Coffee excellent! Service excellent!

We enjoyed our visit at StarFish, our food was fresh and tasty.

The waitstaff went out of their way to make something on request. Thanks

Great atmosphere!

I came to Starfish for lunch on a Sunday. The food was very good and reasonably priced. The coffee was wonderful and came in delightfully coloured cups. However the experience was nearly ruined by the terrible service. To order, you must line up in front of the counter, while the extremely slow waitress takes your order. This means that everyone is crowded in to a very small space while the staff are rushing around through this crowd. I was interested in the soup of the day, but there was nothing to indicate what type of soup it was, so I had to wait in line for over 10 minutes just to find out. When I finally got to the counter and ordered, the waitress began to have a conversation with a friend who had just come in, while I was trying to pay! This went on for a while, before I finally had to interrupt and ask if I could pay. It was extremely busy that day, so the wait was fair enough, but this lady was doing nothing to speed things up – quite the opposite. I have been here before and have had the same problem with this woman. Very rude. It is a shame the service is so terrible because the food and atmosphere is fantastic, and the building and its location are great. I will probably be back despite the service, but I really hope that management do something to address this.

great evening meal. I had the fillet steak and my daughter the lamb shanks and both were first class. service excellent and cafe lovely and warm on a cold night. we told them we were on a tight time frame and ordered, ate, and were out within 45 minutes. Added bonus was we used our entertainment card which made it fantastic value (not that the prices are over the top anyway) recommended.

Went for lunch a couple of weeks ago. Almost wanted to leave when I got to the counter. no greeting at all from the bored looking waitress and could see right in into the bombsite of a kitchen, looked as though dishes hadn’t been done for a while! They didn’t have my first choice of the salmon so we both got the fish and chips. waitress kind of wandered off leaving us unsure if we were meant to take the table number or were we could sit. Went outside then decided it was too cold so found the upstairs tables ourselves. food was good value for money but the rest needs to sort its self out!

Went to starfish for a hungover breakfast on Sunday. As usual the food was amazing and the service quick and friendly. Love this place. Well done guys, will always return and recommend other go too

I’ve only been here for lunch but it is always nice to sit outside in the sun with a beer and one of Starfish’s delicious burgers. Yum Yum. The service is normally pretty good here too

I eat out at least 2-3 times every week at numerous places due to my job, and I have just taken friends out tonight and had a fantastic meal, the food was great, the service was great and location was great, not to mention great value for money. Very impressed and will certainly be back!

I must say, like our first visit to Starfish; our second was not disappointing.

Both the meal and the venue were enjoyable. The beef and the lamb shank were very tasty and the serving size was good; not too large. The venue was fantastic with a view out to St Clair Beach.

The staff should be commended. The waitress offered to refill our dips to compliment the last piece of bread left. This is something that is rarely offered at most cafes/restaurants nowadays.

This is not a five-star cuisine restaurant but if you’re looking for a place to have a consistently enjoyable, reasonably priced meal at a decent, clean cafe, this is the place!

Well done Starfish. We will be back again for sure!

I’ve been to Starfish a couple of times and have generally liked the place and kept meaning to do a review but I’ve been a bit slack since moving to the South Island.

First big point to Starfish is they have Cafe Laffare – my old Wellington haunt. The baristas do a pretty decent job given how much I used to frequent the actual Cafe Laffare in Wellington. It’s fairly small looking downstairs, but if you don’t mind climbing stairs, you’ll find a lot more room to spread out with great great views (if you twist in the right direction).

I’ve had breaky at Starfish a few times but something seems to have changed since those first two visits. I had nothing but good things to say about the place on those visits. On this visit, I ordered the big breakfast.

On THIS visit, the staff were a bit disinterested at first. Seemed more interested in talking to their friends at the counter.

The breakfast itself looked appetizing. The scrambled eggs, bacon, portobello mushroom, thick toast etc were all piled on top of each other in a rather large … bowl. Bowls are great for soups and chowders and from a cafe point of view, if everything is served in a bowl, it certainly cuts down on the amount of space they might take up on a shelf – and less costly to replace because you don’t need to buy sets. It even looks good in a bowl … but presentation doesn’t necessarily equal practicality.

The thing about bowls is that they have less flat space than a plate and its therefore a bit more of a challenge trying to eat so many items in a bowl. Its a bit like one of those puzzle games where you slide tiles to unjumble a picture … you had to slide the food around inside the bowl in order to get to other bits of the breakfast. If the breakfast was meant to be a puzzle, Starfish would get 5 stars!

The breakfast was nice but a tad on the dry side. It needs a relish or sauce of some sort … that is, other than the tomato sauce (which seemed an odd addition).

I’d happily go back to try out Starfish again, just to see whether they may see sense to go back to what they were doing before – but if I see another bowl, I’m walking out … but probably with a takeaway coffee still.

OUTSTANDING!!
I have a coffee at starfish every morning. It is always fantastic and the staff are outstanding!!
They are also very good looking!!
I eat there atleast twice a week and the food is always fresh and portion sizes are bang on!
GO STARFISH!

Hey, has this place changed hands? It used to be our favourite place. Visited yesterday and there were flies around the counter, disinterested waitress and the food was very mediocre. May give it another go sometime, but not happy.

With the ongoing development of other cafes in the area we, as regular patrons of “Starfish”, have tried the others and are very happy to stay with “Starfish” as our local restaurant of choice. Friendly efficient service,buzzy happy atmosphere and food that is consistently good and affordable as well.

We love to dine here or just have a coffee. Very Good menu and has always been a very nice meal.The staff are very pleasant and helpful.

We live just round the corner from Starfish and often go there for a drink, but not often to eat. When we do go for a meal it is always excellent and with the great staff and good music why would you want to go anywhere else?
Great venue.

My husband and I took our teenage sons there for dinner last night and all our meals were superb. One of the boys had the chicken burger and the other Meatlovers pizza, together between they shared a massive bowl of fries with aoili so needless to say they were in heaven! I had the Lamb curry (devine and not too hot) and my husband the blue cod. Portion sizes are great, atmosphere is excellent – we’d definitely recommend!

The friendly owners and staff of Starfish should be proud of the great food and atmosphere they create. There is a great selection of both blackboard menu food and more elegant, fine dining selections on their new menu.

Before the cafe expanded – I used to live in the flat above the cafe. How could I resist eating there? Quite fond of eating out for breakfast – I usually opted for the delicious Breakfast Stack with a delicious, always consistent, Flat White espresso.

It’s a great atmosphere with outdoor seating at street level, inside dining at ground floor and the upstairs dining has great windows and a balcony for great sea views…while you enjoy your meal.

Other favorites are the antipasta platter and the Falafal Burgers!