We had a group booking for 12 people for a friend's birthday. We called 10 mins before we were due to let them know we were on our way and could we add 2 extra people to our table - "no problem" they said. We arrived 15 mins late having struggled with finding parking in Ponsonby at 8pm on a Saturday night to find they'd given our table away - no warning, no phone call to check we were still coming despite having spoken to them 30 mins earlier to say we were on our way. Food was slow to come out and fish and steak overcooked when it did arrive. Maitre d' had given us two large sharing platters as an apology for inconvenience of having to wait for a new table (around 25 mins later) and we then found those platters were added to our bill at the end ($56) along with 3 side orders that no-one on the table had ordered. Luckily someone noticed before we divided up the bill and paid unwittingly. Staff were unhelpful and verging on rude and food was edible but certainly nothing special. A very disappointing night out and we won't be returning despite having had a few good evenings there in the past.

SPQR is totally over rated. I have dined around the world and have to say this place has the most shocking service of them all. The waiters are over the top and rude. There are much better places to dine in Auckland.

This place looks the goods but how disappointing. We were told a 30 min wait for a table, so happy to have a drink while waiting. After 50 mins and a couple of quiet reminders to the 'way to busy' front man, he proudly declared a table had been organised. He was happy to seat our party of 4 on a small round table suitable for 2! A bit of a slap after waiting 50 mins for a table. The impending circus of getting 4 plates and 8 glasses plus extras unfolded as any waiter with half a brain should have been able to foresee.To get a second bottle of wine we had to ask 3 times, then it was bought from the bar without cork and poured directly into a glass still containing the previous wine. No tasting, no new glasses. Lift your game if you want to class yourself as decent establishment.Unless you are part of the Ponsonby 'In Crowd' most of the staff are too self important to give you more than a sideways glance. The food was decent but they could net even get the 2 steaks we ordered to the correct person. If you want to be classed as a good restaurant then get the basics down first please!!

Having also been away from Auckland for a couple of years like Sarah below, we thought we would give SPQR a go. Sadly our babysitter didn't turn up, but were pleasantly suprised that they offered a take out service (and we even got it delivered by food runner!).

I can't comment on the service and ambience, however the food delivered (chicken fettucine and saffron risotto) was simply great, especially for a take out.

In fact, we enjoyed it so much we ordered in the next night as well!

Give it a go!

After being away for 2 years now living in Sydney, I was really looking forward to SPQR.
However I was meet with very bad service and paid a bill for this I never ordered. The experience left a very bad taste I will never go again.

Quite possibly the worst restaurant my friends and I have ever been to. Serving a table of six seemed to be quite the challenge for the staff of SPQR as we were left waiting in anticipation for our meals for over one hour. My meal was understatedly the most unpleasant calamari salad I have ever had, so bad it was returned. The simplicity of a salad was underestimated as my 5 friends had their pizzas 20mins before my meal arrived. Furthermore, two staff members were argumentative when we tried to get the salad taken off the bill. We will never go back to this obscenely run restaurant again.

For a restaurant that has been a staple of the Auckland restaurant scene for so many years I was stunned at the shockingly poor service and more than average food. We had a booking that had been confirmed for some weeks and had a set menu which had a good selection. Booked for 7.30pm, we placed our orders for all three courses approx 7.50pm. Our entrees arrived at 9.30pm - these were ok but a few of our party were served entrees they did not order as the kitchen had run out. No staff advised them that they weren't available. Our mains then arrived around 10.30pm after much asking & again some of the choices were now no longer available (in one case they had to come back twice). A number of people ordered steak & no one received the correct order e.g rare, med/rare etc. It was tasteless and tough. The waitress then brought salad & potatoes after we had all eaten our mains!! and offered them as complimentary! Desserts were average. The attitude of the staff was appalling. I & a number of others will never return. Not great considering we spent several thousand dollars.

yes, it was good, the food that is. We were waited on by a nice gentleman and had a great evening, but one small thing that bothered me was when we got the bill, the water that was continously being toped up by our kind waiter, was charged to us without asking, now i am not bothered about the price but the fact that they did not ask and state that it was going to be charged to the bill was not really on. apart from that it was a great night out and i highly recomend the place.