Charlie Baxters - Ellerslie New Zealand

Great little bar like a tardis so much more than the small front on main Highway Ellerslie. Ales are varied and food is original and tasty. Really deserves a visit.

I love this bar so don't want to give it a low review, but I am really upset. This place does not protect its female clientele. Last night a man grabbed two of my friends, one of which he had to be physically pulled off of to get him to let go. When I told the bar staff, they just chatted to him politely and he was not removed from the bar. I don't know if the bar staff didn't feel they had the means to kick this person out or they just didn't feel it was necessary, but either way I'm upset at how this was handled. The guy was completely incoherent, there's no way he had the faculties to understand what he did wrong and change in the moment. Again, we love this bar, we love that we can request songs and they'll let us sing and dance, but most times we go in there we have to deal with completely incoherent men trying to hit on the women of our group. With these types being such a fixture at this bar they really need to have some better protocols in place for what to do when someone puts their hands on another customer.

Just wanted to share an interesting experience. My husband and I enjoy going to Charlie Baxter 's as it is a nice, little quaint place. Anyway, we went there last night to have a couple of drinks. My husband ordered a house Merlot for me and an IPA (no:3 on the tap) for himself. Somehow the barman, served three glasses of no: 3 and one Merlot. My husband was puzzled and said he only wanted one glass of no:3 not three glasses of no:3. So, the barman, apologised and took two glasses of no:3 away. We don 't know what he did with the other two glasses. However, we finished the drinks and my husband went to the bar to get two more drinks. But when my husband was at the bar, he paid, and then, the barman said, that he will bring the drinks over to us in 2 mins. However, my husband did noticed that there was already a half a glass of IPA (by looking at the colour), sitting under tap no: 3, which looks like the same beer that he ordered earlier. Anyway, the drinks arrived. My husband looked the glass and was just disappointed immidiately. I asked why and he said this is not a fresh pour. I thought he was being overreacting at first but he explained to me that if it is a fresh pour the glass will be frosted evenly. Thus, the taste was not as good as the first glass. He did not enjoy it as it also tasted a little flat. He further explained that, the barman probably poured half from the first order and topped it up with fresh pour! We are not born and bred here, but felt like the second beer served to.my husband was not taken seriously...as in let 's use up the first beer and not waste it...coz he probably wouldn 't know the difference . That 's what we felt. So, my husband approach the same barman and asked if this was a fresh pour. The reply was fast, yes but I can get you another one and I will bring it to you . This time my husband said, no I would like to pick the beer from the bar myself. The freshly poured beer came and it had a frosted glass. Even after drinking 1/4, 1/2, and all of it, the glass was still frosted! Yes, of course it also depends on how fast you drink the beer, that the frost will still be there! He explained to me the science behind it and it was true. I took some pictures and would like to share it as, to me it was an interesting hypothesis. Charlie Baxter 's, We enjoy drinking there, we also pop in with our kids on the weekend. They know the place well, love the shoestring fries, packet chips, packet pork crackling , sprite and orange juice, but please don 't serve beers like that again to us or to anyone else...it is not ok. Oh, yes.. please also tell the truth if the beer was a fresh pour or not and not take anyone for granted even though we look from a different decent. Everyone works hard to earn a living and to enjoy little time out like this once in a while. So, hopefully you would take this constructively and reflect on this for the future. Cheers

Cheese Platter was worst any of us had ever had. 3 cheeses which consisted of a mild Blue, an aged Cheddar? And something else. All 3 were served and were extremely hard and/or crumbly as in old and dried out. We asked for replacements but we're only given 2 cheeses which were only just slightly better but not really edible. Pesto and relish were good but we left almost all of the Cheese. Staff were lovely and tried there best but definitely not food I would have served.

The owner/manager needs to find a new job. This place has lost the meaning of hospitality. Too many times is he shouting at, berating customers for no particular reason. The way you speak to customers is rude, disrespectful and simply not appropriate. Sort it out. From a regular.