Restaurant Amok

They were very busy and when I arrived I had to wait about 20 mins after the booked time got a table. I was hungry so was probably a little grumpy about this. The food and wines were excellent. Probably due to business the service was ok. Generally very friendly but with a tasting menu I think it’s important to explain the dishes and not just plonk them down which happened with the majority of courses. Despite this, I would go again if ever in Wellington as the food was very well cooked and presented.

I was lucky to be part of a group tonight and had Amok's tasting menu. From start to finish it was amazing..some of the highlights were a beautiful potato bread, sashimi, steak tartare on potato rosti , eggplant that was gob smacking delicious, smoked snapper with a wonderful squid ink sauce packed with so much flavor, and a fabby tiramisu at the end.. needless to say service was impeccable and wine suggestion for me was spot on. Don't make the mistake I did and that was not going sooner..do it now as only a few weeks left ..

I booked Amok for dinner as I was aware they changed their menu often to include the best seasonal produce. When we arrived we were welcomed like old friends despite this being the first time visiting. The owner Tashie leads the floor and runs the bar and menu with a knowledge second to none and her chef husband Thom creates the magic you get to enjoy on your palate. We chose the set menu to include the amazing (recipe please) potato bread, seafood platter, agnolotti pasta, pork belly, tuatua and radicchio, parmesan, fennel salad followed by delicious tiramisu (and we added on the Basque cheesecake too). The entire meal was well constructed, considerate and sumptuous. We left wanting for nought. The hospitality Amok provides only heightens the culinary experience. We enjoyed it so much we waxed lyrical to 3 ladies on the street looking for tasty morsels who headed indoors for their own experience. Will definately be back and if you haven't tried Amok.. do!

tasty food, terrible service. my friends and i gathered for what we thought would be an exciting dining experience. the daily specials were shared and so a few of us opted for them only to be told shortly afterwards that our table couldn't order so many (!!!) as they only had a limited amount for the evening. our server seemed to be getting the blunt of this from the kitchen. as a paying customer, we simply wanted to know why this was the case and since that point the service and hospitality went straight out the window even though we agreed to reduce our specials request. the food delivery was extremely staggered, the last 2 plates came out as an after-thought about 30 mins after the main pasta dishes. the specials were priced double what was expected on the bill as it was not communicated at the start. the positive side of the story, beyond great company of friends is that all of the dishes were very tasty. i would not recommend if you want to feel like a valued customer.

Sensational. Attentive and authentic staff interactions with a keen sense of service. It can be said, they 'smiled through their eyes'. The team there were co-operative, intuitive, thankful and very efficient. The food options with our order (a set menu) were delicious, daring and presented creatively. Thank you for such a mesmerising evening!

Having being privileged to eat at many great, unknown and known restaurants round the world, I’ve never been more wonderfully surprised by dishes than at this place. It’s astounding. The team who clearly love what they do, the relaxed and unpretentious atmosphere, and the astonishing “utterly new” flavour and ingredient combinations have me coming back with joy. Settle in, this place is a treat!

Where to start… this review, sadly, is two-fold. Two friends and I booked and confirmed our reservation and showed up on time. The maître d’ said “oh, no, you’re on the waitlist”. I disagreed and showed her my confirmation email. I was asked to sit at the bar while they ‘checked the system’ 20 minutes later I was told that they had recently upgraded their booking system and mine had been the only one to fail… looking around, there were a few available tables, but we were obviously not going to be given one of those, as the other people that had received confirmation emails couldn’t possibly miss out like we were about to. After 25 minutes we were told there was a table for us upstairs. We though ‘oh, great’. Nope, was not great. There was a private booking upstairs and we were just lumped upstairs while a private party was going on. The table we were given was very small. Not to be dramatic, but there was no way that three adults could have been expected to sit there comfortably. There were two staff working on the private function, and we appeared to be forgotten about. We were finally given a menu (but only one for the three of us) so we asked for two more menus. They never came. The waitress finally came back and asked us if we wanted a drink. We ordered red wine and when the drinks were dropped off we asked if they could possibly find us another table to add to the end of our tiny one. We were told absolutely, but it never came. The drinks were finally delivered, but the red wine we ordered was chilled (weird flex, but okay), but I think it’s best to let your diners know that it’s served cold. We didn’t get the opportunity to order food and, after 1.5 hours of a disastrous evening, we got up and left. The maître d’ feigned a feeble apology, but no offer of a ‘please come back and have a drink on us’ was even thought of. 5 weeks later I decided to try again because everybody was raving about the food, and I really wanted to give it a go. Our group of 5 got to eat this time, but it was disastrous. Our waitress appeared very new, but was lovely to start. She tried to talk us through the menu, but her knowledge was limited. We were also told about the black truffle pasta special (which sounded lovely). Our table of 5 ordered 3 of the truffle specials, and 10 minutes after ordering our waitress came back to say that we had ordered “too many of the specials for our table” and did we want to order the other pasta. After some back and forth, we were finally told that there was only two portions left and we had to order something else (fair, but why did that have to take so long to be told, and why were they pushing the special so much if there was only 2 portions left), so strange. A few moments later we saw our waitress crying at the bar. We felt very bad and hoped that we hadn’t caused it, but I suspect that the chef or someone in the kitchen had gotten angry and taken it out on her. The food was drip fed to us and was utterly disappointing. The pasta dishes came first, and 40 minutes later we had to ask about the other two mains (the venison and pork chop). Well, if your idea of a pork chop is chewing on nothing but fat and paying $48 for the pleasure, you should definitely eat here. Also, the pasta special that was so overtly sold to us was $50!! The other pasta dishes are around the $22 mark. I understand that truffle is expensive, but if you’re going to push a (limited number remember) of these special pasta dishes, you should tell/advertise how much the dish actually is. We couldn’t believe it when we got the bill! The portions were also so small that we left still hungry (no joke, we went to New World after). Sadly, I will never ever eat here again. I am actually baffled at all the other positive reviews. Who knows, maybe I am just unlucky to have had two very bad experiences here. We ended up paying over $400 for one of the most disappointing meals I have ever had.