Lesson: never go to SPQR from work on a Friday looking tired and completely done in. That is the only logic I can come up with for being treated as my husband and I were. We were fussily (much waving of hands) refused a table in the front sheltered area because and I quote 'there's a big booking coming in' and shown to a dim table in the rear from where we were able to observe the non-appearance of said 'big booking.' About 30 minutes passed before a much younger and well dressed couple were shown to the table we had asked for. In my opinion we were not dressed badly. My husband in the 501's and myself also in pressed jeans went well with the existing crowd, always a hodge-podge at SPQR. Having spent several evenings at SPQR over the years both for work and pleasure I now have a husband who refuses to return. I'm going to miss my favourite chicken pizza with caramelized onions.

Overrated, definitely! Have been to SPQR a number of times, complaints too many to list here.

Ok so who hasn't been here, been a few years for me but thought I would give it another try, SPQR you may have just scraped through.

After checking out the reviews on this website I was quite interested to see why there was such a big difference between the View review and the user reviews. People seemed let down by the service of SPQR. For a Ponsonby restaurant you expect a certain level of service and I found it to be satisfactory in my experience. We ordered two bottles of wine, our glasses were kept topped up the whole time. The cockles were a delicious start to the meal, garlic-y and butter-y (perhaps a little too much). My chicken breast was nice and moist through to the centre and the accompanying mash was unbelievably tasty. Apart from a couple of service issues (a glass of water was knocked by a waiter over our table and laps), the food was great, the drinks kept coming and the atmosphere was positive.

A friend and I had lunch at SPQR last week. We both had pizza, but realistically could have shared one with a salad. The mushroom and blue cheese pizza was tight on the blue cheese, whilst the salami pizza was spicy and good. The salad of rocket, parmesan and balsamic dressing was tasty and the wine was decent. Service at SPQR was average and the ambiance good.

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.

SPQR 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. SPQR - If you want to be classed as a good restaurant then get the basics down first please!!