Rassasy - Rassasy 501 Port Road

We arrived Friday and Merryn and Lauren the amazing Michelin Star staff were 5 star and the food and drinks and music were also 5 star so.....we had to come back again on Sunday. Try the Aracini Balls, Crayfish Summer Rolls and Caesar Salad ...out of this world.

Good, but very basic food. The place: The set up is nice, it looks good. But it's extremely noisy. The Service: Above the average of what you find in NZ restaurant. The waitresses were nice, and they don't start to undo the table before you re finish (which seems to be the norm in many places). I was amazed of the number of waitress/bar staff. They were like 7 to serve say 30/40 seats. For that sort of restaurant, with well trained staff, you should be able to manage with 2 waitress and 2 in the kitchen. The Food: We started with cocktails. The two we had were not very nice to drink. I don't recommend their cocktails. Then, the starter was extremely good. We had Pork Belly. The pork in itself was nice. But it was the salad with it that was divine, I definitely recommend it. There was a wide range of starters options available. The Mains: There are 4 options available. - One fish of the day (we didnt try). - One vegetarian Laksa (I dont trust white people with malaysian food. I ve enjoyed gorgeous laksa in Auckland not to take the risk to get disappointed here). - A salmon filet: The salmon was nice (maybe over cooked by my standard, but I like it less cooked than most I suppose), served 10 green beans. - Steak and potatoes: The steak was nice, well cooked, so were the few potatoes around it. The portions are not very big, you have to add a side (and apart from some basic fries, the other sides were not tempting). The choice is very limited (4 mains). And this is very very basic. Exactly the kind of meal I would do on a week day, after work, when I don't have time to cook. Not the kind of food you expect when you go to a restaurant. The desert: I had a chocolate fondant. The part around was ok, but not to the level of what my partner is able to make. And as usual in NZ, to save money I guess, when you expect to get chocolate taste, you get mostly cocoa. Then, the fondant part was... interesting/weird. Chocolate and gin! I like the idea, but it doesn't go together. To sum it up: The starter was the only thing worth it. The rest was either as basic as can be or just not very good taste. And the price is very high. I was happy to this new venue, but next time I'll go to some better/tastier restaurant in Whangamata.

Food, service and whole experience was outstanding, on a busy Friday night too. Steaks were cooked perfectly as requested, arancini - delicious, vegan peanut laksa had so many flavours! Happy family here - definitely returning & recommend.

I 10/10 would NOT recomend this place at all! I have really been trying to think of something that was actually good about dinner tonight, but I can't think of anything. We waited an hour and a half for our mains, they didn't get our drink orders right, the food was very overpriced for what it was and then we were told that "it was a Saturday night and that's just what you get" as well as no response or apology when we expressed our disappointment. We left very annoyed and ended up going home to have peanut butter on toast which tasted amazing unlike anything we got served at Rassasy.

Very disappointed, we weren't told of any delays until 20mins after we ordered. Then waited over an hour for our food. The fries were not shoestring and some were undercooked. No one asked how the meal was and when we told them as we paid there was no apology we got told it was a Saturday night and that was what to expect. We will not be going back.

Went to dinner here on a whim knowing nothing about the place and was not disappointed. Excellent food and great service from the friendly staff who helped me understand the menu. Good serving size and cooked well. Nice vibes and tasteful music in background. I Recommend this place.

Wow, what a brilliant experience we had. Warm and friendly service, good wine list and outstanding food. If you are a lover of seafood you are in for a treat. We had the crayfish linguine, the yellow fin tune and the fish of the day - John Dory with a classic combination of slivered almonds, grapes, capers in a butter sauce. Expertly cooked and so incredibly fresh. The chef here is clearly very passionate about where the ingredients come from, with a list of all of the suppliers and their names included within the menu. Oh and if the side dish of Asian greens with Crispy Duck XO is on the menu get it! We came back the next day for another round of this.

The food was off the chart amazing, fantastic drink selection and Sina, our waitress, was an absolute delight. We can't wait to come back!