It was our first time to visit Sculptureum and to be honest it didn't disappoint. The truth of the matter is our family has enjoyed the sculpture gardens and art galleries reason why I personally went to the Rothko restaurant to move our booking slightly...from 11:30 to 11:45 and the lady even thanked me for letting them know about the change but no mention at all of needing to be finished by 1 pm.
We came to the restaurant and was showed to our reserved table and the moment we sat down, the lady in charge told us that we have to be finished by 1 pm as another group is booked after us. I was kind of put off with these as we feel like the restaurant is quite big to accommodate other customers in case we go over our time, so why are we being rushed to finish at an exact time? I was on the verge of walking out but I don't want to ruin what started as a fantastic day for my family. So I patiently just sat there but keep on looking at the time. The drinks came but the mocktails were so disappointing, we just have to forcefully finish it as it was expensive. Food was served after 30 minutes, but feel like the size portion and the price doesn't match, the taste was there but was not spectacular. We didn't order dessert as my husband and our young adults were motioning me to pay as it's almost 1 pm. The area where to pay was the same as welcoming guests to enter and accessing the vaccine pass, so I had to wait in a queue to be accommodated to pay which I find shouldn't be the case. There should have been a dedicated person for the paying customers and another one for welcoming guests in.
Overall, our experience at the museum was fantastic but cannot say the same for the Rothko restaurant. At the back of my mind, we could have settled for the Freddie's outdoor kitchen where our money would have gone a long way, instead of paying $218 knowing that the ambience is the same anyway as Rothko is not airconditioned at all.
So three things that could have gotten better were: 1.Please do not rush your customers by telling them to be finished at a certain time the moment they sit down, and these being a fine dining restaurant at that. 2. Provide a separate line or area for customers paying and for welcoming guests especially as there is an additional requirement of scanning the vaccine pass 3. With the price, please match to the sizing portions and mocktails to be more refreshing considering price is at $9.
I belong to a big family here in NZ and have highly recommended visiting Sculptureum but is wary of recommending the restaurants inside as there are a lot of options to choose from outside, like MMK which is just couple of kilometers away.
Another thing, I wouldn't have wanted to post the review here but wasn't given much choice as the reply to the email from Rothko came back undelivered twice.More