It had been a long time since I last dined at Leuven and I see reviews have been up and down for quite a while. We were in the area before a show last night and looking for a quick meal so decided to give it a try. Although the bar wasn’t particularly busy (early evening), we informed our waitress of our time frame and were still impressed with how quickly our meals arrived. We each ordered a ‘light’ meal, which had more than adequate main sized portions. (The prices were very different to their online menu, though, so beware.) I had a lovely warm salad of sweet lamb fillets and my partner had the chicken and duck pie, served European style in a ceramic dish with a crust ‘lid’. Very nice! Our service was really good; our waitress was smiling and friendly and even brought our bill to the table at the end – something we have not encountered for a long time.

My friend and I came here for breakfast this morning. We were both feeling quite hungry and had trouble deciding on the menu. My friend is gluten and dairy intolerant and was able to find a number of items on the menu she could have – she was impressed. She decided on the potato hash with ham and eggs. It looked delicious and she said it was lovely. She also enjoyed a lemon and ginger drink – unfortunately Leuven appear to be one of the few Wellington cafes that don’t have soy milk as an option. That was the only let down.
I had the poached eggs on herb toast the baked tomato and hollandaise, with a side of bacon. The bread was delicious, the poached eggs were perfect and there wasn’t too much hollandaise. The wait staff even asked me how crispy I liked my bacon – good one. My mocha came with a block of dark chocolate on a stick which I stirred into the hot drink – bit of a novelty.
I will be back here, lots of variety on the menu and their weekday breakfast options are excellent value for money as well.

Great priced breakfast and lunches. With extra large beer glasses for lunch! Plus a great selection of beers

The food is OK, nothing to jump up and down about since we’re talking Belgian pub and various mussel dishes with fries and aioli. The last time I ate here, the mussels were also overcooked.

The service is horrendous, though. The servers look like they’re completely overwhelmed (even if there aren’t that many people in the pub) and there’s confusion as to who takes the order, who clears the plates, who brings the food, etc etc etc etc…

Management really needs to take control of the situation and provide some training before unleashing their wild and bewildered staff onto the legions of RWC revelers because, really, the combinations of drunk rugby fans and freaked out waitstaff is like throwing a lit match into a tinderbox. In other words…FUNNY.

The atmosphere is dark wood-paneled pub circa 1995.

The beers are delicious, though, and there’s quite a nice selection of Belgian brews. 2 stars for that.

Just recently ate here and was extremely disappointed!. I had made my order very clear to have my toasted unbuttered and and no hollandaise on my eggs with a side of smoked salmon, well when i received my breakfast, My toast was dripping in butter and the eggs on top were smothered in hollandaise. The salmon was not smoked but pan fried and over cooked!
I unfortunately will not be returning due to this experience

Excellent and yummy and good price….

Very nice!! Good service, great drinks and YUM food.
I come here all the time, breakfast, lunch and dinner – no matter what time you come here the food is always excellent.

Good service, and friendly staff when you can get there attention. There’s a few old-hands that have worked there for years, that are fantastic. Mostly the rest need to find a smile and a friendly attitude.

I’ve been there lots and find the food great. They do great non-mussel dishes too for those that aren’t into seafood that much. You all should try them.

It’s just the staff friendliness that dropped the score.

Had lunch there on a Saturday. Ordered a platter of spinach mussels and partner ordered the Chicken Salad.

The Belgian bar chain In Auckland and Wellington had a good reputation for mussels but in this case the were terrible.

Looked like the had been thrown on the platter, large chunks of spinach and cheese thrown on top and then zapped by the microwave.

Barley edible – complained to the waiter who explained that the kitchen staff were new.Refused to credit the meal.

Chicken was OK.

Overall good beer, poor food and could not recommend

Dined here this afternoon and sampled one of their mussel dishes. We will return again very soon !!!!

2 Fridays, 2 vastly different breakfast venues. The superiority of the overall dining experience at Leuven makes Kip’s Café look like nothing short of dreadful.

Whilst we had not booked a table at this traditionally popular downtown breakfast venue, the warm, courteous and highly professional staff had no trouble finding us seating for 6. Upon taking our seats we were promptly asked if we would like to order drinks. After a short wait our coffees were brought out and were off a high standard. A well extracted espresso shot was coupled with milk stretched by someone who clearly knew what they were doing.

Our breakfasts were brought out roughly 15 minutes after ordering. Which considering the extremely busy state of the eatery this is a turnaround they can be proud off.

The meals themselves were not huge in size, but more than adequate when one considers the value for money. For a meagre $6.50 one would receive two Belgian style hash browns, an evenly cooked poached egg, 2 solid rashers of bacon atop a slice of crunchy herb bread with the essential sautéed tomato. I question whether a cheaper cooked breakfast can be found in the greater Wellington region.

In a nutshell, Leuven has set the bar for the cooked breakfast. It is hard to fault any aspect of this well organised, efficient, and professional outfit.

Food – 7.5 / 10

Atmosphere – 7 / 10

Service – 8.5 / 10

Coffee – 8.5 / 10

Overall – 8 / 10

Great breakfasts here! Our order came out once we’d finished our coffee’s and we all enjoyed our meals.
My only gripe would be that we asked twice for water at our table and it never came….other than that, great place & great food.