Bully Hayes Restaurant & Bar

Someone from this business manages this listing.

1,317 reviews

#6 of 18 Restaurants in Akaroa$$ - $$$, Bar, Seafood, International

+64 3-304 7533+ 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 - 8:30 pm

Sat

8:00 am - 9:00 pm

Improve this listing

Ratings and reviews

4.0

1,317 reviews

#6 of 18 Restaurants in Akaroa

RATINGS

Food

Service

Value

Atmosphere

Food and ambience

Local cuisine, Bar, Seafood, European, New Zealand, International

“One traveller had a steak and our 4th traveller a pasta dish.”

“We were hungry for salad after a couple days of full-on holiday dining, and t...”

Special Occasion Dining, View, Groups

“Spectacular food, Spectacular views and Spectacular service”

Location and contact

57 Beach Road, Akaroa 7520 New Zealand

+64 3-304 7533

Improve this listing

Can a gluten free person get a good meal at this restaurant?

Yes

Unsure

Details

Manage this business?

About

Akaroa’s Premium Dining Spot. Open 7 days year-round for Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Coffee or Tapas and a drink in the sun. Sensational panoramic views of Akaroa Harbour whilst you dine in any of our indoor and outdoor areas. We also offer a sheltered courtyard garden with a children’s play area for families. Extensive menu focusing on fresh New Zealand produce with an innovative mix of traditional and modern flavours. Includes a large variety of seafood and award-winning cuisine [2019 beef and lamb excellence award] at prices to suit any budget. To complement your dining at any time of the day we have a comprehensive beverage list with New Zealand Wines, “Monteith’s” and “Tuatara” craft beers on tap and in bottle, Cocktails and a large range of non-alcoholic drinks. Bully Hayes Restaurant & Bar bringing together great food and beverages with stunning harbour views. Something for everyone!

PRICE RANGE

$7.00 – $42.00

CUISINES

Bar, Seafood, International, European, Contemporary, New Zealand

Special Diets

Vegetarian friendly, Vegan options, Gluten free options

Meals

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

FEATURES

Reservations, Seating, Television, Highchairs Available, Wheelchair Accessible, Serves Alcohol, Full Bar, Wine and Beer, Free Wifi, Accepts Credit Cards, Table Service, Waterfront, Gift Cards Available

Contribute

Write a review Upload a photo Ask a question

We perform checks on reviews.

Tripadvisor’s approach to reviews

Before posting, each Tripadvisor review goes through an automated tracking system, which collects information, answering the following questions: how, what, where and when. If the system detects something that potentially contradicts our community guidelines, the review is not published.

When the system detects a problem, a review may be automatically rejected, sent to the reviewer for validation, or manually reviewed by our team of content specialists, who work 24/7 to maintain the quality of the reviews on our site.

Our team checks each review posted on the site disputed by our community as not meeting our community guidelines.

Learn more about our review moderation.

4.0

1,317 reviews

Excellent

505

Very good

535

Average

172

Poor

Terrible

Garry M

Christchurch98 contributions

Pleasantly surprised

Sept 2020 • couples

Fantastic meal. Very surprised as an erstwhile disappointed local had given Bully Hayes a wide berth for over 10 years. A little more expensive than anticipated but great service and extensive menu. A large menu always a risk on a quiet night. Pork riblet and Gurnard taco 🌮 starters, followed by Chatham's blue cod and an aged Fillet. Generous meals. Only criticusm being no need to have house cocktails and $31 monteith jugs trifold upright promo on the table, and offering fries in addition to magnificently flavoured croquettes a bit strange. Extremely well prepared and with a couple of drinks each total bill was $157 for two. May have found my new Akaroa "go to" option.

Written 10 September 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.

Li_and_Vi

Martinborough78 contributions

Extensive menu options - interesting and good value light mains

May 2021 • none

It was good that the restaurant was open on a Monday night, although there were not a lot of other diners. The menu is surprisingly extensive. We both choose items from the light mains selections and our expectations were exceeded. The light mains offerings seem to offer some interesting variations from run of the mill restaurant mains at a very good value price. Both the dishes we selected were well-presented, excellent in taste and sufficiently large to leave us pleasantly satisfied. Highly recommended.

Written 2 July 2021

Nard

9 contributions

Quick service and tasty meal.

Aug 2020 • family

Quick service and tasty meal. Dined here Sunday evening. Not looking for a large meal. We all chose a light meal or entree and were very impressed with the speed in which the meal was delivered. Very tasty as well. Between us we had the whitebait omelette, blue cod and chips and BBQ pork riblets. All recommended.

Written 22 August 2020

cmb2

1201 contributions

On the waterfront, but no views.......

May 2019 • none

This was 1 of the top-rated restaurants in tiny Akaroa, so we came to get a good meal with nice ambience & a view. What we got was an average meal, terrible ambience & no view at all. The place was packed when we arrived & there was only 1 table open for 2. When we were seated we were told we needed to be finished by 7 pm because this table was reserved beginning at 7. WHAT???? Nothing like being told you have to gulp down your meal if you want to order it here, but we accepted their terms since we did not want to eat or drink heavily. The tiny dining room was so cramped, there was barely any room for the wait staff to walk between tables. It was also VERY NOISY. We could not hear each other when talking normally even tho we were only 2 ft. apart from each other. We both needed roughage so we both ordered small side salads as appetizers. His was salmon grav lax with lettuce, & mine was the Waldorf salad with its special dressing. When hubbie's ribeye steak arrived, it came with a different side salad (this was not listed on the menu), so we split this 3rd salad. His steak was just OK. My garlic-fried prawns with linguini & vegetables was also just OK & not something I'd ever order again or recommend. Service was barely adequate, and they were certainly trying to get us out by 7 with the way we seemed rushed. Cannot recommend coming here at dinner time during the height of the season because it's too noisy, too crowded, and the drinks were overpriced in our opinion. We were here in February 2019 even tho the review might say we came in May because the TA calendar did not go back that far.

Written 26 April 2020

dajeck

Invercargill265 contributions

A really disappointing experience.

Jul 2020 • family

A really disappointing experience. Went with great anticipation of a TOP class fish meal but oops no. The service was basic and lacked finesse, the food was poorly cooked and presented and all overpriced!!

Written 10 July 2020

genieNZ

Darfield118 contributions

so disappointing

Nov 2020 • none

We had been recommended Bully Hayes but our experience was so different to the recommendation that we asked the maître d' if they had changed hands recently. We should point out that this review is based on what our expectations were given the price we paid. Our final bill for 2 people was $182. For that price we do expect to be shown to our table. We had made a reservation and were told by the person behind the bar "that's your table with the reservation sign, just go and sit down". Pre-dinner drinks and the taking of our orders was fine. We both ordered the duck for a main. It was $42 each so we had a reasonable expectation that it was going to be pretty good. After we had ordered the waitress returned and told us that they didn't have any ham dumplings as the accompaniment listed but they would substitute them for bacon croquettes. We accepted that option. What arrived was 2 slices of very fatty duck roll on a bed of pickled red cabbage, a bowl of steamed cauliflower, carrots and beans and some fairly soggy potato. When we got the waitress's attention she said there was confusion in the kitchen and the chef had given us potatoes instead. Sadly the pickled red cabbage dominated the entire plate, and in fact, was enough cabbage to feed 3-4 people. All in all it was a very disappointing experience for such an amazing location. We are not a snobs by any stretch of the imagination but when paying $42 for a main course we don't expect to be wedged into a table where there are groups of men slurping pints at the bar. On a positive note the glasses of wine were a very generous size and not the usual splash in the bottom of an oversized glass.

Written 2 November 2020

Brisbanebeachgoer

Christchurch7 contributions

Worst seafood platter.

Jan 2020 • family

Worst seafood platter. $45 for store bought marinated mussels, half a plate of lettuce and a bunch deep fried of deep fried seafood to bulk it out. Would’ve been better value to get a seafood basket at a local pub - may have even been fresher.

Written 3 January 2020

The2Ks

Christchurch17 contributions

No social distancing

Jun 2020 • couples

We dined in on a cold Thursday night during level two COVID19 restrictions and were surrounded fed by diners with no social distancing being practiced at all. Nothing was being satanised and our meals took far too long to be delivered to us. The lights were flickering constantly and the waitress seemed to hover as if we were a nuisance. Being less than a foot away from other diners made us feel like two sardines and with the current state of things this wasn’t good. Food when it came was fair at best with the mushroom jus for the steak being bland and tasteless and the onion rings had far too much batter on them.

Written 3 June 2020

EMG0117

Auckland Central553 contributions

Views make up for the meal

Oct 2020 • none

Not wanting a heavy, fried meal I liked the sound of their salads hence my choose to go for dinner here; I arrived at 6:40pm. Ordered their house salad (fresh crisp seasonal garden salad greens, tomatoes, olives, marinated feta, nuts and seeds dressed with an orange & mustard olive oil vinaigrette served with mushroom and cheese arancini balls.) I should know better by now: salad was crisp, as were my 3 olives, 4 bits of feta; arancini were very cheesy; quite runny and quite brown on the outside. Vinaigrette was tasty but not enough of it. The glass of pinot noir was nice though and quite a generous amount. No sooner did I pay and leave (around 7:20pm), they shut up shop for the night - obviously they'd had a long day ;)

Written 6 November 2020

johnfcook

Timaru29 contributions

Great Menu

May 2020 • couples

Our visit to Bully Hayes restaurant was a last minute decision which turned out to be a great decision. The dinner menu was surprisingly large and varied giving us an extensive choice. Our meals were well prepared, fresh and tasty. The service was of a high standard and well timed with enough time to enjoy cocktails. We were so pleased with our dinner we didn't hesitate to return the following evening and enjoyed another great meal. The staff are lovely, helpful and made sure we enjoyed our visits. Will definitely return.

Written 2 June 2020

Terence G

Whanganui208 contributions

NOT IMPRESSED

Oct 2020 • none

We had heard so much about Bully Hayes, so in the afternoon we decide to call in for a beer for me and a coffee for my wife. We walked up and a sign said wait to be shown to a table. We waited and waited as staff walked by ignoring us. Finally my wife asked a staff member about a table and was told ‘just find one’. We sat at a table and a waitress bought a menu, but I said I wanted a beer and my wife a coffee, she replied that we ‘should go inside and order. Akaroa has many places to eat and drink so look elsewhere for service.

Written 6 October 2020

Barbara

1 contribution

Overpriced

Jan 2022 • none

We chose the seafood platter to share (2 to 4 people the menu said) as it sounded like a really nice variety of seafood. The servings were stingy, more like for one person. There were only two battered fish which were the size of a finger.The steamed clams and mussels were a non-event, drowned in a thick tomato based sauce. One of the ‘salmon three ways’ was a mousse type pate but there was no bread included with it. We had to pay $5 for 3 pieces of char grilled bread as an add on. What a joke!

Written 15 January 2022

Liketorome

381 contributions

Wonderful location and views with good food

Jan 2020 • none

Went in for dinner and ordered fillet steak. The food was tasty and well-presented. Couple of little gripes - no-one came and asked if everything was OK during the meal and they charge extra if you pay be credit card. The view made up for those things!

Written 16 January 2020

DiscoMom

59 contributions

Great food with a view!

Mar 2020 • couples

We docked in Akaroa off the Maasdam and decided to get some breakfast before our tour. The locals we met suggested Bully Hayes and we were delighted with the food and very friendly service. Full menu & drinks all day long. Only steps away from the tender pier.

Written 2 April 2020

Julie P

2013 contributions

You can watch the world go by

Nov 2019 • none

Of the three restaurants we ate at in Akaroa, this was my favourite. It was a hot day, so we ate outside under parasols, looking out to the waterfront. There's a good selection to suit all tastes so we had salmon with giant couscous which was delicious, and pork belly. Good, honest food and plenty of it.

Written 2 January 2020

…

Showing results 1-15 of 1,240

Best moderately priced restaurants

See all