I had the opportunity to eat dinner here twice while staying at the Hilton, and both were…read morephenomenal experiences. First of all, the ambiance is spectacular, with gorgeous views of the harbor. My first night, dozens of sailboats were out, singly and in groups. The staff was welcoming - a sense of formality, but not pretentiously so. The first night, I had the Signature West Coast Whitebait Fritter, Kūmara Fries, and Mango and Mānuka Honey Cheesecake. The second night, I had the Signature Mediterranean Crab Cakes and the Herb Crusted Mt Cook Alpine Salmon. All were wonderful. The small plates were the Whitebait Fritter and the Crab Cakes. New Zealand Whitebait is a real delicacy, and they were perfectly cooked in what would better be described as a thin omelette rather than a fritter, topped with a deliciously rich buerre blanc and fried capers. Stunning! The Crab Cakes were served with a crayfish lemon mayonnaise and balsamic vinegar. Quite tasty with a nice crunch - use the lemon, it really helps bring out the flavor. Of the two, I would recommend the Whitebait Fritter hands down. It's something I will remember. I got the Kūmara Fries (New Zealand's sweet potato) as a side, and they are delicious. Coated with some parmesan cheese and served with black garlic mayo! So good. And it's a large serving - from looking around, all of their sides are designed for more than one person. That said, I did a pretty good job with the fries by myself. The Herb Crusted Mt Cook Alpine Salmon is another New Zealand-centric dish. The dish is exquisite and overwhelming. The salmon itself was perfection - perfectly cooked and rich in flavor. Then add the delicious pickled fennel, the red capsicum marmalade, the horseradish cream, herb oil, and the saltiness of fish roe? Explosions in your mouth. The Mango and Manuka Honey Cheesecake was rich and delicious with a nice crust. They also had a nice selection of New Zealand beers, wines, and liquors.

We were staying in the Hilton so we ate breakfast here during our stay. I ordered off the menu…read morehaving pancakes one day and French toast another. Both were beautifully presented with fresh fruit and flowers to adorn the main dish. The food was excellent. I also had a hot latte which was creamy, hot, and came with latte art. So good. We were seated at tables on the windows to enjoy the beautiful harbor views. Service was excellent.

Pleasant atmosphere. The bread was excellent…read more The service was quite slow. The food was very expensive but very tasty and good.

Loved the family-owned aspect of this place. We tasted some wine with Tyler and he was nice to talk…read moreto and informative. The Two Daughters Rosé was absolutely delicious and I don't typically love rosé. We ate at the bistro as well. The food was okay but it wasn't that great in my opinion. Overall, it was a nice time but we didn't stay longer than just a quick tasting and a lunch.

I enjoyed dinner here. It was Friday night and I hadn't booked, but I was early enough to get a…read moretable. Service is lovely. I enjoyed Calamari Salad for entree - that was delicious. Beautiful flavours, good balance, nicely presented and delicious. The pistachios give a really nice texture. My main course was grilled Hapuka fish. That was good too, with broccolini - very nice, I swapped the kumara for a side salad. It came super quickly which was a little irritating, but better than waiting ages for it. To be fair, I had told the service staff that I was starving, so fair enough. Overall, it was all good - I would definitely come back, thank you.

A few nights ago, I was lucky enough to be invited to dine at Aria Restaurant, where we tried 12…read moredifferent dishes off their new winter menu. I was super excited, not only because I always enjoy a foodie night out, but because I have walked past Crowne Plaza many times, but have never ventured in, so it was a real surprise! Upon arrival, I first noticed how large the restaurant was. It was fairly quiet for a Wednesday evening, but in a way, it was nice having the restaurant to ourselves! The ambience was warm and inviting and the seating very comfortable. The new winter menu offers an amazing choice of dishes, from seafood to meat to vegetarian meals. For starters, we were served the following: - Hot Smoked Akaroa Salmon with cauliflower and roasted beetroot (a perfect start to the evening); - Pan Seared Scallops with braised lentils and cherry tomatoes (the scallops cooked perfectly); - Shiitake, Button and Portobello Mushroom Salad (not a huge fan, but my other dining companions loved it); - Sweet Potato Tortellini with spinach, burnt butter and shaved parmesan (very flavoursome, especially with the burnt butter); and the - Pork and Beetroot Risotto with French goats cheese (my favourite). All the starters were beautifully presented; hence all the cameras came out at the table (I instantly felt right at home!). I particularly enjoyed the smoked salmon and the pan seared scallops, which were perfectly cooked. However, the pork (wrapped in prosciutto - heaven) was the dish that stood out the most. Sitting on a bed of dark red risotto, it was truly divine. The goats cheese also gave it that extra wow factor - creamy and delicious. We were then served four mains, which again were all well-presented and included: - Confit Duck with roasted pineapple, red curry and basmati rice (the pineapple made it sweet and the curry rich and creamy); - Lamb Shanks with cannellini bean puree and silver beet (the lamb was perfectly cooked); - Pork Cutlets with mushrooms and potato gnocchi (very tasty and I loved the addition of the gnocchi); and the - Pumpkin and Buckwheat Salad with onions, Brazil nuts and cherry tomatoes (I didn't try this dish because I loathe pumpkin, but my other dining companions said it was excellent). What I liked most about the mains were the excellent portion sizes. For example, it was nice to see two lamb shanks on the plate! Also the meals were quite filling, so well worth the money. My favourite main dish was definitely the lamb shanks - the meat was falling off the bone and it was incredibly tender! I also loved the addition of silver beet, which is not something I see often on a menu. And last but not least, dessert. Having heard great things about their Hazelnut Dacquoise (served with salted caramel, chocolate cream, smoked praline and berry sorbet), I was all set on ordering that. However, we ended up trying three desserts. Thank goodness because the Chocolate Melting Pot (made with dark Belgian chocolate) and the Black Doris Plum Tart were melt in your mouth! I couldn't decide on my favourite dessert, but I loved the berry sorbet (as part of the Hazelnut Dacquoise), as well as the Chocolate Melting Pot - oozing with chocolate goodness! I would love to re-create this at home! Also highly recommend the Black Doris Tart. I wouldn't normally order something like this off a menu, because, well, it isn't chocolate! However, it had wonderful textures - the plums were juicy, the pistachios gave it nice crunch and the crème anglaise was rich and delicious! As well as the amazing food, I thought the service was consistently great throughout the whole evening. Our water and wine glasses were always topped up - for the wine, we were always asked politely if we wanted more or not. The waiters were also friendly and I couldn't have asked for better service. Overall, it was a great dining experience for a hotel restaurant and definitely exceeded my expectations, with perfect company, wine and beautiful dishes. I will definitely be bringing my family and friends here - it was faultless.

Amazing service! Our server was from France. What a wonderful person! Please let him know his…read morerecommendations and knowledge of the menu was flawless! We look forward to returning! Derek

Awesome experience. The staff were super awesome and so was the food. The portion sizes were…read moredeceptively good. The service exceptional.

We walked into the bistro ready to have a terrific dinner experience based on their website photos…read moreand the warm, inviting appearance as we walked up. The ambiance was nice and felt like a cozy ski lodge. However, the hostess wasn't exactly warm or charming. She seemed to have a bit of a control issue. When we moved one of the 2 chairs at the 4-top to another side of the table, she expressed her displeasure and stated that we had to make sure that we gave the table next to us enough space, but there was definitely enough room for a small pony to walk through. The server was pretentious. The vibe we got was that he was busy with something else and could barely be bothered to share the specials and take our order. Because we weren't getting a great vibe, we decided just to order overpriced drinks instead of drinks and overpriced food. Do NOT order the old fashioned unless you like them super sweet. My husband is a fan of old fashioneds and had never had a ridiculously sugary drink as this before. The espresso martini was okay. Definitely not worth $26 though. This place is definitely overrated.

One of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever experienced was eating dinner at Mudbrick. The view is…read moredivine, and the garden feels so quaint and picturesque that I was completely wowed. It's nice coming here for the ambience alone! They have two or three course dining options and I went with the two course plus a bread order which ended up being the perfect amount of food. The dishes were surprisingly innovative for being a winery restaurant, and I really appreciated the pairings they suggested with each dish. I especially liked their Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot options. It's definitely pricey, but I am glad I got to try dinner here. Only catch is that it's quite difficult to get a car back home - we had dinner at 7:30 pm and it was a bit harrowing getting a taxi. The hotel will help call for you but our driver double booked himself for extra business so we stood outside almost half an hour in the dark. Regardless, the restaurant itself was great and worth the trip.

Very busy at 6.30 on a Wednesday, we tried to book but they told us they only had one table free…read moreand they kept that for walk-ins - so we moved out asses pronto and got over there to claim it! Really good choice of seafood dishes; we had the market fish (red snapper) in a ginger and garlic sauce, just delicious, melt in the mouth stuff. They were a bit short on dairy-free desserts, but we had the sticky toffee and date without the ice cream, which managed to fill in those few small holes that remained. We're booking again for the weekend! Three times we've eaten here. Definitely our favourite place in Auckland.

On our second-to-last day of roaming around Auckland and discussing the costs of owning a home in…read morehistorical or modern redeveloped areas with our New Zealand friends, Geoffrey and Margaret, they brought us to stroll around Wynyard Quarter, a waterfront area located on Auckland's Waitematā Harbor. They showed us the modern architecture, focused on sustainability, public spaces, restaurants and bars, and vibrant marina living in this redeveloped harbor area, which had quickly become a destination for tourists and locals. From the Jellicoe Harbor Breakwater built in 2020 to calm the waters for race boats and supporting yachts since Auckland's Waitematā Harbor hosted the 36th America's Cup, we could clearly see the cruise port from where we disembarked and the city center. Geoffrey and Margaret insisted on showing us the waterfront and promised to take us to a seafood restaurant. We mentioned that we love eating seafood, but were "preserving" our stomachs for casual, comfort, or unfussy food because we had been eating gourmet cuisines over the past 17 days while in Australia and during our cruise. We were thankful that they understood our request and dropped us off at our hotel to freshen up for dinner while Margaret made the reservation for an early dinner. We returned to the Wynyard Quarter's waterfront to Swashbucklers seafood restaurant, where we immediately felt comfortable with the vivaciousness of the hostess and server. We started our meal with icy-cold Peroni beers while sharing the tasty steamed mussels and garlic bread. Our server mentioned their fresh catch of the day was a snapper, which I adore, so I ordered it while my husband, Geoff, and Marg ordered the Fish & Chips, which we were told was a signature dish to Swashbucklers. All the food was flavorful and well-prepared. We were mostly impressed with the quality, quantity, and flavor of the steamed mussels. My husband gushed about the crispy, light-battered fish and the excellently textured chips. I enjoyed the tender pan-fried snapper with garlic butter, and complemented the fish with a slice of garlic bread. We'd love to return for the camaraderie, flavors, and flavors at Swashbucklers. 4.4 stars

Orphan's Kitchen was really good and a great way to see Ponsonby during our time in Auckland…read more Thanks to our friend, Mark, that recommended that place to us. There were interesting options on the menu that I've never tried before. I ordered fried eggs with kumara tortilla, sauerkraut and chili. My husband ordered soft boiled eggs with meyer lemon, anchovies and a side of hash browns. He was equally pleased. The service was prompt. I highly recommend making an advanced booking if you can. Even though we booked in advance, the restaurant was already full with a Saturday 8:30am resy. The ambiance was also very cozy. There was a back patio and upstairs that were closed off, I believe due to the rain but I could only imagine how much more enjoyable it would be on a sunny day. Thankful for our friend's recommendation. Must stop in for brekkie or lunch when in Ponsenby.

A tiny little spot for breakfast or coffee, serving delightful toasts topped with everything from…read moresautéed mixed greens (my fav) to bolognese to peanut butters and jams. The coffees are top notch, but note there is whole milk or non-dairy options (but no trim milk). Ambiance is casual and mostly high top seating.

We chose the 8 course experience and thoroughly enjoyed it…read more We snagged a last minute reservation based on online reviews and an in person confirmation from a couple that I met on a tour. I will warn you, the experience isn't cheap, but if you're a foodie and you enjoy food experiences go ahead and take the plunge. The total experience takes about 3 hours as you are being presented with individual courses and a palate cleanse. We didn't opt for the wine pairing but I'm told it's a great choice. I thoroughly enjoy food but rarely venture outside of my comfort zone when it comes to consuming certain animals but I did and was quite surprised. I'd definitely say add this experience on your list if visiting New Zealand.

One of my favorite places in Auckland for a fine dining experience. The dishes were great as was…read morethe service and wine pairing. In particular, the dishes were beautifully presented and not heavy, which was key for a tasting menu. For anyone looking for a high-end meal in Auckland, this would be my first recommendation.