Name: Waikanae Hotel
Address: Main Road, State Highway One, Waikanae, Waikanae, Waikanae, 5036, New Zealand
Rating: 6

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Waikanae Hotel

Waikanae

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We stayed here for 3 nights   the celebration we were attending was being held in Waikanae..No problem finding the hotel and check in was easy...just ask the person behind the Bar.The Staff there were helpful on checking in.The room was large had one double bed and a single...it was very clean and toiletries provided .Fresh Towels everyday.We were next to the Dining Room and thought it might be noisy   but no   hardly any noise at all.this is classed as a country hotel so dont expect the Hilton treatment   but the price is great value for money. Would recommend this hotel to the traveller.Just one matter..on checking in I asked what time was breakfast.Was told 11am!!! There is no early breakfast for the guest.There are a couple of nice cafes nearbytho...Coffee and tea is provided in the room.

Good Country Hotel

Driving down from Hamilton late-ish in the evening, I needed a hotel on the Kapiti coast for a 9am meeting the next day. Small, well equipped room with own facilities. Comfy bed, steak house just down the hall. Friendly helpful staff. And v-e-r-y good value. What more could you ask?

Simple, great value

I stayed at Waikanae Hotel recently for 5 nights due to attending an event in Waikanae. Arriving at around mid-afternoon, I found the reception desk empty (I do not think I saw anyone behind it my entire stay) and cycled through the list of phone numbers placed on the board beside it. No one answered, but on the third number I caught a glimpse of a young lady inside the restaurant hurrying in the other direction. She appeared to have seen me, so I waited a little longer (not long enough, as it turned out) then picked up my bags and wandered around to the Sports Bar at the front, as per instructions. Lady at Sports Bar then sent me back to the reception area (informing me that the lass was on her way back to me), where-in I found it still vacant. Rang through the numbers again, and on the second ring the lass appeared and sorted out my booking. She took me through to pay up front and handed me the key along with directions to my room.

As these advertise themselves as "The Kapiti Coasts Friendliest Hotel" I was expecting somewhat more, but no matter. The room was indeed the third or fourth door on the left. It was a single room, containing a double bed, ensuite, small bedside desk with even smaller television, a kettle and a Red Bull bar fridge. About the right size for a six-pack of yoghurt and some soft drink bottles.

The bed seemed clean, and came equipped with electric blanket, but there was a distinct lack of eiderdown or any sort of blanket - something of a problem on the first night when it was freezing cold (on proceeding nights I learned to start running the heater before I went to bed, it never made the room hot, merely kept it at a pleasant temperature). The room was "serviced daily" which essentially meant that someone changed the towels and emptied the rubbish bin. During my 5-night stay, the two cups were never cleaned nor even moved, despite me clearly using them (and lacking appropriate cleaning materials, aside from hot water), although they did top up my mini-milk at least twice. I am fairly certain they did not change the sheets as the bed remained in its slightly rumpled state for my entire stay. The tiny television only got three channels, all of which were sport related (two were racing channels). As all the others attending the event and staying there had wall mounted tvs and a full array of channels, I could not help feeling somewhat disappointed, and a little ripped-off (even though I was not there to watch television, it is good to have background noise in the evening, which were mostly spent in my room drawing). The desk proved useful for my work, albeit with a bit of furniture rearranging, and the lighting was good. Others in our gathering had issues with the hot/cold running water, but I am thankful to report that my shower was fine - albeit that the head was too low (the curse of motel/hotel showers everywhere when you're almost 6 foot tall).

We dined at the hotel on three occasions, and all times the meals were satisfying and tasty (corn fritters, soup and the curry), although some more vegetarian options would have been nice. The prices were fairly reasonable and I particularly enjoyed the thrusday special - main +dessert (or entree). They allowed our group to use their conference room for two full days, which was grand, and supplied it with tea and coffee, so absolutely no complaints there.

Overall, the Waikanae Hotel is not the sort of place I would normally stay five nights in, I would consider it more of a one-nighter. It provided what I required but there were too many small niggles to make me inclined to stay there again.

WiFi would have been nice, but the library has it from 10-5ish daily and there was a little cafe on the main street that offered it as well. Dine there once and you can ask for the passcode.

Basic, decent value

I enjoy fine food and wine and am prepared to pay for it. So it was with some trepidation that I found myself in Absolute Steak in Waikanae on 2 for 1 night!

I realised that I was not in Kansas anymore when a young man in gum boots and his very scantily-clad girl friend tried to make a last minute booking only to be told that the restaurant was fully booked and had been for several days. Clearly Thursdays were a very popular night. While waiting for our dining companions we had a drink at the bar. I asked for a Campari which was duly served along with a comment that this was the first time he'd served Campari in the 6 months he had worked there. He thought it wasn't sold there. 

For people from outside New Zealand the Waikanae Hotel in which Absolute Steak is based is very much a spit and sawdust kind of place where you (almost) expect to find horses hitched on the rail outside and gunfights inside! Passing the establishment by car it seems that almost everyone is outside smoking. It's that sort of place. Thankfully smoking is banned indoors in New Zealand.

Looking around it seemed that the crowd was mainly 20-40's with a number of children or various ages. The restaurant is basic with little in the way of branding, theming or decoration. Just tables in a room really. The kitchen was clearly visible from the restaurant. While this means you can see your food is being prepared in hygienic conditions it does little for dining ambience. With the sort of place it is I was surprised that they hadn't themed it western style like Monteiths in Paraparaumu.

My companions ordered an eye fillet, a half kilo steak, stuffed chken thighs and I ordered the Roast Vegetable Cannelloni having decided that Fish of the Day and Crumbed fish of the day might be a little greasy. I thought a vegetable meal would be foolproof.

We ordered a bottle of wine and just as well as even though we were one of the first to arrive in the restaurant our meals took a very long time to be served. I noticed a young couple just across from us gazing around the room having exhausted their small talk, looking for their meals with an air of annoyance. One of the results of a two for one night (or 241 as the restaurant styles it) I guess.

Our meals finally arrived. This is clearly a value for money place with thick cut fries piled high on the plate. A 500g steak looks like a mammoth affair! My partner's choice of Eye fillet or our friend's choice of stuffed chicken thighs appeared to be a much more reasonable choice to make. My partner who has worked in catering described the eye fillet as "delightful". In spite of the size the 500k steak was duly polished off though no vegetables or fries could join it! My vegetable cannelloni proved to be a poor choice due I think to the long wait. The vegetables 
inside the cannelloni were a mush, the cannelloni impenetrable on the base and the tomato puree so overcooked it bordered on solid in parts. The sauce claimed to contain basil but any flavours from this herb were long steamed out of it. Rather disappointing for such a simple dish.

We decided to have a dessert. I choose a macadamia maple tart served with butterscotch sauce and vanilla bean. My partner choose Anzac apple and rhubarb crumble (the crumble is made partially from Anzac buscuits). One friend had cheesecake while the other very politely asked for a small portion of icecream. He was the one that had the 500g steak! This was refused which was puzzling. Described as a "child's icecream" this had been "taken off the menu". While not quite a stand-up row, an argument over why a small portion of icecream could not be supplied ensued which rather ruined the evening. In the end our friend handed over the scoop of icecream supplied with his dessert (conveniently in a tiny dish) and everyone was happy.

So you can expect food without ambience and cheap prices at Absolute Steak. Expect to wait and if a vegetarian, by my experience, expect your food to be overcooked. Service is friendly and efficient, but the menu is immoveable to the extent that even a single portion of icecream cannot be supplied.

Absolute Steak Restaurant at the Waikanae Hotel

I should have known better -- a "hotel in New Zealand for $75"? Well, I got what I paid for. It was very difficult to find the hotel in the first place. The "hotel" sign is smaller than the signs for the restaurant and bars in the same building. After walking around the premises and not finding an entrance to the hotel, I finally went into one of the bars and found the right person to check us in. The whole place is very old and there are signs all over the parking lot about thefts. The room was VERY basic, but I think it was clean (I tried not to look too hard at anything). When I asked about wifi I was laughed at -- the woman at the desk said that no-one in town had wifi. Well, we did find wifi at a lovely restaurant about five minutes away on the beach. Wish I could have slept there instead!

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