Foodie Finds for Less: Score 50% Off at Queenstown’s Best Spots

Half Price Dinner in Queenstown, and What to Do After It

You can probably tell from the rest of this blog that we are not short of opinions about where to eat. Here is the one that saves you money. First Table sells the earliest table of the night at half price, 147 Queenstown restaurants are on it, and there are two things worth knowing before you book.

How Does First Table Actually Work?

You book the first table of the evening at a restaurant that would otherwise have it sitting empty, and you get 50% off. There are 147 Queenstown restaurants on First Table, which covers most of the ones you have heard of and a decent number you have not.

Two things the deal does not cover, and it is better to know them now than at the till:

• The 50% comes off the food. Drinks are full price, always.
• You pay a small booking fee to hold the table. That is how the restaurant pays nothing and the whole thing keeps working.

Neither of those makes it a bad deal. They make it a real one.

Why Is It Called the First Table?

Because that is precisely what it is. The first booking of the service, before the room fills up, which means the times are early. If you are the sort who sits down at half eight, this is not your deal. If you are happy at 5.30 with the place to yourself and a kitchen that has all night ahead of it, it is one of the better things about eating out here.

When Is It Worth Using?

The quieter months are the sweet spot. When the town has thinned out you can get a table at somewhere that is booked solid in January, at half price, on the same night you decided to go. That combination does not come up often anywhere, let alone here.

Where Should You Eat?

That depends on how far you will drive, which is a question we have opinions about. Best Dining Destinations in Queenstown Worth the Drive covers the places out of town worth the trip. Pies Worth the Drive and Coffee with a View handle the daytime and the cheaper end, and neither of those needs a booking or a discount at all.

What Do You Do After Dinner?

The lakefront is right there and a walk along it is a decent end to the night. If you want more than that, the move is to get out from under the streetlights. Ten minutes on the Glenorchy road, or out to Lake Hayes, both sealed the whole way, and the sky opens up in a way it simply does not in town.

Every so often, if it is clear and you are looking south, the aurora australis turns up. We have caught it from out there more than once. You cannot plan for it, you can only be in position for it, which is about the best argument we can give you for having a car sitting outside.

Why the Car Makes This Work

Half price dinner is a good reason to try somewhere you would not otherwise have booked. The car is what lets somewhere you would not otherwise have booked include the places outside the town centre, and it turns the drive home into the second half of the evening rather than the end of it.

In Queenstown we bring the car to you. Nobody else here does that, and it is the entire reason Evolve exists. It is sitting where you are staying, which on an evening that starts at 5.30 is worth more than it sounds.

Book the Car, Then Book the Table

Pick your dates and we will bring it to you. Evolve Rentals.

FAQs

How does First Table work in Queenstown?
You book the first table of the evening at a participating restaurant and pay a small booking fee to hold it. You then get 50% off the food bill. There are 147 Queenstown restaurants on the platform.

Does the First Table discount include drinks?
No. The 50% applies to food only. Drinks are charged at full price.

What time are First Table bookings?
Early, because it is the first booking of the service. That is the whole trade, and it is why the discount exists at all.

Do you need a car to eat out in Queenstown?
Not in the town centre, which is walkable. You need one for the places worth driving to, and for anywhere you fancy going afterwards.