Today I wanted to take my wife and daughter for brunch and enjoy the view of the beautiful eastern beach in the morning so decided on the esplande. When we arrived we stood around until the waitresses could seemly be bothered in seating us which was not a good start, there was no drinks offered at this stage as i would expect and we had to wait 30minutes to be asked if we were ready to order where we then ordered our drinks which took around 20minutes, we then ordered our meals which we had a long wait for,for the cost of the eggs Benedict I would have expected two eggs but received one, this dish my wife enjoyed, I ordered the chicken pasta which was watery and the chicken seemed boiled?, overall very average food and bad service from people who seemed like we and other customers were a pain for them. We won’t go back.

We ate here on a Thursday night, atmosphere and decor of the restaurant is nice, waitress was friendly but probably hasn’t received any training in offering a more refined (typical problem in suburban restaurants – although they charge city prices) service. My husband’s wine by the glass Merlot was well and truly oxidised, that bottle must have been opened many days before and left standing out, it was replaced by a just opened bottle which was as it should be. The steak that was ordered medium rare and more like medium to well done and the food took ages to arrive, my Moroccan lamb was delicious. overall a nice evening out but they’ll need to up their game and service a bit.

Tonight was our second visit; having been a little disappointed the first time, we thought we would give it a second try. The opinions we reached on our first vist were confirmed the second time around. The service was slow….half an hour wait beyween our entrees and mains when the restaurants was not that busy was really not acceptable…and a long time to clear plates. The WORST part was yet to come, however. My partner ordered the seared tuna(which was at least seared this time, unlike the last time where it was cooked all the ay through). This time the tuna came with the added free bonus of a piece of plastic…not gladwrap as they tried to tell us but full-on hard plastic. Because this was discovered near the end of the meal and most of it had been eaten(apart from thelettuce stalk included on the salad) the best they could offer us was a free coffee!! Hello?? Plastic in the food equates free coffee. After much negotiation they upped the offer to their platinum plus discount….a whole $20. Will never ever be going back there.

The birthday girl had dined here before and recommended The Esplanade for her celebration. We had made a group booking in advance for lunch on Saturday. The young man who showed us to our table was grumpy and rude – we were 5 minutes late and 3 of our guests were unable to join us. There were 3 different menus on our table and it was half an hour before we were offered drinks (including water for our table)and on enquiring were told only one menu was the correct menu for lunch! 20 minutes later we received our drinks including two luke warm coffees. At 1pm, 55 minutes after arriving, we again had to ask for some service. The ‘grumpy’ waiter apologised for the delay, stating there were only two staff on and it was hellishly busy, took our order. Another one hour passed (2pm) and our meals were delivered to our table. The fish burger, sourdough bun was very cold and only one half was toasted. There was no lettuce or avocado, just cucumber which wasn’t even mentioned on the menu,and tomato. Wedges had a ‘stale oil’ taste. Chicken salad, only 5 small strips of chicken on top of mesculin salad, hardly worth $21.00! And this is just two of the 10 meals ordered. Our table was only cleared of the dirty dishes when we asked for this to be done and the birthday cake was delivered. It was now 3pm. We then had to ask for plates, serviettes and cutlery to eat the cake. No offer of further drinks, ie. coffee. Meals were overpriced for what was on the plate. I do have to say the other two staff we had dealings with were pleasant and friendly. $383.00 and 3 1/2 hours later, we left very disappointed, and will not be recommending or returning.

Went Monday night 25th July 2011, the meal and service were excellent. But restaurant was soooo cold!! A heat pump or curtains for winter dining would do wonders for this place.

We went to this restaurant 11th July and the food was fantastic. I had the Snapper special and it was superb. One of my companions had the $20 special and I had a taste of his pumpkin soup which was very tasty. My other companion had the fish and chips and was very pleased with it. The waitress was the high point of the night. Very friendly but professional. The only slight criticism I have is they needed to turn the heating up a little, otherwise a lovely night out and we will definitely be back and will probably make it our restaurant of choice. Highly recommended.

Pop up here quite often – nice place to have a drink after time spent on a beach.
Modern look, nice views, especially in a morning and day time.
I found the staff very friendly. In one occasion we were drinking (not too much ) quite late and didn’t realise we were last visitors. However no one offered us to get out They closed the bar as soon we went out, they waited for us but didn’t show.
BTW, “Man O’ War” wine they offer is very, very good.
Coffee is also good.

The food was fantastic and I would offer a 4star for this. However, the service was the worst we have ever experienced in Auckland, it was as though the waitress “had” to serve us. We were put in a corner on top of another couple, when the rest of the restaurant was relatively clear. The waitress took a very long time to take our drinks order and then even longer before taking our meal orders, she didn’t tell us the specials (overheard from another table, luckily), and the food was thrown at us. It was such a shame that the service let down our overall experience, thus I am giving only one star.

We were a table of 6 for dinner on a Monday night. The food could not be faulted. Fresh, lovely presentation. Great.
The food service, however, was slow.
A pleasant experience nonetheless.

Great place for breakfast with the morning sun coming across the sea.

The menu has the normal range of items that you would expect and the coffee is good. Meals are large, filling and nicely presented.

The restaurant layout is modern and bright.

Well worth the trip to try some place different.