Happy Mood Club is a restaurant and poker venue on Towey Street. Proper steaks, a long wine list and a card room where the same regulars have been bluffing each other for years.
Kitchen Wed–Sun · 5pm–11pmPoker room Thu–Sat from 7pm18+ past the dining room
Since 2019
The place
A grill room that grew a poker habit
We opened as a small grill on Towey Street and added two poker tables in the back room one winter. The tables stayed. Now half the town knows us for the ribeye and the other half for Thursday cash games.
One roof, two moods. Quiet dinners up front, live cards in the back room.
Local meat and produce from around North Otago, cooked over a real grill.
You deal with us directly. The same people who answer the phone run the floor.
The menu changes with what our suppliers bring in. These are the plates people keep ordering.
Dry-aged ribeyehouse cut
28 days on the bone, finished over charcoal, served with bone-marrow butter.
Blue codwhen boats come in
Southland blue cod, brown butter, capers. Off the menu when the weather keeps the boats home.
Smoked beetroot tartarevegan
The one vegetarian plate the regulars order on purpose.
The bar side
Central Otago pinot, a whisky shelf we argue about, and a house lager we had brewed for the card room. Card players get table service so nobody folds to fetch a drink.
Wine list heavy on North Otago and Central producers
Slow roasts, shared plates and no poker on Sundays. The card room stays dark and the dining room takes the whole building.
Bookings go fast once the weather turns. The 1pm sitting is the one everyone wants.
The back room
Poker nights, run properly
Real felt, real chips, a dealer who knows the rules. Our poker nights are social, in person and venue-based. You sit across the table from the people you beat.
New to the game? Thursdays we run a learner table where the dealer talks you through the hands. Regulars play the later cash session.
Our monthly hold'em tournament. Fixed buy-in, trophy on the mantel, the winner's name goes on the board by the bar.
Fridays
Vinyl & steaks
Bring a record, we put it on. Chef runs a steak special and the card room stays open late for whoever's still standing.
On request
Private table nights
Take the card room for your crew. Birthdays, work dos, stag nights that stay classy. We deal, you bring the people.
The room
Around the club
front room, 6pmthe felt, thursdaythe bar shelfcharcoal grill17 towey street
Word of mouth
What people tell their mates
Came for my dad's birthday dinner and stayed for the poker. Lost forty bucks, ate the best ribeye of my year. Fair trade.
MB
Mike B.
Oamaru
The dealer actually taught my husband the game instead of sighing at him. We go every second Thursday now.
SR
Sarah & Rob T.
Waikaura
Work booked the card room for our Christmas do. Dinner up front, a dealer who taught the lot of us after, nobody wanted to leave. Organising it was one email.
JK
Jo K.
Palmerston
Good to know
Questions we hear at the door
Anything else, ring us. A person answers, not a menu.
Walk-ins work most nights, but Friday and Saturday the dining room fills by 7. Booking takes one phone call or the form on our contacts page.
That's exactly who the Thursday learner table is for. Sit down, the dealer explains each hand as it plays. Most regulars here started at that table.
All our poker is in-person, social and venue-based. Nothing online, nothing remote. You must be 18 or older to sit at a table.
Yes, that's our favourite kind of booking. Up to four tables, your own dealer, food packages from the kitchen. Details are on the casino events page.
17 Towey Street, Holmes Hill, Oamaru. Green door, brass knocker, follow the smell of the grill.
Happy Mood Club
Hungry? Feeling lucky?
Dinner seat, card seat, or both. Tell us when and we'll keep a chair.
