Restaurant Recommendation Please - North Shore

Forums › Off topic › Restaurant Recommendation Please - North Shore - Auckland

networkn

Networkn
32862 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 15453

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#224293 11-Nov-2017 11:12

Looking for a place to take visiting family.

Wanting excellent food (doesn't need to be fine dining), good beer selection, maybe with some craft beer, decent setting.

Not too worried about food type, but European/seafood might be a good start as we eat a reasonable amount of asian food.

Anyone got a recommendation please?

1 | 2

620 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 183

#1899203 11-Nov-2017 11:23

Not a restaurant as such, but it meets most of what you want. I don't drink beer so I can't comment on their craft beer. Less than a minute walk to the playground and beach. Might be handy if children are attending.

https://www.zomato.com/auckland/deep-creek-brews-eats-browns-bay/

eracode

Smpl Mnmlst
9333 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 6201

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1899207 11-Nov-2017 11:40

Sam91:

Not a restaurant as such, but it meets most of what you want. I don't drink beer so I can't comment on their craft beer. Less than a minute walk to the playground and beach. Might be handy if children are attending.

https://www.zomato.com/auckland/deep-creek-brews-eats-browns-bay/

Haven't been there but have heard Very Good Things about this place from fiends and framily. Been meaning to go because it's fairly close to us.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

ToPGuNZ

Topgunz
399 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 142

Lifetime subscriber

#1899233 11-Nov-2017 12:33

Deep Creek Brewery is a good option and so is The Merchant at Albany mall. Both consistantlly good. I would also recommend Franks in Takapuna for better food and nice location by the beach. There is GPK in Albany but the service there has been very average to poor.

keepitwarm

265 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 23

#1899285 11-Nov-2017 16:15

I always take people to Hallertau, has great food and beer.

http://www.hallertau.co.nz/

.............................................................

simple logic.

openmedia

3449 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 878

Trusted

#1899294 11-Nov-2017 16:52

If you like Italian try http://caffeecucina.co.nz/

They have some great specials some nights of the week, and I've often had breakfast meetings there.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

dejadeadnz

2394 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2287
Inactive user

#1899557 12-Nov-2017 11:53

networkn:

Looking for a place to take visiting family.

Wanting excellent food (doesn't need to be fine dining), good beer selection, maybe with some craft beer, decent setting.

You need to define what you mean by "excellent" food. Excellent relative to what kind of expectation? How much are you prepared to spend per head? Also, what day are you proposing to go? I ask because most of the restaurants that I consider to be excellent (relative to my criteria which I will describe below) aren't open on either Mondays or Sundays.

My significant other and I tend to dine with people mostly from an overseas background. Whilst most of us enjoy a tipple, we certainly drink a lot less than most Kiwis and ultimately focus much more on the quality of the food. To give you an idea of our food ratings scale, we consider most of the usual Metro Top 50s/Cuisine recommended restaurants to be good to very good (i.e. around 7 to 8/10) but only a few we would consider truly excellent (i.e. 9/10 or up). To give you an idea of how we look at things, we'd consider The Grill, Kazuya, Sugar Club, Amano, Saan, and Artwok to be truly excellent.

Artwok (Chinese) is the only one that's North Shore-based and they close on Mondays. They do seem to have a reasonable selection of beers. If excellent food were my focus, I would struggle to think of another place that I would go to on the Shore other than The Engine Room but they close on Sundays. If your idea/expectation is a hearty meal at a nice neighbourhood bistro, then of course things are a bit different. That's why I asked.

Geekzone support

Support Geekzone with one-off or recurring donations Donate via PressPatron.

networkn

Networkn
32862 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 15453

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1899753 12-Nov-2017 19:48

Hi.

Thanks for the recommendations, we went to Deep Creek last night and had a good time. The food is probably what I'd rate as good rather than excellent, but was still a great night out. Beer selection was pretty big though as I don't drink I can't comment about the particulars on taste. The others seemed to enjoy their beer.

Hallertau's menu probably would have appealled slightly more menu wise but they were booked up.

@dejadeadnz we would have similar taste in food I think, though I think The Grill is very good, not great. In my experience, it's rare to get a truly exceptional steak in NZ. The Ggrill is probably the best or nearabouts. I'd agree about the Metro top 50, pretty average most of them. Cuisine are better with thieir awards in my opinion. Sidart would be my fav fine dining restaurant in NZ right now, very few come even close, Kazuya also very good. Clooney's current degustation which we will try for my birthday in December before they close for good, is apparently exceptional. I haven't been to French Cafe for a couple of years and I'd say I've had mixed experiences there. Grove is generally very good to excellent depending on the night. In another life I'd love to be a food reviewer.

lNomNoml

1842 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 521

ID Verified

#1899769 12-Nov-2017 20:58

Spur?

Inphinity

2780 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1184

#1899792 12-Nov-2017 22:39

Postman's Leg in Glenfield be worth a look.Can be a bit slow service when it's really busy, but generally pretty good. Not fine dining, but good.

dejadeadnz

2394 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2287
Inactive user

#1899829 12-Nov-2017 23:39

networkn:

@dejadeadnz we would have similar taste in food I think, though I think The Grill is very good, not great. In my experience, it's rare to get a truly exceptional steak in NZ. The Ggrill is probably the best or nearabouts. I'd agree about the Metro top 50, pretty average most of them. Cuisine are better with thieir awards in my opinion. Sidart would be my fav fine dining restaurant in NZ right now, very few come even close, Kazuya also very good. Clooney's current degustation which we will try for my birthday in December before they close for good, is apparently exceptional. I haven't been to French Cafe for a couple of years and I'd say I've had mixed experiences there. Grove is generally very good to excellent depending on the night. In another life I'd love to be a food reviewer.

We go to The Grill for the other stuff - neither of us are huge red meat eaters. I do think their king crab linguine is to die for, however. I wouldn't necessarily go as far as describing most of the Metro Top 50 as ordinary -- they are mostly very good; it's just that most are noticeably short of the raving reviews that the food reviewers in NZ typically give. If you like Sidart (its track record is great although our last meal there was very average by its standards), there's no way that you will like the French Cafe much now. I've always found their attitude towards flavouring and food combos to be a bit odd and lacking in refinement but the last time just took the cake with constantly clashing flavours and generally snobbish service. Increasingly I prefer the more relaxed dining that nonetheless entails excellent food -- Amano, Artwok, Saan, Ostro and Cassia are all wonderful in this regard. For fine dining, I'd stick with Kazuya and the Sugar Club.

networkn

Networkn
32862 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 15453

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1900059 13-Nov-2017 10:27

I've not been to the Sugar Club personally though I've never really been a fan of Peters cooking and flavour combinations. Foodie friends of mine have been and said they found it a mixed bag. We will get there eventually. For more casual eating with exceptional food I would say it's hard to look past something like Depot, and I was kind of after food of that quality when I made my original request.

I'd say the shore seems to be sadly short on really excellent seafood resturants.

Lego

Shop now for Lego sets and other gifts (affiliate link).

dickytim

2514 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 537
Inactive user

#1900448 14-Nov-2017 06:20

networkn:

Looking for a place to take visiting family.

Wanting excellent food (doesn't need to be fine dining), good beer selection, maybe with some craft beer, decent setting.

Not too worried about food type, but European/seafood might be a good start as we eat a reasonable amount of asian food.

Anyone got a recommendation please?

Blitza Pizza Birkenhead for Italian.

Coil

6614 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2153
Inactive user

#1900451 14-Nov-2017 07:12

Tuk Tuk in Takapuna, Tell the bartender you know me by my old username and enjoy cheap drinks!

Avoid the strip restaurants in Takapuna, over priced and the food isn't great. Seems to be good for Instagram photos though.

Sake Bar Nippon is always a good time and good quality food.

Aubergine is also a good place.

(if you want good sea food go to Sails in the city. Will be paying for it however!)

Cheers

ratsun81

516 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 183

#1900520 14-Nov-2017 10:10

Coil:

Tuk Tuk in Takapuna, Tell the bartender you know me by my old username and enjoy cheap drinks!

I think you mean Tok Tok? Borders on Good to excellent

Another place to check out is El Humero, beer selection is limited but the food is up there.

dickytim

2514 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 537
Inactive user

#1901046 15-Nov-2017 06:42

ratsun81:

Coil:

Tuk Tuk in Takapuna, Tell the bartender you know me by my old username and enjoy cheap drinks!

I think you mean Tok Tok? Borders on Good to excellent

Another place to check out is El Humero, beer selection is limited but the food is up there.

Second El Humero, Cuban bbq....mmmmmm

1 | 2