The Beach House Restaurant

I used to LOVE this spot. We would come here every trip home for a date looking out over bucklands beach. So, when I found a groupon for a seafood platter for two with sparkling wine, I was all «oh, hell yes!»
Wrong. Big mistake.
First thing I found out was that the restaurant recently changed hands and the most recent reviews have not been so good. But when we tried to book our reservation and couldn’t, I started to get a bit frustrated.
And I became even more frustrated when we drove down to find out the restaurant had been closed since before Christmas. Yep, the new owner took all the money and ran.
So, I didn’t get my date night after all, and I’m now having to deal with groupon on a refund request. So unfortunate because this spot used to be such a hidden gem.

We had a fabulous pre-Valentine’s dinner here on Friday. The food was up to their usual high standard — I had a great duck entrée followed by a beautifully tender and tasty venison loin and topped off with a lovely creamy crème brûlée.
It’s a beautiful spot right in the beach at Buckland’s Beach and you do get a fabulous view of the sun setting over Point England, even if it can be temporarily blinding for about 15 minutes. The chef yelling orders in the kitchen was a little disconcerting and it’s not really the lively energetic restaurant environment that supports that.
The staff were attentive enough but always come across as young and inexperienced and unsure of themselves.
We’ll be back though as its a lovely spot

Great food and service. All of the full priced meals are incredibly good. They do offer cheap dinners on Tuesdays to Thursdays (i think) which for some reason aren’t nearly as good.
Ive returned here many times to have the Twice cooked duck and the shrimp with rice. Their dessert are sweet enough and light enough to be consumed after a biggg dinner.
Music and ambiance is romantic and intimate but still friendly and open enough for family gatherings and anniversaries.

We were an hour late for our reservation and although the place was busy the staff were prompt to have us seated. The service from there on was excellent.
I started with the Ota Ika which was the biggest disappointment of the evening. It says it is Tongan inspired but I’ve never tasted anything so foul and tasteless. It’s like something someone scooped up from a Valentine’s Buffet.
For my main I ordered the lamb which landed on the other spectrum of the taste chart– overly seasoned and choking with sodium. My dining partner ordered the pork belly and complained it was dry. I was a bit peeved that while we ordered different dishes the presentation was so similar it could have been the same. And what is with the crisps and salsa on every dish?!
We didn’t stay for dessert having been disappointed enough so we left after paying for what seemed like an over priced pretentious meal that without the excellent service by the staff would have been a dreadful waste of time and money.

Always enjoy myself when we come here, food is great, service is great, location in great

Great atmosphere. Music is good. Inside décor and lighting is warm. Im not a great fan of fake candles but thats the most I couldn’t stand. The staff were great friendly and very accommodating.
We ordered the seafood platter for two ($ 130) and the twice cooked duck. The platter was amazing and almost too overwhelming. The raw snapper in coconut was stood out to me the most.
Would definitely consider coming back here for special occasions.

Culinary delight on the beach. Super fresh ingredients, great atmosphere, beautiful flavours and presentation. Fine dining prices but with actual good service! Plus great location, plenty of free parking. Highly recommend! Try the sea food platter for two or a few entrees for a selection.

Years before this restaurant was awesome, I did a trial as a kitchenhand and hated it! I think I was so traumatised that I didn’t go back there for a long time. When I did — Boy George did I have a fabulous time.
My partner and I splurged on an anniversary dinner here, and went full seafood pretty much all evening. For our entrees we had yellow fin tuna with gazpacho soup, and pan-​fried scallops with garlic and fresh basil champagne cream sauce. So. Freakin. Good. For our mains we racked up $ 130 on the seafood platter for two that had salmon, mussels, oysters, more tuna, prawns, crabs and oh man, some sweet sweet seafood coma times.
While I think we were about 20 years younger than anyone in the restaurant, we had an amazing time and will happily take the trip out to Howick to go there again.