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Queenstown New Zealand

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Guide

Special occasion dining in Queenstown

Photo: The Bunker Restaurant

Queenstown is one of the best places in the world for that special night out.

Mark the occasion with a tasting menu, a private room or a table for two by the lake.

Whether you’re celebrating a birthday, planning a proposal or gathering friends you haven’t seen for years, where you eat is part of the occasion. You might want to linger over a tasting menu, find a quiet corner for two, or have a room to yourselves. This guide groups restaurants by the kind of celebration you have in mind, with MICHELIN-listed and Cuisine-awarded venues among them. Book early once your dates are set, and let the restaurant know what you’re celebrating.

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Showing 21 places

MICHELIN Starred restaurants in Queenstown

For something really special, plan your evening around a meal at one of Queenstown’s MICHELIN-Starred restaurants. A MICHELIN Star (or two) recognises the cooking, from the quality of the ingredients to the skill and personality on the plate. Give yourself time to enjoy it all, and book well ahead once you know your dates.

4 places

Intimate Queenstown restaurants for a dinner for two

Small, low-lit rooms where a table for two feels like the only one in the room. Think an old wooden door opening onto fires and leather sofas, log fires in a lakeside cottage, a moody, softly lit dining room, or a warm room in an old flour mill with a shuttle to take you home. Made for a date night, an anniversary or a proposal.

4 places

Special occasion dining with a view in Queenstown

When the setting is the point, these deliver it. Watch the lake from a terrace or a lakefront courtyard, cross the water by steamship to dinner at a high country farm, or toast the sunset with champagne in a bar that has looked over the lake since 1867. Ask for a window table when you book.

4 places

Private dining rooms in Queenstown for a group

Celebrating with the whole crew? Bring everyone together in a room of your own, where you can catch up across the table and make time for a few speeches. Choose from a steakhouse, a hotel salon, a countryside setting near Arrowtown or a hillside room overlooking the lake. Check capacity, group menus, minimum spend and room hire with the venue.

5 places

Celebrate with friends in Queenstown

For a celebration that's more fun than formal, gather friends around a big table at one of these MICHELIN-listed favourites. Share handmade pasta in Arrowtown, wood-fired pizza in an old Frankton church, or pizza and spaghetti from a menu unchanged since 1977. Settle in for a birthday dinner or a long catch-up, and book ahead if you’re bringing a group.

4 places

Special occasion dining in Queenstown: good to know

Which of these take bookings online?

About half of the places in this guide:

Which of these list wheelchair access?

About half of the places in this guide:

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