The Works

Someone from this business manages this listing.

327 reviews

#4 of 86 Restaurants in Gisborne$$ - $$$, European, New Zealand, Vegetarian friendly

+64 6-868 9699+ Add website

Hours

Sun

8:00 am - 8:00 pm

Mon

8:00 am - 8:00 pm

Tue

8:00 am - 8:00 pm

Wed

8:00 am - 8:00 pm

Thu

8:00 am - 8:00 pm

Fri

8:00 am - 8:00 pm

Sat

8:00 am - 8:00 pm

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What is Travellers’ Choice?

Tripadvisor gives a Travellers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travellers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.

Ratings and reviews

4.0

327 reviews

#4 of 86 Restaurants in Gisborne

Travellers' Choice 2024

RATINGS

Food

Service

Value

Atmosphere

Food and ambience

Local cuisine, European, New Zealand, Vegetarian friendly, Vegan options, Gluten free options

“Good service, nice food, glad the works still operating well and not impact b...”

“... this spot to try!! Kicking myself that I didn’t take any photo evidence!”

“My salmon Nicoise was delicious and husband was happy with his vegan salad.”

Special Occasion Dining, Romantic, View, Groups, Bar Scene, Business meetings

“Great wine list and everything that we tasted was memorable.”

Location and contact

41 the Esplanade, Gisborne 4010 New Zealand

+64 6-868 9699

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Does this restaurant offer takeaway or food to go?

Yes

Unsure

Details

Manage this business?

About

Breakfast, lunch, dinner, after work get together's, birthday parties, business lunches, a romantic table for two, family gatherings - or no reason at all. Enjoy the unique ambiance of the iconic Works Restaurant and Bar, situated in all that remains of the historic Kaiti Freezing works. Fabulous food, warm friendly atmosphere, professional service. Exceptional wedding venue hurry book now.

PRICE RANGE

$30.00 – $40.00

CUISINES

European, New Zealand

Special Diets

Vegetarian friendly, Vegan options, Gluten free options

Meals

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Brunch, Drinks

FEATURES

Takeout, Reservations, Outdoor Seating, Seating, Parking Available, Highchairs Available, Wheelchair Accessible, Serves Alcohol, Full Bar, Wine and Beer, Accepts Credit Cards, Table Service, Dog Friendly

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4.0

327 reviews

Excellent

157

Very good

112

Average

Poor

Terrible

Kelly S

Palmerston North7 contributions

Marinated fish was a fail.

Jan 2020 • none

Excellent service and good range of wines - food let it down slightly. Marinated fish was not adequately marinated and had the texture and taste of raw fish floating in water. Duck ordered by my husband was apparently delicious. Large cockroach ran out of the menu and made his presence known. Not sure the prices justified the experience. Side dished were very small portions, $9 for a plate of 3 small rounds of corn cob. Would not bother going back.

Written 12 January 2020

This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Johanna H

Christchurch55 contributions

Celebrating Wedding Anniversary with friends

Jan 2020 • friends

We visited here tonight and were blown away. The food was incredible. We are on holiday and have been eating out each night at some really good restaurants but this one tops all of them now. They catered to my dietary requirements with respect and knowledge to my needs. The four of us all had a different dish and would all rate it 10/10 and reasonably priced.

Written 3 January 2020

Redwoodie

Ohope66 contributions

Enjoyable Works breakfast

Feb 2020 • friends

Enjoyable breakfast at The Works. A great building and the outdoor seating is so good on a hot morning. Scrambled eggs and bacon side for me..both tasty and the bread was artisan type thick toast with plenty of butter. A nice touch was a portion of sweet fruit chutney. My friend had poached eggs with sausage and bacon that he said was good too. Large coffees were good. Service was excellent, ordered at table and fresh water brought to us as and when needed.

Written 3 February 2020

Disappointed and regular Local

Gisborne2 contributions

Dinner-Way overpriced, great service

Jan 2020 • family

I shouted my brother out for dinner for his 28th birthday. Total cost for 2, $107.00. I had lamb steak with eggplant & chickpeas. Two strips of lamb steak, lots of eggplant and chickpeas to make the plate look fuller. My bro had sirloin with a cucumber/celery type side which he didn't like. We ordered an iced coffee and an iced chocolate and an entree of bread with garlic butter. These meals did not include salad, veges or fries, if you wanted those, they cost extra on top. The service was great and the location is great. $107 for 2 people is ridiculously overpriced for what we received. Will not be eating there or recommending to others again.

Written 10 January 2020

Dean W

Gisborne4 contributions

Find Another Option

Feb 2020 • none

We had some overseas guests in town and were hoping to showcase some good Gisborne food to them. Unfortunately this was not the case here. The steaks were so bad that one of our guests did not eat his. These were advertised as sirloin steaks, but at least one did not appear to be a sirloin steak at all. The efforts put into plate presentation would have been better spent on ensuring good food quality. We have several groups of international guests visiting us each year and I'm sorry "The Works", but for the prices you charge we will not be bringing any more here until some dramatic changes are made in your food menu options and quality.

Written 17 February 2020

Kingstonorfe

Taunton37 contributions

Thoroughly enjoyable experience

Feb 2020 • couples

Thank you Larna for your very warm welcome tonight. We all had lovely meals, cooked exactly as we individually liked them (steak, duck and lamb). Very flavoursome and beautifully presented. We liked that you could explain to us how to recreate the tasty chickpea side at home!

Written 20 February 2020

Marz Eli

Gisborne1 contribution

Food very bad

Nov 2020 • family

Took kids for breakfast. Ordered 2 breakfast mains and asked for a half size eggs Benedict for 10 year old daughter. The server said the chef would not allow that as he would not cut brioche in half. My daughter really wanted e.b so was very disappointed. She was offered fish n chips, sausage and chips or nuggets and chips instead. Not what she wanted, but she chose fnc. My meal was Works Grill. Mushrooms were inedible as they were so over seasoned and i enjoy salt but this was way too much salt. Fried egg whites burned dark brown on edges. I sent them back. Then i tasted the bacon. It was slimy as in off and tasted past best date. Sent whole plate back. Went to pay, had a discussion with maitre'd. She was defensive and didnt hear me out. I asked why half size eb cant come on foccacia that is served with grill. I was not charged for my meal and drinks were given free. Never returning as 2nd bad experience. Maybe just order deep fried food, that maybe safest option. Really disappointed. Great staff, great environment, great views, food not up to standard, a real let down. Chef needs to work on standards and food hygiene.

Written 14 November 2020

gil

Palmerston North3 contributions

Perfect evening meal

Feb 2022 • couples

We booked at the spur of a moment and enjoyed really attentive service in a beautiful historic building (part of the old freezing works) in Gisborne harbour. I enjoyed the very best marinated fish I ever tasted here, all other dishes were super tasty as well. The music playing in the background was well chosen, chill, but not cliche. We returned for lunch the following day and can only confirm that The Works is consistently excellent, day and night. They serve great cocktails, too. I really recommend it highly!

Written 4 February 2022

hemsta88

1 contribution

Enjoyable breakfast

Feb 2020 • family

Me and my wife had brunch here, we ordered the The Works Breakfast with Evans Streaky Bacon, lamb sausage, corn, portobello, bone marrow, fried egg, house bread, which we both enjoyed.Now this meal isn't for the faint hearted, so make sure you attack it with empty stomach lol. My only gripe for me would be two eggs instead of 1, but at $26 we walked out happy.

Written 21 February 2020

Maggie

Mount Maunganui4 contributions

Weekday Dinner Out

Mar 2022 • none

Perhaps a little too gourmet for us. We booked late in the day for dinner that evening requesting 6.00pm but were asked to come at 5.30pm. We did so; there were three other groups already seated and eating. The food was delicious with unusual combinations, and the 'small' plates were very filling, desserts were generous. Service was very efficient. Fascinating building - the old freezing works - and, if the weather had been fine, would've been great dining outside (under the grapevine or with a view across the port).

Written 2 March 2022

Linda Y

34 contributions

Dinner at Works in Gisborne

Mar 2020 • family

Dinner was rather disappointing. On our entry there was a distinctive bad ordour. Our 10 meals were satisfactory but duck breast portion was small, lamb rump and steaks were over cooked in both instances. Service was generally good.

Written 9 March 2020

Peter M

9 contributions

Not as Good as They Say

Oct 2023 • couples

This Restaurant had been given strong recommendations to us, however we were underwhelmed to say the least. The menu was limited to 5 or so dishes for each course and they were all relatively heavy in style & flavour which didn't suit us as we wanted something light & fresh We chose the Chartucherie Board to share, which at NZ35 was exorbitant for a couple of slices of prosciutto, a couple of slices of salami & another few slices of pepperoni. Also to fill out the dish there were 6 stuffed baby capsicums and a heap of caperberries and the thickly cut bread & mustard. The menu wasn't really clear regarding what was actually on the plate and as it turned out it was misleading as there was no mention of the very polarising caperberries (which I think taste revolting). When we asked the waitress what was on the plate, she sniffed, pointed at the menu and said it was all written on the sheet. Apart from making us feel stupid, he manner was dismissive and extremely abrupt. The actual reason why she said what she said was that she had absolutely no idea what was on the plate. We won't be hurrying back.

Written 5 October 2023

gnilloc

192 contributions

The nicest restaurant meal for a while

Aug 2020 • friends

All the courses were beautifully presented and really tasty. I’m always a sucker for pork belly and this was the best ever. The crackling was really thin and crispy and there was a line of crispy crumb as well. The pear purée was stunning and the meat succulent. The market fish was a large serving and was delicious with quite a bit of spice. The he caramel with the brownie was a nice touch.

Written 29 August 2020

Jo H

498 contributions

Nice Night Out

Oct 2020 • none

It's great to see this area of Gisborne being revitalised and the team at The Works must be a hard working bunch as they're open long hours. Food aims for a metropolitan standard and usually hits the mark - the duck was very good while the thai fish could have ridden the flavours a little more. What completely won us over though was the super friendly, attentive service. Bonus points for good local wine tasting options too.

Written 7 November 2020

Climber32278024084

2 contributions

Still waiting

Feb 2024 • family

The service was too slow we got the kids meals with our entrees just as well. We booked for 6pm and didn't get our main until 7.30pm they seem to be serving all the smaller tables and left us until last was not impressed ended up taking kids home and got my meal in a takeaway. Drinks were far too expensive Jug raspberry and lemonade $24 unbelievable. Was disappointed in meal which was a small serving had the lamb only 2 small pieces given with other items on plate didn't know what it was. This use to be a nice restaurant it seems they've gone up market with venison and limited choices. Got bread and dip for entree only one dip and butter for $16. Will not be returning.

Written 20 March 2024

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