Catlins Inn

Rating: 1

We ate dinner here in August 2021.

Beef nachos
BBQ beef & bacon cheeseburger with chips

Rolling into Owaka on a Monday night, we weren’t spoiled for dining choices. In fact, the Catlins Inn was the only place open, and was doing a roaring trade. Credit where credit was due, they had only one member of bar staff and she was running an extremely tight ship. Prompt, friendly, professional service, meals came out fast, and empty plates were cleared away quickly. Unfortunately, this can’t make up for the fact that the food just wasn’t very good. The nachos were passable – very cheap corn chips and bland mince, but not offensively bad. Unlike the burger, which committed a sin we are yet to report on businessandyandthefeerex.co.nz – the refrigerated bun. What self-respecting cook would pull a bun straight from the fridge and, without heating it, use it to sandwich hot burger ingredients? Between the frosty bun and the chilled salad, it was unsurprising that the two wafer-thin patties, which would have been average at the best of times, were dead cold. There’s no coming back from that.