Olivers Restaurant & Bar serves fresh, seasonal Central Otago cuisine inside a beautifully kept group of heritage buildings on Sunderland Street, in the historic heart of Clyde. The kitchen's award-winning cooking is matched by warm, welcoming service in a dining room unlike anywhere else in the region.
The buildings that house Olivers date back to the 1860s, when they served the miners and travellers who came seeking their fortune during the Otago goldrush. That long tradition of hospitality continues today, with the restaurant and bar at the centre of the Olivers Collection — a cluster of historic properties that also includes Olivers Lodge & Stables, The Lord Clyde hotel just across the road, the Merchant of Clyde café-bakery-deli, and the Victoria Store Brewery.
Drinks lean local: wines from vineyards nearby pour alongside hand-crafted beers brewed on site by the Victoria Store Brewery. Next door, the Merchant of Clyde Café offers a blackboard menu, cabinet food made fresh each day, coffee and pastries in its courtyard — handy for a more casual bite before or after dinner.
The restaurant entrance is on Sunderland Street near the corner with Lodge Lane — look for the flag and hanging sign. Tables can be booked online, by phone or by email, and the team also hosts weddings and special occasions throughout the historic precinct.
Olivers Restaurant & Bar carries on a tradition that began in the 1860s. The buildings that make up the Olivers Collection first opened their doors to the miners and travellers who arrived in Central Otago seeking their fortune during the Otago goldrush, and the age-old tradition of warm, welcoming hospitality continues today — now with an award-winning kitchen at its heart. Clyde itself is a small, characterful goldrush town, and the restaurant sits right in its historic precinct.
Step in from Sunderland Street and the setting does much of the talking. The restaurant occupies a unique historic building, part of a cluster of restored goldrush-era properties, and the sense of place is inseparable from the experience. Guests frequently remark on the atmosphere: 'When we walked in everyone said WOW,' one diner wrote after a special-occasion dinner, praising the friendly staff, the top-class service and 'a beautiful meal.'
That warmth runs through the whole operation. Olivers is run as a collection — a restaurant, two places to stay, a café and a brewery — and the feeling of a well-loved, characterful place comes through whether you are checking in, sitting down to dinner, or picking up a pastry in the courtyard.
Fresh, seasonal flavours are the hallmark of the cuisine here. The kitchen lets Central Otago's seasons lead, producing the kind of cooking that has earned the restaurant its award-winning reputation and a promise from the team of an experience that 'can't fail to delight.'
The glassware is local, too. The wine list draws on vineyards nearby — Clyde sits in the heart of Central Otago wine country — while the bar pours hand-crafted beers from the Victoria Store Brewery, which brews on site in the time-worn tradition of offering refreshment to locals and weary travellers alike.
Olivers Restaurant & Bar is the dining centrepiece of the wider Olivers Collection. Next door, the Merchant of Clyde Café covers the casual hours with a blackboard menu, cabinet food made fresh on site each day, and coffee and fresh local pastry to enjoy in the courtyard or take away.
If dinner turns into a plan to stay, two heritage properties sit within steps. Olivers Lodge & Stables is boutique accommodation in heritage-listed buildings, popular with cyclists on the nearby trails as well as romantic escapees and business retreats. Across the road, The Lord Clyde offers sophisticated, luxury accommodation within 120-year-old stone walls. One guest on the Otago Central Rail Trail described Olivers as 'the pinnacle' of their trip, praising everything from the breakfast to the bed.
The collection also opens its doors for weddings and special occasions, with the historic buildings providing a memorable backdrop for celebrations.
You'll find the restaurant at 34 Sunderland Street, Clyde, in the town's historic precinct. The entrance is on Sunderland Street near the corner with Lodge Lane — look for the flag and the hanging sign. Alexandra is about 10 minutes away by car, Cromwell roughly 20 minutes, and Queenstown around an hour; Dunedin and Christchurch are roughly two-and-a-half and five-and-a-half hours respectively.
Tables can be booked through the Book a Table page on the Olivers website, or by phone on +64 3 449 2805 or email at bookings@olivers.co.nz. Whether you arrive on two wheels, after a day among the vineyards, or simply for the pleasure of a long dinner inside a goldrush building, Olivers delivers a very Central Otago kind of hospitality — historic, warm and quietly polished.