The Stables

The Stables definitely deserves ⁵⁄₅ stars :)
We had our wedding reception here, for good reason!
Firstly, the management (Woody Richards) and staff are absolutely outstanding, and super helpful. Woody was a helpful guide to us, and his knowledge & experience made planning our reception easy breezy. He and the wonderful staff were keen helping hands before the reception started and offered help setting up where they could. When we’ve dined here casually, the service is always really kind and friendly.
The venue is beautiful. There’s two large fireplaces which make it feel cosy, but it’s a pretty big space too. Also, being located in Matakana makes it feel like a nice getaway from the Auckland CBD. They let us bring in additional decorations too.
The food is DIVINE. For our wedding, they served tapas, entrees, mains, and deserts. All of them were to die for! They were generous portions as well, so our guests were very satisfied!
The ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ serving style was great, and our guests loved being able to share with their partners. As major food-​lovers, the meals at our wedding were important and we felt stoked at how delicious they were.
So, overall, definitely check out The Stables if you’re up in Matakana! Especially if you’re on the lookout for a wedding venue :)

Matakana, you have hit the jackpot.
In the heart of The Matakana Country Park, located 2 minutes outside of Matakana as you head towards Pt Wells or Omaha, is this gem located by equestrian showgrounds and the arts and craft centre.
Locals in the Matakana area now have a superb restaurant that caters to groups and families with good service and hearty dinner fare. I’m a steak lover, so I’m delighted that The Stables have a dedicated steak specials night, but their salt and pepper calamari entrée deserves a strong recommendation as a not to be missed meal too.
My wife loved her crusted snapper (just caught around the corner by Leigh Fisheries) and the children loved their fish and chips. Grandma had the eye fillet and myself the scotch fillet, and both cuts of beef were well received.
No space for dessert though, the portion are very large, as if you were in an American restaurant. Be warned that an entrée and main will be VERY filling…
Service is very good. On one night, the waitress struggled a little to understand our order as she was perhaps Italian or Central European and her English was struggling with kiwi accents, but the service is still friendly and competent.
Definitely a place to keep coming back to.

II recently went to a wedding reception at The Stables and was completely blown away by the venue. For one thing it is in the most amazing location, the beautiful Matakana. For another, everything was done perfectly.
As soon as you walk in you feel right at home. It’s got lots of wooden beams and a huge fire that has a way of making it feel really cozy. This also meant that the place didn’t feel too formal or too casual, the guests instantly relaxed and were all cooing over how brilliant the venue is.
The food was tapas and it was all beautiful, fresh and local produce. The staff were so accommodating and were very quick to help us if we needed anything. Outside there was a cute little church, horse jumping fields, and a cute little croquet course.
It really was a wedding like none I’ve ever been to. We, and I know the bride and groom also, had the most amazing time and will be back for sure.