Soul Bar & Bistro - Viaduct Harbour

Heralded as one of Auckland's trendiest restaurants, the uber cool Soul Bar & Bistro is supposedly the place to go for a spot of celebrity watching in Auckland. At least, that's what Metro magazine had to say in 2008, when it voted the terrace at Soul on a Friday afternoon, the "Best Time & Place for Celebrity Spotting". Soul can boast a host of other awards as well, including Winner of the Hospitality Association of New Zealand Awards for Best Restaurant and Excellence in Customer Service in 2009,  and Best Casual Dining (Metropolitan) Cuisine Magazine NZ Restaurant of the Year Awards 2009. The list is extensive and can be seen on their website's awards page. All this made for impressive reading, so I decided it would be the ideal place to treat Mother for a Mother's Day lunch.

We parked at the Downtown Car Park and made our way across to the Viaduct Harbour and on to Soul, eager to see if the hype surrounding the establishment was justified. We were greeted by the stiff and slightly snobby Maître d’and taken, unsmilingly, to our table. Auckland having turned out a beautiful day, weather wise, we were happy to find ourselves seated on the terrace. Our table was somewhat cramped and quite close to neighbouring tables. However, this being Mother's Day, we had anticipated the restaurant would be a bit crowded, and so weren't too surprised or too put off by this. What was surprising however, was that while the terrace was crowded and a bit cramped, the restaurant itself seemed almost deserted. And yet, despite the distinct lack of patrons, there was no sign of the "Excellence in Customer Service" as indicated by the Hospitality Association of New Zealand.

When we were seated by the Maître d', he asked us if we would like still, sparkling or tap water. We asked for tap water and the Maître d’ was on his way. We were then left to study the menu on our tables for just over 20 minutes before the water arrived. Our waitress was friendly, smiley and polite, but after serving our water, zipped away before we could mention to her we would like to place our order. Once again we were left to wait another age until we finally managed to catch our waitress' eye and inform her we were ready to order. Luckily for Soul, their prime position on the waterfront makes the waiting a little more bearable. This being Mother's Day, the Viaduct Harbour was bustling with families, young and old, big and small, enjoying the day out in the City of Sails, and so we were able to pass the time people watching, as well as watching the boats come and go from the harbour.

When our waitress finally returned, we ordered our meals. Pan fried snapper, served with chorizo, and squid with with saffron potatoes and smoked paprika oil for Mother, hapuka and preserved lemon brandade on sourdough with roast peppers and two poached eggs for Father, and the crayfish and Crystal Bay prawn ravioli with granny smith apple puree and toasted leeks for me. The meals looked good on paper and after another lengthy wait we were famished and expecting big things.

Sadly however, it appears that the hype surrounding Soul seems to be unfounded. My ravioli was the most disappointing dish of the meal. It consisted of just 4 pieces of ravioli that were mainly pasta with minimal filling. Moreover, it would appear that this had been prepared sometime beforehand and re-heated somewhat inexpertly, as the filling was cold, while the pasta was hot. Not exactly what you would expect for $22.50 from the Hospitality Association’s Best Restaurant of 2009. We contemplated sending back the ravioli for proper re-heating, but given how long it took just to be served with tap water, and not wanting to wait until next Mother’s Day to be served, I decided I would be better of letting it slide. Father’s hapuka was better, but had it not been for the 2 poached eggs, would also have been a considerably insubstantial meal. Pick of the mains would have had to have been Mother’s pan fried snapper, however even this was decidedly average with underwhelming flavours.

By the end of the mains, we were still decidedly hungry, and so decided to give dessert a try. However, it was now past 1:30pm and the restaurant was now filling up. This meant that the slow service was now even slower. After waiting what seemed to be a millennium for the waitress to clear our table and bring us the dessert menu, we decided we’d get the Soul Trinkets to share. This came surprisingly quickly and turned out to be the standout dish for the entire meal. The trinkets were a selection of bite sized muffins, brownies, macaroons, meringues, cakes, fudges, nougats and lollies that were delightfully prepared and beautifully presented. We had a wonderful time excitedly tasting each delicious morsel, trying to determine what each one was.

The bill (which, surprise surprise, incurred another long wait) came to $116.50 for the three mains, one dessert, a forgettable bread and dips style entrée, two ginger beers and a cappuccino. All things considered it was a bit steep for what was a disappointing meal at a much-touted restaurant. Cuisine magazine and the Hospitality Association of New Zealand may consider this to be one of Auckland’s best restaurants but sadly, I just can’t agree.

Vital Stats
Address: Viaduct Harbour, Auckland City
Phone: (09) 356 7249
Website: http://www.soulbar.co.nz/
Class of Restaurant: Fine Dining. Smart casual dress appears to be the norm, at least around brunch/lunch time.
Parking: Downtown Car Park appears to be the best hassle-free option, although you may be able to find parking in the side streets around the Viaduct Harbour. Downtown Car Park's website can be found here.