Beautiful, interesting menu, and counter food is tasty looking, I had the brownie which was delicious. My fellow guests had the savoury French toast, and the calamari, both of which looked amazing, and were well enjoyed.
Another had fries and aioli, hand cut and well presented, but very very salty, with an odd fishy taste, and the aioli was also a bit odd. The coffee was really good, and service prompt and friendly.
Will definitely be back.
The Hetet art gallery next door is a ‘must see’ too.

The initial appeal of Kotuku is that it is away from the hustle bustle of the city. This is what had enticed us to have lunch there the other day. What a mistake! It wasn’t particuarly busy when we arrived. After a while of waiting we were told to take a table, where someone would take our order. Unfortunately my young child was unsettled on the day and the lone highchair available was difficult to set up. After a while someone took our order. 2 coffees, a salad and a cabinet meal (bagel). After waiting about half an hour we noticed a large group of people arrive. Their order was promptly taken and after about 10 minutes their meals started arriving. We were STILL waiting for our coffees and food. 5 minutes after the group’s meals arrived, our coffees showed up. 15 minutes later we were still waiting on food. My child was becoming increasingly distressed and my nan was running late for another appointment. Fed up with waiting and having had no prior warning about the delay we decided to leave.

We loved our brunch at Kotuku. The food was intriguing, service good, food arrived speedily, art works on the walls are exquisite, and the venue is a treat. With the gallery next door, the park across road, and sun pouring into the cafe and balcony, it feels like a very special place to visit.

The deck at Kotuku is definitely in my top ten places to be when Wellington decides to turn on the good weather. Tucked in a peaceful area of Lower Hutt, we chilled out under a tree while being looked after by our lovely waiter. She was attentive and observant to our needs and careful not to interrupt. I love the fact you are given water when you first arrive, it is a welcoming touch. Our coffees were superb, although the barrister was concerned as she had limited experience, she passed with flying colours. Deciding on our brunch was a difficult choice as it all looked gorgeous, in the end I went for the Scallop, fennel and black pudding salad. The black pudding was very festive with lots of spices. The scallops were perfectly cooked. If I could fault it at all, I thought that perhaps the extra olive oil dressing wasn’t needed on the salad greens, but this is a personal taste issue as I have recently been on a fat-free diet. My husband had some splendid ‘man-food’, a generous wagyu beef burger. We appreciated how the waitress warned us that the meat came medium rare. The hot chips were to die for, huge, almost like perfect roast potatoes. It was such a lovely experience that we stayed for another coffee, not our usual style. Thanks Kotuku, you have a great team.

If you know the history of this place, you will understand why it’s a phoenix from the flames.

The setting is just the ideal place to spend a summer afternoon on the decking. And although it doesn’t have a huge menu, everything on there is done well and served with care and attention – they even bake their own bread for the burgers.

The owners really try and keep a presence, and are receptive to ideas and suggestions. An never be afraid to ask the staff “would it be possible to have …” around the menu – they are usually very adaptive.

Friendly staff, beautifully cooked and tasty food, but the breakfast menu was very, very limited (although we later found out there were all sorts of variations and additional foods to be ordered, e.g. bacon that are not written anywhere on the menu! Only found out about this when I saw plates arriving at a nearby table with a variety of foods that weren’t even listed on the menu I’d just ordered from! When I went to ask a staff member about this, she said “oh yes, you can order extra things as sides” – but you wouldn’t have known it from the menu as no side dishes are listed!)

Would like to see a more accurate representation on the actual menu of what is in reality available to order . No complaints at all about service, presentation or taste, but personally prefer a bigger choice on the ‘brunch’ front.

Am very surprised by the earlier review of Julie A. regarding dogs. I personally would find it extremely offensive and unhygienic to sit down and dine with dogs at a cafe! The owners are not running a kennel club and I am quite sure there are health and safety regulations at public eateries that prohibit animals being on the premises.

Didn’t even bother to stay and eat. We arrived with small dogs and were immediately told we weren’t to sit on the deck but had to sit at a table down the drive where the dog bowl was! The said dog bowl was filled with dirty brown water and copious cigarette butts-when asked to supply clean water the staff were too busy rushing around putting up umbrellas for the ‘deck” clientele. My friends and I visit cafes in Lower Hutt/Petone about 4 times a week and have never had such a rude reception to our three small cavoodles – actually cafes go out of their way to make sure the dogs have water and are comfortable. Very black mark to Kotuku Rendezvous-we certainly won’t be back and will be telling our numerous friends to blacklist you!

We escaped during the week for lunch venturing out to Kotuku and were treated to lunch with birdsong. Yep you knew people were about, but it’s so peaceful. The Wagyu Burger was great, oh so so moist! A great spot for a weekend brunch – will be back to have a look at the art gallery spaces next door too.