We were lucky enough to be taken out to Ironic for dinner last week and found the whole experience delightful. I had the Lamb with roasted vegetables which was delicious; my parnter along with the others at our table had the Steak with Blue cheese wontons on top, after a little bit of persuasion i also got to try one of these little blue cheese morsels and it was pretty blooming tasty! I didn’t really have space for a dessert but couldn’t resist the Apple, Rhubarb and chilli crumble which proved to be a taste sensation!! An all round great night…Thanks Ironic

We went for my partner’s birthday dinner with his parents and were extremely disappointed!!

Not with the service as the waiter did a masterful job under very trying conditions not the least being the fact we had to sit there in our jackets just to stay something close to warm. Rather it was the fact that 3 of the 5 dishes failed to deliver. While the smoked salmon and the award winning chocolate dessert were good (hard not to be happy with that much chocolate) the other dishes lacked even the most basic cooking skills and thought. The sole fillet was dominated by the taste of burnt garlic and none of the individual components worked together; while the crumble was over thought and deconstructed beyond recognition. The worst meal was the fish of the day, my partner’s father has very traditional tastes and an appetite to match and when you go for the safe fish and chips option you would at least expect that to be done well and not come out with soggy chips and bugger all sauce. It stings a bit when have to pay $26 for something which you can get a better version of at your local fish and chip shop.

went for lunch. thought it was expensive. $9 for a small roast vegetable salad which was served cold and was pretty tasteless, $15 for a small serving of lasagna. the large coffee was pretty small. Lots of better cafes out there that are better value and better food.

As always the service and food this morning was great if you ever decide on ironic for breakfast the Portobello Mushroom dish is amazing i might add the coffee this morning was amongst the best I’ve enjoyed for quite a while all round a great experience until! When paying for our wonderful breakfast was informed quite casually that we were waiting for the till to workout the Surcharge hmmm that’s odd i didn’t see any signage on the way in to inform me of a surcharge and well, didn’t notice the fine print if any on the menu but hey that’s ok public holiday and all. So the question was asked how much is your Surcharge? In reply the lovely young girl said “25% i know it’s quite a lot” quite clearly even she was not comfortable with having to deal with this ridiculous figure,Seem’s as though covering the increase in wages for the day was not the primary motivator for the increase in today’s prices. I left after a great experience feeling swindled and although I’ll go back it will take a while for this bitter taste to leave my mouth.

It was around 1.30pm and a reasonable number of people there. The service was mediocre, nothing to complain about but nothing to write home about either.

We ordered a seafood chowder and a curried lamb pie.

The chowder while reasonably well presented with seafood in shells sitting on top of it, was tasteless and the addition of salt didn’t help. I know the general concept for a chowder is a rich creamy sauce, but this was like drinking a bottle of cream. I could only manage about a quarter of it.

My partner who is a fan of curried lamb was totally disappointed with his pie which was sitting on mash and gravy and contained kidneys. A concept none too pleasant.

We usually have coffee but decided not to waste any more money

Last night my wife and I had her work’s do at Ironic. We had a lovely dining experience. Great decor.Great attention by staff. The set menu was reasonably priced and I came away feeling satisfied with quality and quantity. The pumpkin soup was piping hot and very tasty. Our blue cod was well cooked. The chocolate brownie finished off the night nicely. Well done to the staff for making the Christmas do a nice experience.

We went for lunch on Saturday. The first impression was fantastic! Great decor and lots of people.

Unfortunately we were extremely disappointed with the service and the food and would have to say its the worst cafe in Dunedin that we have ever dined in. No second chance for this place, sorry.

I ordered gourmet chicken nachos. What where they thinking of when they said ‘gourmet’? There was nothing gourmet about it. And chicken? I needed a search party to help me find three small pieces of chicken. In all honesty it was like the cook (doubt he/she was a chef) had opened a bag of corn chips and thrown some supermarket brand salsa over the top. The size of the order was also very small. I guess the amount of sour cream & cheese compared to the size of the order. And did I mention the nachos were also only luke warm, almost cold?

My husband ordered the lamb burger. It should be renamed to ‘gristle’ burger. Nothing to write home about there either.

The older waitress was very friendly. She kept the place going by the looks of things. The young waitress that served us didn’t know what sort of wine or beer they offered and forgot to come back with a wine list. Our second order of drinks came about the time we were attempting to finish our meals.

Ironic, you have the foot traffic and the decor nailed. You really need to spruce up the service and you should be ashamed of the food leaving your kitchen. It needs serious attention.

ate dinner here a couple of weeks ago. had rung ahead of time and booked but were seated right next to the kitchen when we arrived. food arrived quickly enough, starters and mains were both nicely presented. however took a LONG time to get waitstaff attention and the music seemed to be to on repeat from daytime so slightly disruptive to the ‘evening mood’. overall nice people and decent menu but retains a cafe atmosphere rather than real restaurant experience.

My wife and I dine at this restaurant frequently. Their cabinet lunches are extremely tasty and very good value for money. They are very child friendly. We enjoy the warm friendly atmosphere and are booking our work xmas function at this cafe. Thumbs up.

A friend and I had lunch at Ironic on 14 March 2009 and enjoyed the experience very much. The Steak and Kidney Pies with chutney and salad were delicious – full of flavour. We had lovely coffee and a Chocolate Caramel Slice. The service was friendly and attentive.

We dined at Ironic last Monday night and had a superb meal local clams in a light laksa broth and so fresh,a confit of pork belly that melted in my mouth and all of us agreed the desert to die for an italian panna cotta with plum jelly.We go to Ironic every Saturday for farmers market and love the atmosphere and coffee.Would recommend!!


Hi we went back to Ironic Cafe last week September 2011 had the most amazing meal with very friendly, knowledgeable staff in a warm cosy enviroment. The menu has changed in the last 2 years and has a wide range of interesting dishes. I choose the beef fillet which was delicious & cooked to perfection and my partner had the blue cod & hand cut fries which were cooked beautifully & very crisp & light. He really enjoyed the house made tartare sauce. We shared a dessert of chocolate torte & the best coffee I have had for a long time. Well done ironic cafe

I went here for the first time as part of a leaving dinner and the meals all seemed ok overall. However it was overpriced and there was some hidden costs in the fact that we were asked if we wanted salad or vegetables with our meal. It was made to seem like it was part of the meal. The salad was really bad and overpriced (side$6.50) and dripping in oil, the veges not much better. When I questioned this all they offered me was coffee cards, I don’t drink coffee so gave them to my friends. They made a lot of money out of us (10 in total) all by leading us to believe that the salad or veges came with the meal. It ended up that people had salad as part of a meal and salad on the side. Better communication and compensation for this would have been appreciated.

I took my parents to lunch who were visiting from the UK, my wife suggested ironic. the four of us sat outside, uncleared tables all around, attracting seagulls. what followed was a total shambles of a lunch , food arriving in long intervals they forgot the coffee then gave the coffee to another table it wasn’t even busy, overall would not recommend, slow service with no consideration to the customer. but if you like coffee so strong to blow your socks off,seagulls feeding from uncleared tables and lots of time to waste then go for it.