Clooney

Clooney has been one the very best restaurants in the city since Desmond Harris came on board as chef. His food, his whole approach to cooking, is outstanding. One of the things I really like is the clever interior deisgn allows you to feel you have your own private space - I can't quite my head around fine dining establishments where yo are privvy to the entire conversation at the adjacent table. Attentive but un-pushy service, an excellent wine list and cocktails, sexy food - Clooney is always my pick for a romantic dinner. I only wish I could afford to go once a month!

I'd go as far as to say that is the best restaurant in Auckland. My wife and I enjoyed an excellent evening of food and liquor at this fine establishment. We've made it a habit to splash out once a year on a fine-dining experience — Clooney didn't disappoint. Some highlights: Locally brewed craft beer (try the Emerson's Pilsner) Miniature calamari rings, I'm talking, like, 5mm miniature! The angus beef was completely mind-blowing. I'm still thinking about it 4 days after devouring Judging by the lack of talking (and sharing) the Dark Chocolate Pave was AHH-mazing! The great (almost retro) decor was unexpected and quirky And to end: a Laphroaig 12 year old. Need I say more... This was an evening well spent. I'd happily do it again and again. A truly great restaurant experience! Thanks, team.

I ate at Clooney last weekend and the food was exceptional. The vegetarian gnocci was absolutely divine but my favourites were probably the sides: the salad dressing was yummy and also their chips have something extra in the seasoning that makes them absolutely scrumptious. We had mojitos at the bar beforehand which were also really good.  If I had to find a fault with the restaurant I'd say it lacks a bit of atmosphere, but this might be due its spaciousness. 

Who would have teamed up IBM & Clooney, but the service and food (scollops and fish main) were excellent, an ambient experience, even better with the Man o War 2010 chardonay! And the cloud presentation wasn’t bad either …

My Top 5 always changes, but Clooney is always in it. I love this place. I have been here several times with small and large groups. They have a good private dining "room" at the back of the restaurant, separated by the main restaurant by a tassle-wall-type-thing. So it is private enough to feel you can get rowdy as a bunch, but you still feel connected to the main restaurant and its stunning decor. I love the round tables and the round leather chairs. Every time I have been the food was amazing. If you are a large group you will need to order from a limited but very good set menu. WARNING: Don't be tempted into bottled water for the table - they are very concientious when it comes to topping up water glasses. The (Antipodes) water bill for 10 of us was $120! Speaking of topping up - we also had a huge wine bill, because despite ordering from a set menu (which I assumed makes it easier for the chefs to organise our meals), they took AGES between courses (4) so we ended up drinking a lot. A cunning ploy. This has happened on both occasions I have been in a group in the private dining area. Not all bad though, we had a great night both nights and wouldn't have wanted to leave any earlier, so perhaps they were doing us a favour? Last time I went I sat in the main restaurant - so dark and wonderfully decorated - and went for the 8 course degustation menu + wine matching. Amazing. But guess what? We weren't full at the end of it (incl dessert courses) and we felt we needed more - so we asked for 2 more courses. The chef surprised us with a palate cleanser (was this a dig at our uncouth request?) a meat main course and another dessert course. Slightly(!) piggy, but it was just what we needed. The other fun part of that night was when the wines were delivered. The waiter (the owner on this occasion) encouraged us to guess each wine, and he would come back a few minutes later to reveal the answer.  I have just noticed that they have a pre-theatre menu now also. So handy.

On Friday night my partner took me to Clooney for a romantic dinner. Arrived at 7.30pm but alas, our reserved table was occupied by another couple. Not a good way to start off. We were ushered to the bar area and ordered some cocktails. 15 minutes later we were shown to our table. The waiter highly recommended the tasting menu, we agreed but declined on the wines to match, sticking to a night of cocktails.  What followed was course after course of flavoursome, creative, fusion cuisine at its finest. From kingfish yuzu calamari entrees to slow cooked dark pork balls.... we were blown away by the creativity and skills the chefs at Clooney exhibited. As we made our way through the 8 dish tasting menu, we sighed and ahhed.  However things went south at the 2nd to last dish - the blue cheese dessert. It was unfortunately, quite disgusting and ill-conceived. This really created a dampener on the evening as from there on we felt the whole tasting menu was let down by this single dish. The chocolate souffle afterwards didn’t do much to resurrect an otherwise excellent experience.  As my partner commented, the souffle tasted like a microwaveable chocolate dessert by Aunt Bettys. The tasting menu also takes a staggering 3.5 hours to complete - somewhat arduous towards the end of the night. Still an amazing experience, but when you’re spending $400 on dinner for two - I expect every single moment to be perfect. It just falls short of that, but comes damn close for sure.