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Cazador

4_half star rating
22 reviews

Cuisine: A La Carte, Bistro, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean

854 Dominion Rd
Mt Eden
Auckland City
09-620 8730

Hours:

  • Mon – Sat 6pm – 10pm
  • Facilities/Features:
    • Business Dining
    • Live Music
    • Out Catering
    • Private Functions
    • Private Parties
    • Romantic Dining
    • Wedding Functions
  • Payment Types: EFTPOS, Visa, MasterCard
  • Price Range: Spendy, $25 - $35
  • Dress Code: Smart casual
  • Alcohol: Beer, Wine, Spirits
  • Seating for: 45
  • BYO/Corkage: No BYO
  • Parking: Free On-Street
  • Good For Groups: Yes
  • Takeaways: Yes
  • Delivers: No
  • Takes Reservations: Yes
  • Dietary Restrictions: Vegetarian, Dairy-free, Gluten-free
  • Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
  • Outdoor Seating: No
  • Meals: Dinner
  • Wi-Fi: None

Cazador is a bistro-style restaurant that specialises in Game Food.

Head Chef Dariush Lolaiy writes a chalkboard of daily specials, alongside a changing menu of game staples, seasonal produce and vegetarian options.

Cazador is an unpretentious, cosy place with kooky decor and friendly staff. The wine list is short and considered, and there’s a selection of lesser known craft beers to enjoy alongside venison, duck, rabbit, pork, pheasant and fresh, seasonal vegetables.

With a bit of forewarning hunters can bring us their catch and we’ll cook and serve it to share.

Cazador has been run by the Lolaiy family for 25 years – there’s always a familiar face behind the desk, and enthusiastic waiters to help with choosing from the menu and finding drinks to match.

22 Reviews for Cazador

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One of Cazador's Favourite Reviews What's This?

17th June 2012
5 star rating
I loved this place – cool and weird decor, lovely atmosphere. We had them cook our game food and it came out beautifully tender and with a lovely smokey flavor. Dessert was the best I’ve had in auckland (I liked it better then the French Cafe). We will be back with our next catch.

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10th June 2013
4 star rating
Four of us dined at Cazador on a Friday evening for a late setting. It is obviously a really well run and much loved restaurant but it wasn’t our lucky night. Two of us ordered a special of rabbit confit for main. We imagined a flavoursome utterly tender dish. What we got was something quite different. The rabbit meat was quite dense and clumpy and much cooler than the surrounding sauces and vegetables. The waitress could see we were not enjoying our meal..and suggested we order something else from the menu..it was very gracious of them but that is always a difficult situation when dining with others as they finish their mains well before you get your second offering. We persevered with the dish but much of the meat was left uneaten. At the end of the evening the chef came out and apologized..a dish such as this is prepared well in advance and then reheated at the time of the order..unfortunately the order got pushed through too fast for the meat to come back to the right temperature and tenderness. I really appreciated the chef’s honesty and the way that the staff handled the situation..we will be back but will book a little earlier in the evening.

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Comment from Dariush, Rebecca; L. of Cazador 11/06/2013   
Hi Murray, Thanks again for your feedback, and once again we are very sorry the confit rabbit wasn’t up to our usual standard. We are very serious about our food, so it’s really upsetting when things don’t go right. We do our best to make sure that when…    More »
10th April 2013
5 star rating
We dined at Cazador for the first time this week. Food was fabulous. My pheasant was superb, as was my husbands veal necks & pig trottlers papanelle.
Service was exceptional, and nice touch on giving us complimentary glass of liquor at the end of the meal in celebration of my husbands birthday.

We’ll be back, and I have already passed on our recommendations to our friends.

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4th February 2013
5 star rating
We had the BEST experience here, celebrating 4 friends birthdays so a group of 11 and everything was so smoothly run. The staff are exceptional and very lovely. The food was equally as good and enough to feel full but not sickly full. I would recommend this place – and would definitely recommend the set menu, so nice to try all the different types of meat on offer! The dessert is a must as well. I will definitely be back!

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Jess

1

30th November 2012
5 star rating
Went to Cazador for the first time tonight, and it was fantastic!
The pheasant was delicious and the dessert – genius! We ordered and shared between four the chocolate mousse, figs, ricotta, meringue w goat curd and baklava.. and each dessert was incredible! If I could give it more than five stars, I would. Fantastic service too.

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Coqui

4

15th October 2012
5 star rating
I have been a patron of Cazador for 10 years, after being away for a while came back with a friend for dinner recently. Going to Cazador is like being let in on a secret, a truly unique place unlike many of the new places in the Central City you tend to forget as soon as you finish your meal. This restaurant is not for vegetarians, children or people offended by taxidermy, which makes it an excellent venue to have a night away from the kids. The restaurant is changing hands to the owners’ son and his wife. The new blood has introduced changes which enhance the experience without compromising the food and service. Our waitress was attentive, very knowledgeable of the menu and answered all of our questions. New tables, a new look menu and glasses which complement the original quirky décor which makes the place unique. The presentation of the dishes has also changed to a more contemporary look. My old favourites are still on the menu (the flatbread, pork, venison and baklava) and my friend was suitably impressed with the food and fantastic service.

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25th September 2012
3 star rating
the service was very good, food was average. My partner had the venison which was great but some pieces of the venison was chewy. I ordered the duck, which was a bit over done.

but overall it was a pleasant meal.

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20th September 2012
4 star rating
Very good dining experience. Good food and atmosphere. we will be back.

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4th August 2012
4 star rating
Very nice evening with great food.

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16th July 2012
5 star rating
Had a fabulous night. The service and food more than met our expectations. Knowledgeable and friendly waitstaff. A short but satisfying wine list. And food that is excellently prepared. Decor might not be to everyone’s taste but it is a game restaurant!

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6th July 2012
5 star rating
I’ve eaten at Cazador a few time and the meals have been great every time. The flat bread wrap entre is amazing, so is the baklava. It’s hard to chose between the mains, but the venison meatballs are also a favourite.

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Ann H.

1

16th June 2012
5 star rating
Highly recommendable -excellent service and excellent friendly staff, excellent food.

Had entree: Kalamari, mains- braised duck and Stoneys venison, desserts: chocolate mousse and chocolate/mango sorbet- all perfect.

A great dining experience – thanks Cazador !

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27th February 2012
5 star rating
We have been going to this restaurant for 24 years and it is still as good as the first time we went.Went to Australia to live some time ago but every time we come home we go to the Cazadore the food is the very best 24 years proves that, there are some restaurants that don’t survive 24 weeks we wish where we live on the Gold Coast that the restaurants were as good.all the very best to our friends at the Cazadore.
George & Sue

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23rd January 2012
4 star rating
Have been here twice now (the first time on the recommendation of a friend). Great food and great service. The Venison Shanks are to die for! The waitress we had couldn’t have been more helpful or looked after us more and I thought the food was reasonably priced. If your a person that’s into trendy, snobby restaurants then this won’t be your thing. It’s good wholesome food without the pretentiousness.

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Dee

18

31st October 2011
4 star rating
We were lucky to get a reservation 10 days out from a birthday celebration, and I greatly appreciated the maitre d’ checking with another larger group before confirming they could take my booking after all. The attentive and friendly service continued on the night too. We were running quite late but were assured it was no problem, and made to feel very welcome. It is easy to relax in the unpretentious and fun dining area (taxidermy and old photos dominate the decor). Without having to ask, champagne flutes appeared for the bottle we had with us, and whether she had remembered from my booking or was guessing from the bubbly, the waitress offered birthday wishes. Menu explainations, recommendations and even lessons in how to pronounce certain Farsi words were happily given, though it was still a difficult decision as everything sounded delicious! We eventually opted for a shared appetiser of Persian bread – tasty morsels of layered pastry, cheese and herbs – and mains of duck, pheasant and wild rabbit with vegetables for the table. Each dish was succulent, rich and flavoursome in its own distinct way. Unfortunately the ice cream based desserts were off the menu due to a freezer malfunction, and no one had room for the weightier selections, but we were happy to linger over coffee and a shared plate of Turkish figs, and even received complimentary limoncello to round off our meal. We enjoyed our memorable evening at this charming restaurant and all agreed it is excellent value for money (as mentioned, it is BYO). We will definitely be back!

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2nd August 2011
2 star rating
On a recent visit a question was asked of the Waitress(owner?) and the response was almost vitriolic.
The food was at best bland or over-spiced as I feel they are trying to deliver more than is feasible
I will not be revisiting as I believe it is past it’s prime

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21st March 2011
4 star rating
Even though I’m a vegetarian (the person who invited us didn’t realise that this was a game restaurant and the decor would include stuffed animals), we had a fantastic night.

The service was fantastic, we enjoyed the live entertainment, and the food was really good. The meat eaters in our dining party raved about the Pheasant and Wild Pork. My pasta was very tasty and the desserts were scrumptious.

I even blogged about this restaurant at http://celestereviews….

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2nd December 2010
5 star rating
We recently visited Cazador and had a great evening: the menu varied, the food great and the service attentive. So good was our experience we booked a table for the following week and returned with 12 of our friends. They all also raved about their particular dishes.

The meals we really good value too.

Strongly recommended.

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31st October 2010
2 star rating
We were very disappointed with our experience at Cazador. We found the meals to be very over priced especially for the size of the meal. I ordered the pasta and asked what the size of the entree was compared to the main. Normally when i have pasta at a restaurant the entree size is more than enough. The waitress couldn’t tell us the size she simple said ‘its entree size’ as this wasn’t very helpful i decided it would be safest to order a main. Wow what a disappointment. There was hardly any pasta under the steak pieces. The size is what i would have expected the entree size to be. Others that i was dinning with had the veal and found it to be dry and the taste of bacon to be over powering. Anyone going to this restaurant should note that there are no sides included with your meal so you must order those separately. You only receive meat on your plate otherwise.

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maia

4

23rd May 2010
5 star rating
Great place, great food, great atmosphere and great service. This place is a little gem.

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Gill

1

31st August 2009
4 star rating
I’ve been to Cazadors a number of times over the last decade and have always enjoyed both the food and the atmosphere.
Awesome.

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31st May 2009
5 star rating
If you want a good meal at reasonable price and excellent tasting then you must visit this place. We will definitely be going back. Service is very good as well and the staff are very helpful with what there specials are and say instead of have Pita Bread try something else.

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