Menu

  Beautiful food, great service and one of the best views in Wanaka, what more could you want for a casual meal with your partner. It’s great for a special occasion... read more or just a casual date night!

A great selection of entrees and starters, the tuna was amazing and really brought out the wine we had chosen.

Menu is well thought out and we really enjoyed the steaks; a great cut of meat and the sides that accompanied are amazing.

We had some beautiful amuse-bouche throughout our meal, the savoury profiteroles were different but made you want more.

The pastry chef is fantastic, a great range of well put together desserts was a great finish to the meal.

100% would recommend to all visiting or living in Wanaka.

  Best steak I’ve had in NZ so far. From the Trust your Chef special - juicy, tender ribeye. cooked to perfection accompanied by foie gras butter, potato croquettes, broccolini. The... read more french onion soup starter and dessert was lovely too. Good pricing for the 3 courses at $65 - given quality and ambience

  10 of us dined for my son's birthday. Absolutely loved the meal I had and everyone else enjoyed theirs as well. Superb food,excellent service. Definitely recommend. We will be back.

  Sensational setting and note worthy food. We opted to do the chefs choice 3 course with wine pairings. It was wonderful! The rabbit gnocchi was very flavorful and excellent texture.... read more All the food we saw come out of the kitchen looked mouth watering. The view over the lake is not to be missed. Service was attentive and very informed. They handled my allergy’s and food preferences very professionally. This is a must place to book into while visiting wanaka.

  Bistro Gentil is described in a major tourist brochure for Wanaka as '...our award winning restaurant ' and came up as #1 on Trip Advisor reviews. The online menu looked... read more exciting too, so off we went for dinner.
Now I don't like writing negative reviews but I really was disappointed.
Wild venison carpaccio as an entree had about as much venison as a single thin slice of prosciutto. And with more than that in the form of poached pear, cranberry gel and sun dried tomato, I just couldn't taste the venison. It's not that these things don't go with venison, but the dish was so mean on the venison that it just got swamped.
It didn't get much better with the fish main. Three tiny pieces of monkfish, while tasting good, just didn't show the character of the fish. The celeriac puree was good, and could have been the main counterpoint of the fish with maybe one other flavour. But add prawns, leek, orange and bok choy to a tiny serve of fish and it just got lost. Somewhere there was apparently black garlic butter too... I've had many entrees that were more generous.
On the plus side, the garden salad was good and so were the wines (though a bit on the high price side by the glass).
Overall I think Bistro Gentil is trying too hard, maybe to hold or rescue some past glory. But the meanness of the and better balanced than this.
A French onion soup was sweet but maybe at the expense of some flavour of the onion. It was saved by a crust of gruyere but we're still trying to work out where the crouton was.
Overall the meanness of the feature ingredients in the serves, and the overcomplicated and overcompensated accompaniments, really it down.
I'm hoping they were just having a bad night, as their menu should really set you alight.

  Saturday night was a wonderful experience, lovely surroundings, greeted with a friendly smile on arrival, seated and offered a drink, completely unhurried to decide what you would like, mouth watering... read more flavoured food, when your food is placed in front of you, a full eplaination of what your plate contains is given by the wait staff.
Wait staff all gentle lovely people and very attentive.
You must make reservations before going.
Totally recommend this restaurant. Will certainly go back.

  Eye watering prices mediocre food. Not fresh not tasty.Very pretentious.They call it french cuisine but I doubt any frenchman would want to make that comparison.

  A winery for tastings in the future and French bistro by night. The best meal in NZ to date. Confit duck leg with tart plums and sweetcorn puree and the... read more best creme brulee ever. Loved being able to sample various local wines by choice of...More

  We ate here during our three night stay in Wanaka and it was absolutely delicious. Both dishes were perfectly cooked and delightfully flavoured. Service was relaxed and friendly, a good... read more selection of wine on an enomatic machine so you can try a number. Highly recommend...More

  Wow! Top class food that is probably one of the best in NZ, friendly and attentive service and to top it off outstanding views. Can not recommend this any higher!... read more Thank you Bistro Gentil for a great evening and appreciate you fitting us in last minute too!