Jolly Good Fellows

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#19 of 101 Restaurants in Taupo$$ - $$$, Bar, British, Vegetarian friendly

+64 7-378 0457+ Add website

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Hours

Sun

10:00 am - 10:00 pm

Mon

2:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Tue

2:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Wed

2:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Thu

2:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Fri

2:00 pm - 12:00 am

Sat

10:00 am - 12:00 am

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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

749 reviews

#19 of 101 Restaurants in Taupo

RATINGS

Food

Service

Value

Atmosphere

Food and ambience

Local cuisine, Bar, British, Pub, Vegetarian friendly, Gluten free options

“Food was excellent we had the chicken burger and Beef & Guiness pastie which...”

“Great location great pub food and relaxed pub vibe”

“We had fish n chips, bangers and mash and halloumi salad and the food was exc...”

View, Groups, Bar Scene

“Good pub food”

Location and contact

80 Lake Terrace, Taupo 2730 New Zealand

+64 7-378 0457

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Does this restaurant have a full bar?

Yes

Unsure

Details

Manage this business?

CUISINES

Bar, British, Pub

Special Diets

Vegetarian friendly, Gluten free options

Meals

Lunch, Dinner, Brunch, After-hours

FEATURES

Reservations, Outdoor Seating, Seating, Parking Available, Television, Highchairs Available, Wheelchair Accessible, Serves Alcohol, Full Bar, Accepts Credit Cards, Table Service, Waterfront

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4.0

749 reviews

Excellent

313

Very good

243

Average

Poor

Terrible

Darkewood

57 contributions

Excellent

Feb 2020 • couples

Friendly helpful staff. Some NZ craft beer, I had the Good George which was excellent & my wife had a cider. We both had the smoked pork chop with bubble & squeak with an extra portion of beans & peas (we love our veg). The chop was huge, perfectly cooked & tender throughout. The young waitresses would benefit from some training on drinks but they were willing to find out & eager to be helpful. Would be happy to visit again.

Written 5 February 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.

ajs-mjs

Cambridge38 contributions

Jolly good pub.

Feb 2020 • none

A short walk from our motel was the attraction for choosing this Pub to have a drink and meal.. We enjoyed sampling the Boddingtons, Kilkenny and 1664 draught beers from the extensive range on offer. Our food was substantial although the gravy with the Lambs liver was cold but quickly rectified once drawn to a waiters attention. Overall service was quick. Would recommend.

Written 11 February 2020

sussan59

Auckland Central43 contributions

Underwhelmed by service and food

Mar 2020 • none

A group of friends met her for dinner, and to be fair it was full. However the waitress kept promising to come back with menu's etc, and never did. They don't even serve bottled water! The food portions were very generous, however the quality was very average. One friend ordered the liver and onions, and it was literally inedible. Sorry, won't be back!

Written 16 March 2020

Jelly65

Upper Hutt115 contributions

Great location, food and Service wanting

Jan 2020 • none

Jolly Good Fellows is located right on Lake Taupo, it used to be one of my favourite restaurants when lived in Taupo, so when we came up from Wellington for the weekend and told my wife and friends about this place. Unfortunately, the service was terrible as we were going to grab an outside table the waitress said to us no you must go to the counter. We finally got a outside table after waiting at bar for 10 min then been told to grab a table outside. We ordered food and drinks this is when it got worse we ordered entrees for the ladies and steak for the guys and said we wanted all our meals at once. Well the entrees arrived but we were still waiting on drinks no other meals waited a further 10 mins for drinks and had to chase these up. Staff apologised said we only have 1 x bar staff on and we weren’t expecting it to be busy. But sorry it was summer concert weekend plus Jet boat I have work in hospitality for 20 years would staff up for this. Again, chased up our steaks finally got these after an hour. They weren’t worth the wait cooked ok but very tough.

Written 27 January 2020

Deepak

3 contributions

Terrible Service

Jun 2020 • none

The service was horrible. The waitress was rude, argumentative and treated us with contempt from the moment she approached the table. Totally ruined our trip to Taupo! This used to be our favourite restaurant when we live in Taupo, now I highly recommend people stay away if you want to have a pleasant evening.

Written 21 June 2020

Georgia M

Geelong & Bellarine3 contributions

Stingey condiments

Mar 2020 • family

Ordered lamb shanks for fair/high price of $31. Shank was nice. Potato was very dry. When asked for a bit of extra gravy it came with an additional price. Not impressed at all given amount paid and lack of interest by staff. It’s like ordering chips with tomato sauce and asking for an extra squirt given tiny amount

Written 12 March 2020

pampeteh

Christchurch16 contributions

Disappointed big time

Jan 2022 • family

My son drove from Hawkes bay to meet us in Taupo … we suggested the fellows and the awesome pasties … I really wish we hadn’t bothered … We sat for ages before anyone even asked us if we wanted a drink and then they didn’t take a food order … We sat for another half an hour before we had to ask someone to take a food order … twenty minutes later we were told there were no pasties !!! No one asked us if we wanted more drinks … no one asked my husband and son what they wanted instead … two of us had dinner usher meals before anything else turned up … it was really not okay in any way shape or form … Having run a busy sports pub ourselves this was the worst we have experienced in some time … if you have 100 covers plus give the staff areas to manage … it was all over the show with other customers coming in after us having drinks meals desserts and leaving …. We were still waiting … totally unacceptable … We have been here before but not likely to return after this awful experience with other customers walking out after waiting ages and getting no food … it isn’t difficult … cmon guys sort it out before the place loses more custom… It represents British custom … we would never run a business like this trust me !!! We are disappointed and totally fed up and wish we hadn’t bothered …. How not to run a business

Written 5 January 2022

Jane

Kerikeri202 contributions

Excellent

May 2020 • friends

Arrived after booking night before, service was great and the food was very tasty. There was a group of 6 of us all our meals were so nice with a pint of Bulmers for 4 of us and beer for the other two. Unfortunately no room for pudding. We visited here few times never been dissatisfied. Compliments to ALL the staff.See you all again when we visit beautiful Taupo again. Can recommend the pan fried fish with mustard mash and hubby enjoyed the fish and chips.

Written 30 May 2020

Andrew M

Taupo134 contributions

Average Burgers at Jolly Good Fellows

Oct 2020 • couples

Our first visit to Jolly Good Fellows as locals and we were expecting more. Decided on burgers so asked do u use fresh mince and make your own beef burger pattie - told no. Partner and I then decided to try chicken burgers but again a processed chicken pattie and a very average chicken burger. Partner gave it 6/10, I gave it 6.5/10. We think for $22 the burgers are expensive and Jolly Good Fellow should really use a fresh chicken breast for their burger pattie. Staff provided very good service but average food.

Written 11 October 2020

Jan P

Auckland65 contributions

Train your staff

Nov 2021 • friends

The staff need training . To start with they brought out two drinks that were totally wrong and told us even if we didn’t want them we would have to pay for them. Not a good start but eventually we all got a drink Within 5 minutes of ordering our meals two arrived one was wrong but we were told we’d ordered it so had to accept it These two people ate then 45 minutes later more meals arrived and after we had finished about another 30 minutes the last two meals arrived. I would have thought that if they took a booking for a table of 12 they could manage it a lot better than that . Staff obviously had no training. My meal of lambs fry and bacon was very nice but it was all so disjointed I would not go back.

Written 29 November 2021

Dona S

Porirua860 contributions

Great service, food and cider on tap

Jun 2020 • none

We stopped in at Jolly Good Fellows for snacks and a drink once, and for lunch on a second occasion. Service was friendly and swift, food servings were ample (fish and chip lunch was comfortably enough for us to share one lunch) and they have cider on tap. Wonderful.

Written 13 June 2020

Paul H

1 contribution

Service

Jan 2020 • solo

Decided to pop in for a quiet beer on a public holiday at 2pm only to be confronted with an grumpy bar person that looked as though she really didn't want to be there ,she was very curt to most of the punters whilst explaining to one and all regarding a 15% surcharge expecting them to think twice about staying. Most people understand public holidays and realize they have to pay a little more but not with a snarley employee. It is a bonus in the pay packet for those that work on these days so one must smile and welcome visitors..

Written 3 February 2020

Raizel

2 contributions

Over charged for food when ordered small and asked for wedges instead of fries

Mar 2022 • none

Rude service staff that over-charged for change from fries to wedges. Ordered fish and chips small ($22) the beer battered fish was sloggy and they came with two pieces large ($28). When asked if possible to change the chips to wedges, 1st waiting staff said yes but did not inform that will be charged for it. On paying was told that was served a large and have to pay extra for change of wedges and at $11. Poor service and attitude. Will not dine there, Ok for a drink. But else. Take your dinning experience else where.

Written 12 March 2022

Mark

6 contributions

Jolly Average Fellows

Jan 2023 • friends

If you are looking for hearty pub food, a stunning location and great value, this place gets one of the three spot on. The location is awesome. It used to be a top bar, I have been every year for about 9 years. Something bad has happened based on tonight's experience. The sign said full menu available. There was indeed a full menu. But hardly any of it was available - including the only vegetarian dish. Four different options before discovering one that hadn't run out. And we're talking 6:30 pm. Most of our party had eaten by the time the final dishes appeared. As it seems that they forgot two dishes. The fish in the the once great fish and chips appeared to have already eaten half of the chips without putting on a gram in weight- it was a pathetic child sized portion. A $25 child portion. Totally ridiculous. Next the porterhouse steak. About $45 and composed of a lot of gristle. Mushroom sauce was nice though. We had a child in the party who ordered sausage and mash from the kid's menu. An adult ordered the same from the main menu. The difference was about half a sausage and $12. Three of us had it (not as first choice) and it was extremely bland with tasteless sausages. The beef burger looked pretty good, but the Chicken burger was really poor, almost vegetarian with a tiny amount of chicken and just a nod to red onion. When I mentioned to the maitre d' (that is how she was referred to) that we were very disappointed with the lack of availability, the wait for food, the poor value - in particular of the $25 fish and chips, she just agreed and said she'd pass it on. This gets one star because the beer collection is awesome. This has been an annual stop for years now, but sorry Jolly Average Goidfellows, we won't be back.

Written 5 January 2023

TJ & RK

112 contributions

Hit and Miss - very average

Mar 2021 • none

We ate here on a busy night. The service was really slow and they badly need some staff training. Handing meals across the table - they should walk around the table and serve meals properly. It took a Loooooong time to get a drink. The Lamb Shank and the Beef & Guinness Pastie were really good, the Steak was chewy and full of gristle, the kids meal were excellent. The waiter dropped a container of white sauce over my wife's top and pants - he said "if it's any consolation I've got some on my trousers and shoe". REALLY ???? He didn't even tell the lady in charge but when we did she did not charge for that meal. We will NOT be going back and wouldn't recommend - too hit and miss.

Written 5 April 2021

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