Restaurants
Where to eat in Queenstown — lakefront tables, cuisines by type, and the drives worth making. How to choose, and when you need to book ahead.
Queenstown eats out more than most towns its size, and the choice is wider than the population suggests. Most of it is walkable — the Mall, Church Street, Beach Street and the waterfront — with the rest a short drive away at Arrowtown, Frankton and among the vines at Gibbston. Decide first whether you want to stay in town or make the trip out part of the evening.
Where to start
The 2026 MICHELIN Guide gave Essence two stars, the only two-star restaurant in the country; its tasting menu runs Tuesday to Saturday from 6pm. Amisfield has one star and two personalities — a bistro from 11.30am, a dinner-only tasting menu from 6.30pm, twenty minutes out on the Lake Hayes road. Three places hold a Bib Gourmand: Aosta for northern Italian on Buckingham Street in Arrowtown, The Cow for pizza in an 1860s stone cowshed off Cow Lane, and Sundays for wood-fired pizza in a relocated 1933 church at Frankton. In town, Rātā rewrites its menu daily, and Botswana Butchery runs 11am to 11pm on Marine Parade.
Booking
Two stretches fill up: ski season from June to September, and Christmas through January. Book dinner ahead in either, and weeks rather than days ahead for Essence or Amisfield. The Cow takes no bookings at all, so go early or wait by the fire.
Botswana Butchery
Steak and open fires on Marine Parade
17 Marine Parade
Billy's at Ayrburn
Contemporary Chinese dining at Ayrburn
Ayrburn
Prospects
Wood-fired buffet at the top of Brecon Street
35 Brecon Street
Fergburger
Prime NZ beef burgers, plus vegetarian, venison, fish and lamb options. Hand-cut onion rings and salt-and-pepper squid. Open daily 7am–2:30am.
42 Shotover Street
Lombardi
Restaurant, bar and library at Hotel St Moritz on Brunswick Street, over the lake and the Remarkables. Wild Fiordland venison and woodfired lasagne.
St Moritz
Elements Restaurant & Lounge
Grill restaurant and lounge at Novotel Queenstown Lakeside. Buffet breakfast daily from 6am, dinner from 5pm, local and seasonal produce.
Novotel Queenstown
threesixty Restaurant & Bar
Lakefront restaurant and bar at the Crowne Plaza on Beach Street. Breakfast from 6.30am, all-day menu midday to 9pm, happy hour 3pm-6pm.
Crowne Plaza
South Eatery
Modern New Zealand cooking at the Mercure Queenstown, up the hill in Fernhill
Fernhill
Winnies Gourmet Pizza Bar
Gourmet pizza and late nights upstairs on The Mall, under a roof that opens
Upstairs
Rodd & Gunn The Lodge
Rodd & Gunn's waterfront bar on Rees Street: house-made pasta, kingfish crudo and meat pie croquettes, with 20-odd wines by the glass.
2 Rees Street
Blue Kanu
Pacific-Asian sharing plates on Church Street: prawn and ginger dumplings, salmon poke and smoked duck, with cocktails at the hula hut bar.
16 Church Street
Captains Restaurant
Steak and seafood in the Mall - signature chowder, garlic-butter crayfish and chargrilled steak, with a Central Otago-leaning wine list.
15-17 The Mall
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