An Auckland restaurant has come under fire after a woman and her friends were referred to as "Asians" on their receipt.

Staff at The Falls Restaurant & Cafe in West Auckland had written "Asians" to identify the group at lunchtime on Sunday, and then provided it to the group.

The woman said she found it racist, while the restaurant called it a mistake and blamed it on a new employee.

The woman told Stuff they were a "group of 'Asians' born in this country", and had visited the restaurant for coffee and drinks.

"We were truly shocked at the restaurant for their incredibly racist service."

Falls Restaurant manager Arvind Kumar told Stuff the restaurant had made a "huge mistake".

The group had sat at an unnumbered table while the restaurant was very busy, and so the new waiter had typed "Asians" on the receipt to identify the group, he told Stuff.

"It was a mistake by the waiter, she's new and she should not have done that. We never do this and we will never do that again."

The restaurant's Facebook page has been inundated with posts criticising them over their actions.

One person called the incident "utterly disgusting".