Best bar in Napier. Owned by locals with great selection of local craft beers and whiskeys. Don't…read moremiss this place!

It's always a bit of a crap shoot when vacationing and trying to find a good spot for dinner…read more Emporium was a winner for us today. We made a reservation online although when we arrived it wasn't too busy and we were able to get a seat outside on the sidewalk. As most places do not have A/C in town, this was preferable to the somewhat warm restaurant. Our nice server Michaela took good care of us and made some good food recommendations. We started with the prawn toasts (indescribable but REALLY good), then followed with Fish and chips (light and good) and the coconut chicken salad which was shaved cucumber, poached chicken, coconut, and peanuts with a light refreshing dressing-quite good (according to my spouse). A bottle of Rose topped things off. The menu has quite a lot of choices so it should be easy for most people to find something that interests them. Nice food, nice service, nice meal.

Location is great, in the heart of the Art Deco city center, a half block from the tourist…read moreinformation office. Service was fine. A little inattentive, but we got everything we asked for, we just had to ask for everything. We had fish and chips. There was a lot of fish, flaky and perfectly cooked. The chips (fries for us Americans) were really really good, seasoned and crispy outside, potato-y inside. All-in-all, a welcoming a reasonable lunch.

We stopped in here one night on our honeymoon and were ready to get our snacka on. The restaurant…read moreand lounge was really busy despite us getting in kind of late and it seemed like a pretty popular place. The interior design could keep you busy for quite some time checking out all of the interesting art, music sheets masquerading as wallpaper, and thoughtful touches. The candlelight lends to the intimate atmosphere and after a busy day driving and exploring we suddenly felt ourselves transported to a setting where food and live music and each other was our only focus. As with other restaurants around NZ, eating gluten free was very easy here. Labeled gf on the menu it was easy to navigate and there were a lot of great options. When i see aioli its pretty much a done deal. So when i saw the calamari with lemon pepper, sea salt, and garlic aioli I was just like- where do I sign up? It was delicious and not a speck remained when they picked up my dish. The husband pretty much goes into the same craze with feta, so he obvi nommed all of his feta pot with almost a whole half loaf of bread to soak up all the deliciousness with. I also ordered the scotch steak with fried potatoes and some fresh and fab greens. We made it a rule on the honeymoon that we had to always get dessert, I mean what better way to celebrate the whole trip? I had the creme brulee which was beautifully presented and prepared perfectly and the husband had the ice cream which he killed. Our service was great and subtle the whole night which added to the intimate atmosphere. We never went without anything we needed but were able to escape into our bubble and discuss our trip without being disturbed. Overall a great find.

Requested a reservation online a 5PM for a 6:30P seating on a Tuesday. We arrived at 6:15P only to…read morebe told no room at the inn. Plenty of empty tables. We had not been notified that no reservation available. Upon departure we checked email only to find that at 6:16P a message had come through. How convenient. Terrible customer service. Not certain how you can run a customer focused business in such fashion. Guess we were deemed "not local" Pass on this place they do not need or want your business.

Food and drinks are fantastic... had their own Chardonnay & Albariño that paired perfectly with our…read moremeal. Was here for lunch and had fish & chips and Vietnamese pancake which was superb. Enjoyed it here tremendously with outstanding service, cozy ambiance and fantastic food and wine! Highly recommended!

Outstanding fine dining. Crudo starter and lamb main were simply excellent. And I'm glad I didn't…read moreskip dessert as the strawberry dessert was the most beautifully presented dessert you can imagine, and it was excellent. Expensive. But worth it.

Everything best food in town best atmosphere and the people are the best if the Michelin star came…read moreto Napier Mr D's would get 1 or more love what they do

The food was excellent here. It is a beautiful restaurant, and the service was outstanding.read more

This place is just great! It's large, it's unique, it's friendly, the service is amazing, the food…read moreis great, the pirate band in the dungeon is amazing and most of all the menu is old school long. We were in town for a trade show and recommended this place by a local. It was so good we went back a second night in row. I'm not a big desert eater but my wife is. Both nights she ordered desert and I ate half of hers, not too sweet and beautifully presented.

Excellent Paua Fritters- whitebait fritters, oysters on the half shell, mussels- BEST seafood…read moreever!!! We were so happy some pucs are of all the eaten food!

The ABSOLUTE BEST dining experience we have had in a LONG time. Atmosphere was great but food was…read moreoff the charts. Went to bed thinking about it and woke up still excited. Can't wait to go back. The MOST unique, fresh, flavourful Food / dining experience we have had. We travel extensively and this was off the charts food. A standard above and beyond all charts. A must try place.

Love this trendy watering hole hidden down an alleyway in Napier. There's friendly service, a Dj on…read moreFridays and a delicious fried chicken on the bar menu that I will go back for!

It was a Friday night. Napier was still in full 'winter' mode as I wandered the empty streets,…read morelooking for something fun to do on a one night stay over. I was about to get Indian take away and go back to the hotel when I heard music and conversion down an alley. It turned out to be Monica Loves. A cute little tapas/hangout bar, it is definitely the middle class hipster bar of the area. It was virtually the only place with more than 3 people inside. They had a DJ spinning at 7:30, but I didn't wait around for that. There was a good selection of beers. Some wines. I had an excellent IPA (sometimes hard to find in NZ), although it wasn't on tap. The food menu consisted of fine meats by the 50g, and a dish called BREAD for $9. I almost got the nut plate, but the bar tender never asked me if I wanted anything from the food menu, so I drank my beer and headed out. Despite the minor complaints, this is what I was looking for. I have know doubt that small groups looking for a place to chill would not be disappointed here.