Cobb & Co. Family Restaurant product reviews

Location: Unspecified
I have mixed reviews of Cobb and Co. I like the family atmosphere and always felt it was a great place to take the family for a nice, simple night out. But at the same time I feel the atmosphere could do with a bit of livening up.

The food is nice and very traditional food enjoyed by New Zealanders. I personally would like food with a bit more flavour, but this is more a personal preference as I tend to go to more Asian inspired eateries with more flavoured, colourful food. The food on menu are basic and great for children. They have standard portion sizes or child friendly sized meals. The value for money is consistent with a standard night out with your family.

The customer service is okay, but nothing too fancy. Staff are polite and do what is required of them. Location is easily accessible although it would be nice if a few more locations opened up again. Cobb and Co is very much a family eatery, one where you visit with the whole family to celebrate a child's birthday or grandparents wedding anniversary. Although they do have alcohol, this place is not one you would attend with friends for a few drinks on a Friday night.

Venue: Dunedin

Cobb & Co is New Zealand's oldest and original restaurant chain and I remember the restaurant in Dunedin very clearly from my childhood. Many a family meal was spent here, as were our birthday parties. The food served in cardboard coaches, the yummy fancy ice creams and traffic lights and pink panther drinks!

I was excited to hear that Cobb & Co would be reopening in Dunedin in July, in our iconic railway station building. My husband and I kept an eye out for the restaurant to be open and then made our booking. We headed along for dinner on a Sunday night, the 7th day the restaurant had been open.

As we headed in the doors there were a number of staff around, some of them training, others standing and chatting. A staff member emerged from behind the counter and greeted us. She asked if we had a booking, we gave the details and soon we were taken to our table. Arriving many of the childhood memories returned! On the table I spied the good old Cobb & Co mini red pencils. I had quite a few of these at my home as each visit to the restaurant required a pencil needing to be taken home!!

Before we had the chance to sit down we were asked if we wanted to order any drinks. As we hadn't had the chance to sit let alone look at the drinks menu I asked for some water to start. As we sat down another staff member came passed, introduced herself as our waitress and asked again if we wanted any drinks. She waited as we had a look and decided on our first drinks. I just had to have a pink panther to relive my childhood! When it arrived I wasn't disappointed, well except for the fact that the little plastic animal was missing - maybe they had run out as people had certainly commented saying that they had had them earlier in the week. Not a big issue, the drink was still amazing!

We decided to go all out and have three courses while we were here. It isn't often we go out for dinner, and being a new restaurant we wanted to try it all. Our garlic bread starter was yummy - maybe a little small for the price of it, but was one of the best tasting garlic breads I've had. And I do love my garlic bread! Trying to decide on a main was hard as there were three things that stood out to me that night. I settled for the chicken burger with onion rings on the side, and hubby decided to have the roast chicken as something different. Both of our meals arrived looking fresh and well presented, the they were certainly yummy! The chicken in my burger was so tender it was amazing. The chips were served in a little metal basket and were amazing with the smokey bbq sauce that was served with the onion rings. My husbands roast chicken was a little on the dry side, but he still enjoyed it. Was a little odd to have a roast with no form of sauce or gravy, this would be something that would have made the chicken seem not so dry.

After entree and main we weren't sure whether we would really handle desert, but we tried it anyway. And I am pleased we did as my triple chocolate cheese cake was absolutely amazing. The right amount of chocolate and the cake type base was nicer than I thought, as I wasn't sure it would be cheese cake enough without a biscuit base. My husband had the mini pavlova and really enjoyed it. We ordered two non alcoholic pina colada's to go with our desert and these were really yummy. They served them in a mini cocktail shaker that we tipped into a glass ourselves.

Over all we had a great night. Our only criticisms is that there were too many staff on for the time we went, and many spent the time just wandering looking for things to do. This will be something that is altered as time goes on as being new I'm sure they weren't sure just how many bookings they would get and when. We had gone at 5.30 so it was certainly getting busier when we left. We also weren't hugely keen on the table we got put at. We had old wooden chairs that were quite uncomfortable and it wasn't until a little later I realised all the others around us were actually padded. We got sat at a table that was right next to the slightly risen level, which meant when people arrived at the table beside them I looked straight to their legs. On the other side we looked right into a booth, which thankfully noone arrived for otherwise we might have felt a little closed in. We couldn't view the rest of the restaurant and as we were on the pathway to the kitchen had staff walking backwards and forwards all night, watching us every time. This made me feel a tad uncomfortable as we were eating. Next time we will make sure to request a table anywhere but there.

We will definitely return, hopefully next time we can go along with a bunch of friends who will also revel in reliving their childhood memories.

Venue: Invercargill - Room Service to The Homestead

Each year I head down to Invercargill for the Women's Lifestyle Expo as I have a stall with my jewellery business. The first year I went I stayed at the Homestead Villa Motel on recommendation from a friend who was also travelling down. Upon looking up the website for the Homestead Villa Motel I discovered that they were located across the road from Cobb & Co. Cobb & Co bring back lots of awesome memories of family dinners and birthday parties spent at Cobb & Co in Dunedin. I was quite excited that I would get the chance to go back and see if it was just like it used to be.

When I arrived at my room after a long day travelling and setting up I got quite excited when I found out that Cobb & Co did room service to the Homestead Villa Motel. My feet were aching and all I really wanted to do was relax, so this was perfect for me to be able to do that without having to head across the road to a restaurant. I rang them up and ordered my food. I had ordered both main and a desert, and was told it would be approximately half an hour until it would be delivered. They took my room number and name and said that it would be charged to my room, there was no need to pay that night. This was highly convenient as it meant I could just pay for it all when I settled my account on the last morning.

True to their promise my dinner was delivered around the half an hour mark. My main and desert came on a tray, and one of the Cobb & Co workers brought it right to my door. It smelt amazing. I did have a little issue here as my desert included a scoop of ice cream, but the plate was a little too big to fit into the tiny box freezer within the fridge, so I just had to put it in the fridge itself. This did mean that by the time I got to it the ice cream had melted and was more like runny cream on my plate. Not a huge issue though, I was just pleased to be enjoying my food without going out!

For my main meal I had ordered a pasta without mushrooms. Unfortunately it was delivered with mushrooms and as I really do not like mushrooms I rung them up to explain. Within ten minutes I had a fresh meal, with no mushrooms and they said that I could keep the first meal I had ordered. Not interested in mushrooms myself I got in touch with my friend next door to see if she had dinner. She had not so came and joined me and enjoyed the pasta that was delivered wrong. In effect we got two dinners for the price of one!

I have now been to Invercargill on three different occasions and every time I have ordered room service from Cobb & Co twice as I stay for two nights. I am heading back again next month and I am truely looking forward to it! I have tried a number of meals over the time - fish n chips, burgers, pasta, chicken - and all of them have been perfect. I have never had an issue with orders since the first one, and have never had to return anything. Returning the dishes is easy, you simply leave them in your room and the cleaners take them when they come to make up your room the next day. The absolute best bit about this service as it costs no more than what you pay to order the food in the restaurant. Most places will charge at least $5 extra for room service, but there is absolutely no fee charged at all. I will continue to use them when I travel to Invercargill as it is so convenient and I know I will get a good meal.

Venue: New Plymouth

New Plymouth's Cobb 'n' Co closed down for a while and when it reopened we were so excited the thought of the Cobb Loaf left me drooling. I could not believe it when we went in and was informed that they no longer offered it. Then when we finally received our meal it tasted like it was heated in the microwave and really did not look appetising at all.

The next time we went to Cobb n Co was for a mystery shopping assignment. We also had our (then) 2 year old with us. The meal she received was revolting, one piece of chicken and chips. She unfortunately dropped the chicken so was just chips. Both my husband and my meal were not fantastic either and the service was terrible. When going to the counter to pay with the voucher I was asked if I wanted to pass the special stuff voucher to anyone in particular and said (a little red faced) 'no the service was terrible and so was the meal' suffice to say was not a nicely word assignment. We vowed never to return.

At a moment of weakness last year was driving past and ran in to check on the menu. The lady at the counter was not very friendly and stood there frowning at me when I asked to have a look at the menu. When I asked her 'if I had to book for tonight' she snapped at me 'of course you do, we are the busiest restaurant in town'. I said 'thank you' and walked out.

This year I received an email saying children were free and would receive a goody bag, so we thought why not. I had forgotten how amazing Cobb n Co is for children. The yummy Tasties to begin with, traffic light drinks, we were very impressed. Thankfully the Cobb Loaf is back and we all loved our meals. Our inlaws were in town a couple of weeks later and we decided to take them to Cobb n Co and everyone loved it. My youngest even won the Easter basket they had. After receiving the phone call about the basket we thought why not go there for lunch. It was not as fabulous as the night time meal but we all still enjoyed the meal, even more so because both girls were free which is such a blessing.

We have definitly had a love hate relationship with the New Plymouth restaurant. The service is either out of this world or its disgusting - no in between. The meals are also the same way - blown away or some crap thrown on the plate. At the moment we are loving the place, definitly improved from the past 3 years. The decor is tastefully done and when we have been there its always at least half full if not completely full.

Venue: Palmerston North

Despite having a bar, Pokies and a TAB located inside, The Cobb is still very Family Friendly place to dine! I love going to The Cobb both with and without the kids! The Cobb is usually where I go to have a few drinks with the girls but I have taken my family there for a meal a few times.

The wedges are TO DIE FOR!! They are by far the best wedges I've ever had the pleasure of tasting! The Cobb offers plenty of specials and a great range on their menu and the drinks are very reasonably priced which is a pleasant surprise.

As I mentioned earlier I usually go to The Cobb for drinks with the girls, the cocktails are very reasonable at $6 a drink which is a good $3-$4 dollars cheaper than at other bars. The staff are always friendly and all to happy to help. Your presence at the bar is never to made to feel like a nuisance. My favourite two cocktails on The Cobb menu (Sorry I couldn't choose just one) are The Apple Pie and the Banoffee Pie, I sense a theme there!! They are delicious and I would recommend trying them if you like cocktails or dessert!

The service is always fast and friendly and although most of the patrons are in the older age group it always has a nice atmosphere.

Venue: Palmerston North

On the advice and invitation of a friend, we went to try out Cobb & Co's "2 for $20 Tuesday" menu... it was a slightly cut-down version of their dinner menu, with a limited selection of dishes to select from for the promotion.

I chose the Chicken & Bacon burger with fries, and opted to replace the ketchup with tartare sauce... I like a bit of bite to my fries. My friend selected the Cobb burger meal, with the default sides of potato wedges and sauce.

While we waited and chatted, we were served the garlic bread we ordered, and our drinks, which were quite reasonably priced for restaurants, $2 for a tall lemonade, and $4.50 for a double bourbon & coke. The garlic bread was cooked almost perfectly, with a nice firm crust (another minutes under the grill would have made it nice and crispy) and a rich, but not overpowering, garlic flavour right through it.

Just as we were finishing the bread, our mains arrived. I was expecting a burger... not the small windowless building that was placed before me. This thing was a meal in itself, stacked so high it needed a bamboo skewer through it's heart to keep it all on the plate! You could have rented space on the top bun to Telecom to mount cellphone repeaters. Both burgers were equally impressive actually.

My Chicken burger was so big, with *2* chicken breast fillets, that I ended up splitting it in half both vertically and horizontally, giving me 4 "Meat and salad on toast" portions to slowly wade through. My friend however, opted for the age-old technique of squash-fu, where you apply great pressure to the burger to compress it as best you can, then grab it in both hands and dive in chewing... either way, we both ended up requiring the services of a doggy-bag...

The lass who served us, Cassandra, did a splendid job, keeping her composure even in the face of strangeness... it's not often guests would specifically ask to be seated away from the other diners, and we were treated to being seated in an entire dinig area of our own. Of course, as we left and I dropped the fact that they had just been 'independantly mystery shopped' her face lit up with understanding as to why the seclusion was requested.

I also appreciated the way she took my comments as we bloatedly asked for doggy-bags... when I expressed my desire to make a complaint about the food... that it was so hard to find anywhere else that served such a great meal at such an affordable price. The way her face lit up, and she exclaimed that it was "...the best complaint I have ever received!" just impressed me... she was so willing to be pleasant and attentive while soaking up the negative feedback she expected to be blasted at her... very professional, top marks.

Overall, there are some great specials running at present, you should check out the Cobb & Co website for more details. I was very pleased with my visit, as was my friend. Tuesday's are great nights to go. Get in quick, and be out in time to make an evening session at the movies as a great way to sit back and let the food digest in peace. Also, if you get there early, parking is still possible, but if you don't mind a walk, you should be able to sneak around the corner into the Briscoes parking lot if all else fails.

Venue: Palmerston North

I have dined at Cobb n Co a number of times in the past. The food is great, nothing too fancy but delicious all the same. I can see why it appeals to the more senior age group - they have a seperate senior menu which contains less expensive, smaller meals.

My partner and I stopped in for dessert during the weekend. We were very casually dressed, and in fact I was preparing for denial of entry. But we were welcomed and still treated the same as anybody else. When we asked the cashier for a table for two, she asked us to have a seat and she would set a table up for us. So we sat down, in full view of the many empty tables in the restaurant. The cashier proceeded to loudly discuss her weekend with another Cobb & Co worker... while we sat and waited for our 'table'. After about ten minutes she stopped talking and took us to a table.

I ordered a Berry Parfait - a new dessert which they have at the Cobb. It is a low fat ice-cream dessert. Partner had the choc indulgence which is mud cake, cream, ice-cream and choc sauce. Both desserts were brought to us within about ten minutes and they were presented very nicely.

I will most definitely return, the food at the Cobb is great and the bad apple cashier is not enough to put me off.

Venue: Palmerston North

A friend and I decided that we needed to get something to eat after sitting in a movie theatre for two hours. I have been a regular at this restaurant for many years, and am always eager to see how the quality of the food changes.

My dinner companion and I entered the waiting area, (a little on the cramped side, considering we are both in wheelchairs), then were shown to a table. We were then shown the specials board and given mouth-watering descriptions. The choices were many and varied, and the choice of meat or vegetarian meals was, I thought, well-balanced.

We finally made our meal choices: I had Beef Schnitzel stuffed with swiss cheese and ham, Salad and fries - Wendy had Roast Lamb with Roast potatoes & pumpkin, broccoli with hollandaise sauce and carrots. Everything was cooked to perfection and conversation soon dwindled down to comments on the taste of the food and how deceptively filling it was.

Although we were both getting close to the 'Creosote Point' the decision was made to order desert. Unfortunately, this is where the meal took a backward step for me. The Cookies & Cream cheesecake was, in my opinion, quite sickly and had a weird texture. As if, maybe, a little too much gelatin had been used.

Overall, I would gladly go back, if only to try more of the deserts from the menu.