Offical Wellington Resturant review thread

Lets have a thread about what you think is great wellington resturants, good experiances - bad experiances etc etc

Went to Epic this morning for brunch, been there many a time, food always good, however this morning waited for over an hour for brunch and were ignored by staff. Pretty dissapointing, letf very hungry indeed!@

Korentail up marjory banks street is AWSOME! so cheap awsome food!

Go Bang Petone - awsome brunch right thur, cool little cafe, good service, also i thought was pretty cool they have a full veggie menu and a full gluton free menu! (not that i am either).


more to come.....

I've always felt Epic has decidedly average service...food is good, but yeah, never been that flash with service.

Since moving to Aus, it's highlighted how shit the service is at Cafes in general back home...fuck this queuing up at the counter to order your food and then waiting there for your coffee to take it back to your table yourself ala Espressoholic styles (Epic was the same when last there, though they would at least bring your coffee to you).

Every cafe here is full table service and that shit rocks!

Ernesto.

Great cafe. Good size, plenty of room, nice kitchy decor. Good service (at your table if so desired).

I usually go for the Buckwheat pancakes, good sized meal with a lot of taste. (Pancakes can be so bland at times)

Decided to go for the French Raisin Toast with stewed apples and cream a couple of weekends ago.. thoroughly dissapointed...

I would have thought RAISIN toast would at least contain RAISINS??? Noooo it would seem. I got a soggy half loaf sized piece of white bread.. with not even one raisin! The stewed apples must have been stewed for around 30 seconds because they were like a fresh slice of apple.. rock hard!

Coffee was good and the whole meal was average cost for a cafe.

My new favourite Italian is Piccolo on Vivian near the Taranaki corner (not to be confused with Picollo on Upper Willis near the Vivian corner, which is more of a pizza place - though I think they are connected)

Great pasta, tiny little place with good atmosphere and a proper italian speaking chef (and a little asian woman who sometimes brings out the food).

They don't have a wine list though, just 3 or 4 different labels on the back of the menu to pick from. I still haven't found out if it is BYO but I'd guess so...

oops - they are both spelt Piccolo

Il Piccolo being the tiny little 5 table one right near the motorway entrance?

If so - yah, place is fucking awesome, and super cheap to boot!

Yeah that's the Pizza place. Il Piccolo, Ministry of Pizza and certain other things.

They recently opened a new restaurant on Vivian - no pizza I don't think, but the pasta is great!

Cool...love the little one, corner of Willis and Vivian (I think?) just down from the old Dental School (aka The Murder House)

Brilliant place for a quiet, cheap, yet romantic dinner, for 2...pizza and pasta are like $12 each (or were) and wine was cheap too...me and the lady shared 1 pizza and pasta, bottle of wine and one dessert for less than $60! Food was bloody lovely too!

Piccolo was really good one the best places i have been to.. Wine and pasta was good..


Didn't think much of Shed 5 that was very average! But Boulcott Street Bistro has to be the best place, excellent wine and great service..

Majestic Cuisine on Courtenay




Great service, consistant food and great Duck

any Mexican recommendations???

For Mexican there is a great place on adelade Rd just down from the hospital in Newtown. I think its called the Mexican Cafe? The food is great with generous portions, and cheap too. Plus its BYO.

Then there is Flying Burrito Bros on Cuba. Great food, a bit more pricy but still good value. Wicked drinks list too! Wicked Margaritas too!

Anyone here been to Logan Brown? What did you think?

Mexican cafe ??? Hmmm haven't been for a few years but didn't find it very authentic. Was operated by a Asian family - may have changed? Viva Mexico in left bank is brilliant - more southern Californian / Mexican inspired. Plus cheap as chips. Flying burritos is ok. Pricey yes but cute Spanish speaking staff make up for it!
On a another tip Capitol is by far one of my favs. Great food - menu changes every season. Good service and reasonably priced.

That place was fucking terrible the only time I went there...rubbery orange processed cheese on your naches...WTF?!? No thank you sir!

RIP The Mexican Cantina

Flying Burrito Bros is far better than the Mexican Cantina was, imo.

Can't believe no-one has mentioned Istanbul on Cuba. Have loved that place for years.

The coffee is good but I had a flatmate who used to work there, and the owner is not nearly as good at paying wages as he is at sourcing coffee, so I've boycotted the place.

Had many a great time there, always a great place for large group dinners, but as a whole, I reckon it's well overrated

Food is rubbish. It's a big group place, only if your mates are broken arse

last time i went there we got thrown out.. but with the company i keep at times i wasnt really surprised.

hede is fantastic for cheap japanese eats. yum.

Good food and excelent service. Could also recommend the White House on Oriental perade (was BYO on sundays), Francois thorndon & Cafe Bastille up from sammies if you looking at something more prestegious than Istanbul for your special lady/Man. Have never felt like i been riped off at any of these places.

Matin bosley's or Citron are up there with the best for sure

yardy's guide to the finest newtown sub $10 eateries:

o'sushi - riddiford st opposite rice bowl burger bar - friendly korean run sushi, if ya get in a bit before lunch you can swipe the legendary "end bits" - made from the end of the sushi roll so some of them literally have half a fuckin chicken hangin out of them - for the regular piece price of $1.20! o'sushi also famously sometimes shuts for brief periods on sunday afternoons (staff probably out at a karaoke bar or getting stickerfotos taken at timezone) and leaves a table outside with packs of sushi and a sign saying "sorry we are close! please help self and put money in jar!" lol .. in fuckin newtown.

baghdad cafe - up the gangster end riddiford near caltex - dope kebabs and iskender- my mate who is actually from baghdad (managed to escape in 2001 wif his family) says this is the most authentic shit cos they bbq the meat on skewers. Also it is opposite the assyrian centre so there are always a pack of rats-tail having penis haircut iraqis, as well as people getting shot just up the road in the council flats. so you feel like you actually are in bahgdad.

rice bowl burger bar - down near the hospital, little bit pricey, chip portions are a bit shit, but it always seems to be open at 4am when ya want a fuckin hotdog. staff know you by name, and for a challenge they have one of the hardest street fighter machines ive played on.

newtown bakery - the poor man's mr bun. since the newtown mr beezy price hikes of sept 08, scroogey asian bakery officianados make the extra trip up the road to newtown bakery. also a bonus is there is a chinese girl who works there sometimes who is incredibly hot and is made up like the sluttiest phuket hooker you've ever seen. ungh. rumours that she moonlights just up the road at asian haven are unsubstantiated, and i havent been able to muster the courage to ask her, but if true ill be up on milward st getting the $60 half hour special in a FLASH

indian flavours - hood end of riddiford - a nice change from the zillion other identical indian restaurants - cheap big thali dish wif like 3 curries/dahls and desert, watch out for the greasy bastards at the counter tho they will hit on ur missus like crazy if she is hot 2 death, (probably not a problem if ur missus isnt h2d, but mine is), also cheap samosas if ur meal didnt quite fill you

Misc warning:
Shanghai takeaway has the cheapest deals on asian food ($5 lunch - any chinese meal wif a free can of coke) but the food here is absolutely inedible. they dont cook the veges or the meat. the sweet sour pork is literally raw carrot & 3 huge bits of uncooked pork with about a litre of sweet sour sauce. i have extremely low standards and would eat almost anything if the price is right, but this really is the worst chinese i've ever had. their deep fried stuff is reasonable tho.

brief reports:
cafe laz - good kebabs if u cant be bothered walking to baghdad
chok chai - solid thai takeaway
fish fins - near the finance company corner (geneva (RIP), adelphi, instant, aztec all within 5m of each other) fresh fish, deace chippie, good interracial banter between the white fat bloke owner and his tongan wife while you wait for your order
leos chippie - greek chippie bought out & ruined by the chinese, shitty food

haven't talked bout cafes cos they're all shitty, missed the rest of the indian restaurants cos theyre good but all the same..

I knew I should have never moved out of Newtown

Thanks for the reviews oh Toasted one!!!

sadly, francois sold a couple of years ago and the new owners didnt keep up the high standards.

but he has opened la choche on old hutt rd (next to animates) and they do a mean lunch. not to mention all the beautiful french wine you can buy there. YUM!

not for many years sop no idea what it's like now, but was very nice, food, service, setting. Assuming it's held its standards i'd rate it.