Hippopotamus Restaurant & Cocktail Bar

"We have had a high tea here before the place was revamped recently. It was great experience. On returning we found the food incredibly poor. Not one of the high tea foods were appetising. It felt like foods that were baked well ahead of time so they would last and be easy to serve. There was no freshness, nothing delightful. Very disappointing. Compare this photo with the photo in the previous review from a year ago."

"I have visited Hippopotamus twice during my stay at QT. The first visit was a High Tea celebration for my 40th with my friends and we all enjoyed the food and the service so much. The presentation is of course incredible and what this restaurant is known for -the decor is stunning and unique and inspired you to dress up for the occasion. The teapots are stunning and the teas served are beautifully fragrant and reach in flavour. The chocolate themed High Tea was quite unique ad you do not see chocolate utilized in savouries often in NZ and it was a real treat. My favourite by far was the duck Pate that balanced so well with the dark chocolate paste. From the sweets the choux pastry and the dark chocolate rum baba. I would definetly go back again for another celebration. The second visit was the breakfast with my friend. I had eggs Benedict with a swap for a sourdough instead of the English muffin. The eggs were perfectly cooked, there was a generous serving of bacon and the hollandaise souse was quite unique comparing regular cafes. The barista coffee was full bodied and had excellently frothed milk. We definitely felt full and satisfied ."

"Really nice ambiance and views. What was a little disappointing was the dine in the dark as it just wasn't dark enough. Perhaps they thought it might be difficult for us to eat?"

"I visited Wellington for my 30th birthday and decided to celebrate in the best way by treating myself to a lovely high tea at the Hippopotamus restaurant. I had such a wonderful experience, the atmosphere was incredible along with the view, lovely staff and of course the high tea itself was absolutely delicious!"

"We went to Hippopotamus for dinner. Their place is very elegant and the decorations are well presented. We decided to have the Theatre menu. I don't know if my expectations were too high but I was expecting a WOW of them creating our plates Infront of us. We were presented with one of the staff members plating our dish Infront of us, no effort was given or it wasn't entertaining or a WOW. He just cut our meat and served it to us. This did make me disappointed with the theatre menu and it kind of spoiled my night or enjoyment of the meal. We thought some of the meal was going to be cooked in front of us not just cut. Don't get me wrong the service and staff were really friendly and nice. I just think they need to add a wow factor to the theatre menu. For a few dollars more you can do their two courses and get two courses instead of one half presented meal.."