Otematata's Best Dam Pub

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Otematata's Best Dam Pub

The best dam place in Otematata for food, drink and entertainment.

Otematata Eatery, Bar & Lodging prides itself on delicious meals, a fun and friendly atmosphere and excellent customer service. One of New Zealand's true country style kiwi pubs that you don't want to miss out on visiting.

18/09/2026

WELCOME BACK, YOU HAPPY CAMPERS! 🏕️

The caravans are rolling in, the awnings are testing relationships, and someone’s already giving reversing instructions that absolutely nobody asked for. Bloody good to have you back! 😂

To everyone returning to the Waitaki Council campsites, welcome back to your home away from home. Get yourselves settled, then come reacquaint yourselves with your Best Dam local. We’ve missed your faces. Your wildly exaggerated fishing stories? We’re emotionally preparing.

Here’s your weekend sorted:

🍻 TFIF TONIGHT | 4–7PM
Happy hour and complimentary bar nibbles. You’ve wrestled with the caravan. Let us wrestle up the snacks.

📚 BOOKARAMA | FROM 6PM TONIGHT
Grab a good read, make a donation per book and help support the Waitaki Valley Health Hub. Up Country Nails is joining us tonight too, so you can head back to camp with a thriller and considerably tidier claws. Everyone welcome, not just the ladies!

SPIN & WIN | EVERY NIGHT
There’s a $300 JACKPOT TONIGHT! Get your arse on a seat, use the app, check in and be here for the draw. Your camp chair has many talents. Winning you pub prizes isn’t one of them.

SUPER SUNDAY
Keep a spot in the weekend for a proper catch-up at the pub. Good food, good company and neighbours you actually chose to spend your weekends with.

LET’S TALK DIRTY. LAUNDRY, THAT IS.
Our laundry at the pub is open 24/7, with a change machine inside the laundry. Please don’t overload the machines. They’re here to wash your clothes, not compress three families’ bedding into a geological formation.

GET THE APP. EARN THE POINTS.
Search “Otematata” in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. We’re the only Otematata one, so even the person who took the wrong turn getting here should manage it. Download our loyalty app and earn points throughout the season.

Pitch up. Pop in. Make yourself local.
Otematata’s Best Dam Pub. Good people. Great times.

17/09/2026

📚 BOOKARAMA IS ON — AND EVERYONE’S INVITED! 📚

Ladies, blokes, kids, bookworms and people who haven’t finished a book since Form 5… come have a rummage. 😂

We’ve already got a cracking mix rolling in — kids’ books, cookbooks, self-help, full series, novels and plenty of other random treasures.

And BOOK DONATIONS ARE STILL VERY WELCOME! Drop them into the bar or bring them along.

📚 Friday from 6pm & running through Sunday
💅 Up Country Nails joining us Friday
❤️ All funds raised for the Waitaki Valley Health Hub

Bring the family. Bring the mates. Bring some books. Buy some different books.

Basically swap one pile of clutter for another while raising money for a bloody good cause. Perfect. 😂📚❤️

16/09/2026

📚 RIGHTO — BOOK HOARDERS, THIS IS YOUR SUMMONS. 📚

BOOKARAMA is THIS WEEKEND, and we need your donation books rolling into the pub early this week so we can get the tables stacked before Friday.

Got novels you’ve smashed through? Kids’ books they’ve outgrown? Cookbooks that promised “easy weeknight meals” and then asked for 14 ingredients you’ve never heard of?

Bring ’em in.

Drop your books at the bar anytime this week, or bring them along on Friday 18 September.

If you’ve got something a bit special or worth more than a normal donation, chuck a price guide on it so we don’t accidentally sell your treasure for loose change. 😬

And remember — this one is for EVERYONE. Not just the ladies.

The books will stay out for sale across the weekend, with all funds raised going to the Waitaki Valley Health Hub. ❤️

So clear a shelf.
Donate a stack.
Come back and buy someone else’s stack.

Community recycling, but with better stories and a bar nearby. 😂📚

THIS WEEKEND — Friday 18 September
📍 Otematata’s Best Dam Pub

And yes we have nails!!💅

12/09/2026

SUNDAY. SORTED. 👑🍳🏉🍺

We’re OPEN RIGHT NOW for the All Blacks test, and the kitchen’s firing for breakfast.

So drag yourself out of bed, get your arse on a seat, order something greasy enough to repair Saturday night, and get amongst the rugby with us.

Then we’re rolling straight into SUPER SUNDAY later today, with FREE POOL ALL DAY because apparently one good excuse to spend Sunday at the pub wasn’t enough.

🏉 All Blacks live
🍳 Breakfast on
🎱 Free pool ALL DAY
💰 Super Sunday later
🍺 Cold b**r behaving exactly as it should

No mowing lawns. No pretending you’ve got jobs to do.

Today, we Sunday like kings. 👑

Get down to the Best Dam Pub and make a proper day of it.

12/09/2026

Tornado Rod and Custom Club thanks for coming in today. Great to have you here!

12/09/2026

TONIGHT’S PLANS HAVE BEEN DECIDED FOR YOU. YOU’RE WELCOME.

Warriors v Dolphins. 6:05pm. Finals footy. Big screens. Sound up.

Plus we’re running a free sweepstakes through the game.

Closest score at half time? Prize.
Closest score at full time? Prize.

So yes, you can absolutely turn up with no clue, shout “they need to complete their sets” twice, and still look like an expert.

And while all that’s happening, Spin & Win is sitting at $180 tonight.

That wheel has been throwing cash around with the self-control of a toddler near a lolly aisle.

Then tomorrow morning we do something mildly irresponsible…

ALL BLACKS v SOUTH AFRICA. 9AM.

Doors open 8:30am.
Breakfast is on.

Because if you’re going to get emotionally mugged by test rugby before 10am, you may as well have bacon involved.

And later tomorrow?

SUPER SUNDAY.

Raffles.
Chopped Butchery meat.
Spin & Win.
Good deals.
Good people.
A few “I’ll just pop in for one thing” lies.

So that’s your weekend.

Warriors tonight.
All Blacks at breakfast.
Super Sunday after.

If you’ve got better plans, we’re prepared to hear them.

We just won’t believe you.

Otematata’s Best Dam Pub.

11/09/2026

THIS WEEKEND HAS THE ORGANISATIONAL SKILLS OF A POSSUM IN A PANTRY.

There’s sport everywhere, breakfast at a suspiciously early hour, TFIF kicking the door in today, Super Sunday waiting around the corner, and the Waimate Side Campers are back for the season.

Welcome back, you beautiful bunch.
We’d say we’ve missed you, but we’ve been using your seats.

FRIDAY
TFIF is on.

Three hours of happy hour.
Complimentary nibbles.
Spin & Win lurking about with the potential to improve someone’s mood considerably.

Then at 7:10pm it’s Otago v Tasman on the big screens.

Basically Friday has been given a performance review and told to lift its game.

SATURDAY
Warriors v Dolphins, 6:05pm.

Finals footy.

The Warriors will provide the hope.
The Dolphins will provide the inconvenience.
The pub will provide somewhere appropriate to loudly explain what the coach should’ve done instead.

Very helpful. Very necessary.

SUNDAY
Now this is where things get a little unhinged.

Doors open 8:30am.
Breakfast is on.
All Blacks v South Africa kicks off at 9am.

Rugby. At breakfast.

Eggs, bacon, coffee and 80 minutes of pretending you’re emotionally stable.

And once that’s wrapped up, don’t get too comfortable.

Because Super Sunday is still to come later in the day.

Raffles.
Chopped Butchery meat.
Spin & Win.
Some very tidy Sunday deals.
And the usual crowd of good bu**ers slowly deciding they may as well stay for one more thing.

So yes…

Friday is loaded.
Saturday is loud.
Sunday starts at breakfast and somehow keeps going.

Big screens. Big games. Good food. Cold b**r. Questionable scheduling.

Otematata’s Best Dam Pub.

We’re a bit biased.

But look at the bloody evidence.

09/09/2026

PLEASE KEEP THE INAPPROPRIATE NOISES DOWN. IT’S ONLY RISOTTO. 🦐😏

Actually, fair enough. Our latest Chef’s Special — Seafood Risotto has already got a few tastebuds absolutely losing the plot.

Creamy risotto loaded with prawns, dory, calamari and green-lipped mussels, with cherry tomatoes, spinach and a lemon butter dressing to finish. The ocean’s greatest hits, without the sand in your un**es. 🤌

And to the person saying, “I’ll just have a little taste of yours”… order your own, you cheeky bu**er. This isn’t a sharing situation.

⚠️ This is a LIMITED special, so don’t leave it until “next time”. Next time could be you looking at this photo, eating toast and wondering where it all went wrong.

Get yourself into Otematata’s Best Dam Pub and see what the fuss is about.

Just remember: “F**k me, that’s good” is a compliment, not an instruction for the chef. 😂

08/09/2026

📚 YOUR BOOKSHELF HAS BEEN HOARDING LONG ENOUGH. TIME FOR AN INTERVENTION. 😂

Our BOOKARAMA is coming up Friday 18 September, and we need your books NOW so we can build a glorious mountain of pre-loved reading material before the big night.

Got novels you’ve finished? Cookbooks you’ve never cooked from? Kids’ books they’ve outgrown? That self-help book that clearly didn’t work? Bring ’em in. 😏📚

👉 Drop your book donations into Otematata’s Best Dam Pub anytime before the event.

If you’ve got a particularly special or valuable book, just pop a price guide with it. Otherwise, books will be sold by donation.

And this isn’t just for Girls Night Out regulars — EVERYONE is welcome to donate, come along on the night, and rummage through the books over the weekend.

❤️ Every dollar raised goes to the Waitaki Valley Health Hub.

So have a ruthless bookshelf clean-out and drop the casualties at the pub.

Then come back on the 18th and buy someone else’s books to fill the bloody space you just made.
📚❤️

Address

2736 Otematata Kurow Road
Otematata
9412

Telephone

+6434387899

Website

https://www.bestdampub.nz/

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