We have had several visits to your cafe bar and have found the staff exceptional with the service outstanding. The food is amazing so a BIG UPS to your chef and kitchen crew. We highly recommend this to our family and friends also we often recommend this restaurant bar to our local and international guests who visit with us. Well done team

I used to go to De Fontein for the glorious metre long sausage, which was a delicious meaty browny coloured thing. Now, its basically a long version of the hot dog things you get in a packet of 6 at the supermarket. You could argue that its a frankfurter and therefore European, but basically its a $27.50 hot dog.

Can’t beat the views and the ambience on a sunny day from the top deck of De Fontein. They don’t allow reservations so its a matter of waiting for a table once you arrive. Great Belgian beer (when it’s not sold out!) but the food service is very slow slllloooooww! At least it gives you lots of time to enjoy the views and the beer..

After a great night here with delicious food and fantastic service, my partner and I decided to bring a few friends along to our next meal.

We arrived and the place was chokka – the floor manager said it would be about a half hour/40min wait so we were invited to spend time downstairs with a drink before a table was free.

One hour later and no one had come to see us and our later-arriving friend was ignored at the bar when she went to order a drink. We asked when our table might be free and were told five minutes. 15 minutes later and we had a table.

20 minutes after that, someone came to take our order (food and drinks). The restaurant by then was half full so we asked what the wait time on food would be. We were told a little longer than the usual wait time of 15mins but no more than half an hour.

Despite requesting it, no water was brought to the table although at least the beers turned up.

50 mins later and our food arrived. WHAT a disappointment. All dishes (meat loaf, steak, two pots of mussels, ribs and fries) were cold (not luke warm, cold).

The medium steak was rare.

The $32 800gm ribs (which we were told were massive and would be very filling) consisted of just 8 ribs – one of which had no meat on it.

It seemed like we had been waiting 50 mins for our food to cool down – not be cooked.

When asked how our meals were, we did mention the disappointment about lack of suitable service and long wait times (nearly 2.5hours from arrival until the food came) that were also much longer than we had been told they would be, and then the subsequent cold, unsatisfactory dishes. We got a rather nonpluss “sorry about that”.

Always a tasty meal, a lively atmosphere and packed with people. The food is good and the staff are very friendly. Great for breakfast too!

Helpful, friendly staff, even though we weren’t spending much – only in for beers.

I was sitting on the open-air deck with a couple of colleagues for a business meeting, enjoying a beer and the views . . . but was getting sizzled in the sun. Popped in and asked if they had any sunblock – and staff were very friendly and instantly produced some sunscreen for me to use.

I loved the mussel pot I tried at the Ponsonby Belgian beercafe, so am keen to come again on a day when I have more time and enjoy some here too!

This is on our boycott list. The staff are rude and arrogant – enough to put you off for good. Luckily for us there’s The Ponsonby Belgian Beer Cafe!

They can get a little too busy for my liking, but if you pick your times it’s an enjoyable experience. I like artisan beers, and there is an extensive menu to choose from. De Fontein is part of the Belgian Beer Cafe franchise, and if you are familiar with them, then you can see they are all much the same. That doesn’t mean they are any less for the fact. One thing I particularly like is the way they cater for children with colouring activities, a children’s menu and a great attitude towards them. Note: children are not allowed in at certain times, such as Friday night. The seafood dishes are always done so well and are a perfect mix with a beer lunch. Alternatively, they offer all the usual winter casseroles that B.B.C. is known for. Or you can just pop in for a coffee. Always served with a smile.

If this is what the “Belgian Experience” is like, then they can keep it.

We came for lunch on Thursday 19 August.

We ordered the Lobster Bisque mussel pot, mixed platter grilled mussels, spicy pork ribs, the steak meal and a child’s fish and chips.

The grilled mussel platter was at best “bland” at worst bloody horrible, small bits of chewy, tasteless rubber.

The “spicy” pork ribs tasted of nothing – even with the addition of salt and pepper it was difficult to determine whether or not they had flavor. And believe me, this was ordered by my grand-daughter who loves ribs but doesn’t like things too spicy, so for her to complain that they tasted of nothing…..hmmmm say no more

The mussel pot was very disappointing – the mussels were once again tasteless and unappetizing with no mussel flavor coming thru at all.

For $140 I certainly expected a hell of a lot more than we got. I have had better food at Valentines (now that must be telling you something)

Went here with some friends on a wintery thursday night, It was really nice. The service was friendly and prompt. We mussels are a must. The live music was really good too. Nice beer, good food and frienly service..what more do you need?

Pretentious and overpriced… but then I suppose you get that with all Belgian beer bars…

Very good experience. Four of us had the metre long sausage, which was delicious, try and beat finishing it in 7minutes. Our waiter was extremely helpful and the whole night was a complete success, would definitely go back.

One of the Better Belgain bars in Auckland. Staff are mostly friendly. Food is generally good. The mussel pot is definately the way to go as it is great value for money, some of the other meals are smallish in size. Service can be slow at times, but can be understood because it is quite a busy place.

This use to be the best place to go for great service / food / and a cherry beer or few. I have been going there over 4 years – originally service was great either day or night managers were brilliant and so were the staff. But lately the staff have been terrible bad food bad service (if you get served at all)a certain manager there couldn’t give a toss if a complaint was layed about a certain waitress who needs anger managerment classes after slamming my drink down the 2nd time on the table because I told her it was warm I mean come on “warm rum and coke”. Now I go to Glengarry’s for my Cherry Beer