night
out. Nothing is a problem.
With big screens in the bar and the courtyard you will never
miss your favourite sporting event, regular live music and Dj's and once again
do i need to say it Amazing Pizza, we at Winnie Bagoes would love to have you
come and experience what we are are about.
Main review:
When we arrived at the Restaurant they were a little less
than half full, but it was still early in the evening. We were sat, and we
looked over the menus and waited. There were six of us in our group, all but
one of us being Chef’s. The menu had some interesting looking selections and
combinations with their pizzas. There were few of the basic starters that you
would see, some salads, and a pasta section if you didn’t want pizza. For those
that have allergens they also had gluten free selections.
After about five minutes or more of looking at the menus no
one had come by. So we had to track a person down just to get our drinks, that
was strike one. The drink menu had a good selection of New Zealand Beers, and
wine. Once we got our drinks, the person that got them said that she wasn’t our
server, and the server that we were supposed to have had was in a different
section. Okay, no problem, that server could come to us and take the order, no
harm no foul in my book. Then came strike two. We had to move to his section,
because the section we were in was reserved. Well why the hell did they sit us
there then?
Finally we sorted it all out, moved to the other section and
started with the fried squid appetizer pictured above. It was decent, don’t
know if it was worth $16.00 NZD, but it was okay. Other starters consisted of
bbq ribs, smoked salmon, mussels, and potato wedges. For their salads, they had smoked chicken, charred
lamb, Thai beef, traditional Caesar, and Cajun chicken over a bed of greens as
some of their selections.
For the main pizza selection, there were several choices, as
I mentioned earlier, from a Florentina
with smoked chicken, cashew nuts, apricot preserve, cream cheese and rosemary,
a Chicken, Cranberry & Brie, with smoked chicken on a cranberry base and
topped with brie cheese, the Kiwi Craving which is the pizza I had pictured
below, with roast lamb marinated in mint, wholegrain mustard and soy sauce with
honey roasted kumara, potato, red onion, and green capsicum (bell peppers).
Other selections included the Venison Pizza, with strips of
prime venison, oven roasted and topped with red onion, Kalamata olives, red
capsicum and blue cheese, and two vegetarian selections, the Vegetali, with basil
pesto, mushroom, broccoli, green beans, sundried tomatoes, roast pumpkin,
kumara, feta, red onion and topped with garlic aioli, and the Blue Belle pizza
with sundried tomatoes, broccoli, blue cheese and Kalamata olives topped with a
garlic aioli. There were of course several other selections and calzones on the
menu as well.
When we were done, we had told the server that we wanted to
all pay with separate checks, and when we got the bill it was all put together
as one. When we went up to the bar to pay the bill, we asked for it to be
separated. This is where strike three came in, and your familiar with the old
baseball song, “one, two, and three strikes you’re out”. Well, they couldn’t
separate it is what they said, so we had to sit there, and deconstruct the
check to pay what we thought was ours versus someone else’s, because unlike a
normal receipt with the pizza name, this one just said pizza purchase. So some
of us paid more while others paid less, we tried to make it even but the lady
said that the computer would not accept even payouts, which honestly was a
crock of shit. How does a restaurant with such a great menu, and pizza that
tastes really good, fail on service and delivery or execution of their product
and overall setup? This place wood have been high on the list if it weren’t for
these three failings that we faced that
night.
This Restaurant reminds me of:
Food was good, service and execution was bad, so honestly
because of that the rating is low. If the pizza combinations and creativity of
the menu wasn’t as good as it was, the rating would have been lower. The wine
rating was lower because of the lack of world selections, but those they did
have represented New Zealand very well. I would compare Winnie Bagoes to the
following restaurants I have reviewed in the past, based on these success’s and
faults, to 91 Wood Fire Oven, in Canton, Ohio, and Gaia Restaurant,
in American Canyon, California.
Other Christchurch favorites:
Other trending restaurants on
Wine, Dine, and Play:
Rostang, The French Brasserie, in Dubai
Restaurant address:
153 Madras Street
Christchurch Central,
Christchurch
New Zealand
Neighborhood:
Central Christchurch
Cross streets:
Allen Street & Moorhouse Avenue
GPS Coordinates:
Latitude: -43.538085
Longitude: 172.642298
Contact Information:
Maître d, reservations:
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+03-366 6315
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Website:
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Email:
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Social Media:
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Pinterest
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Hours:
Monday
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11:30 am - Late
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Tuesday
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11:30 am - Late
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Wednesday
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11:30 am - Late
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Thursday
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11:30 am - Late
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Friday
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11:30 am - Late
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Saturday
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11:30 am - Late
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Sunday
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11:30 am - Late
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Standard Time (GMT +12:00)
Review by:
Chef Sean Overpeck (CFE)
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TTFN
