North Island
Ziff’s Cafe
Cuisine: New Zealand, Cafe, A La Carte, Brunch
Hours:
- Mon – Sun 10.30am – Late
-
Facilities/Features:
- Business Dining
- Children's Menu
- Out Catering
- Private Functions
- Private Parties
- Romantic Dining
- Wedding Functions
- Breakfast Meetings
- Payment Types: EFTPOS, Visa, MasterCard, AMEX, Diners
- Price Range: Moderate, $15 - $25
- Dress Code: Casual
- Alcohol: Beer, Wine, Spirits, Cocktails
- BYO/Corkage: No BYO
- Parking: Free Off-Street
- Good For Groups: Yes
- Good For Children: Yes
- Takeaways: Yes
- Delivers: Yes
- Takes Reservations: Yes
- Dietary Restrictions: Vegetarian, Gluten-free
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: Yes
- Meals: Brunch, Lunch, Dinner, Dessert
Ziff’s Cafe and Bar was developed with a specific restaurant concept in mind: Great atmosphere, excellent service and meals to satisfy the hungriest customer.
Ziffs provides excellent simple cuisine prepared by a professional team, who aim to serve portions that give the WOW-factor at first glance. With many other modern restaurants, a small sculptured serving on a very large plate is common practice, but at Ziff’s our customers appreciate an exceptional flavored meal created by highly skilled Chefs, serving generous dishes that you might remember Mum used to make.
A well-designed, contemporary yet timeless space, Ziff’s caters for diners of all ages, with a focus on the mature and discerning clientele, who can enjoy an evening meal with friends in a relaxed, warm and comfortable environment. Ziff’s caters for everyone.
The menu at Ziffs includes two of the largest steaks that we can purchase, a crispy chicken salad (our most popular meal), seafood chowder (described by many as the best they’ve had) and several Southland-grown venison dishes – the best you will ever taste.
At Ziff’s it’s possible to indulge in a substantial 3-course meal (although this rarely happens due to large portion sizes) and sample some excellent wines followed by superb cognacs/ports.
The Bar is fully stocked with unique wines, popular beers, cognacs, ports plus every conceivable spirit or liqueur you might think of.
Reservations are recommended, as Ziff’s has a seating capacity of 60 patrons at any one time therefore, from time to time, we have to turn people away!
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Bookmark25 Reviews for Ziff’s Cafe
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One of Ziff’s Cafe's Favourite Reviews What's This?
1
14th June 2012
Me and my partner have been to Ziff’s a few times and we keep coming back.
The meals are always good and sometimes great!
I always have the pie (always tasty) but last time I had the fillet steak and man it was good!
The place is warm and quiet and I always tell friends about the good food at Ziff’s.
The only point to improve is the service, sometimes the girls seem a little unprepared.
Cheers
The meals are always good and sometimes great!
I always have the pie (always tasty) but last time I had the fillet steak and man it was good!
The place is warm and quiet and I always tell friends about the good food at Ziff’s.
The only point to improve is the service, sometimes the girls seem a little unprepared.
Cheers
4
13th May 2013
Mother’s day is probably the busiest day for restaurants. Me and my family decided to take mum out for lunch and we were all glad we chose Ziff’s.
The girl over the phone was very helpful taking our reservation.
The place was very busy but the service was really good with our waitress looking after us all the time. The drinks came very quickly and the food was much better than we could expect specially in such busy day.
My lamb rump was cooked perfectly and so tender, mum had chicken salad and loved too.
We managed to fit desserts and the cheesecake and crumble were the best way to finish a mother’s day lunch.
The girl over the phone was very helpful taking our reservation.
The place was very busy but the service was really good with our waitress looking after us all the time. The drinks came very quickly and the food was much better than we could expect specially in such busy day.
My lamb rump was cooked perfectly and so tender, mum had chicken salad and loved too.
We managed to fit desserts and the cheesecake and crumble were the best way to finish a mother’s day lunch.
1
28th April 2013
I have dined on 2 occassions recently at Ziffs and ordered the crispy chicken both times as I enjoyed it so much the first time. The second time I was most disappointed as there was no sign of avocado or brie. I mentioned this to the waitress who said she would take it up with the chef. Nothing was said on payment, no discount offered and no response to an email sent the next day!! Not very impressed, meals should surely have all ingredients listed.
35
5th March 2013
Had a wonderful meal at Ziffs as part of a wedding “after-party”. The staff coped very well as the large group we were part of were friendly, but quite loud.
I had the venison main (cooked med rare and it melted in my mouth). The other-half had the crispy chicken salad that she loved. I didn’t hear any bad feedback from the 60-70 odd people at the dinner and I couldn’t have been more impressed by the staff, service or the food.
Thanks to the manager, “courtesy coach driver”, for getting us home safe too.
I had the venison main (cooked med rare and it melted in my mouth). The other-half had the crispy chicken salad that she loved. I didn’t hear any bad feedback from the 60-70 odd people at the dinner and I couldn’t have been more impressed by the staff, service or the food.
Thanks to the manager, “courtesy coach driver”, for getting us home safe too.
6
29th November 2012
Coffee was a bit bitter but the food was lovely. Friendly helpful staff.
6
9th September 2012
Went here for a staff function. Was enjoyable and the staff were very good. The food was of a good standard. A small niggle was they had not updated the menu on their own web site. Would dine here again
3rd August 2012
I went along to Ziffs having made my choice from the on-line menu before leaving home. Crispy chicken salad, which they claim to be their most popular dish. The atmosphere was nice, although my personal preference would have been to have the music (from on-screen music DVD) at slightly lower volume. The waitress was pleasant and helpful. My observation of orders being delivered to tables backed up the claim of generously sized meals. My meal was fine and I left feeling that I had eaten well and received good value for money, however there was absolutely nothing crispy about the chicken so that is a “minor minus”. Hard to decide whether three or four stars (three and a half would be about right if it was available) but I’ve just returned home and a full tummy is making me feel generous.
8
10th September 2011
I enjoyed a lovely lunch there last weekend, the food was excellent, however a couple of things annoyed me. One of the waitress’s walked past my chair and kicked/bumped into it, not on purpose of course, but some acknowledgement or basic apology would have been nice, the cutlery given to us may have just come out of the dishwasher as it was clean but still wet and the serviette had water marks on it, my friends plate with her hot chocolate on it had been spilt on, the serviette under the glass was soaked. No biggies an it will not put me off coming back but perhaps the staff could brush up on the little things 
3rd January 2011
Ziffs is our nearest place to eat out and we use to a lot. Unfortunately they have changed the breakfast menu quiet drastically and have got rid of all the healthy options such as the muesli and fruit etc. When I asked the waitress why the menu had been changed she said that we could go to Buster Crabb for that instead now – but Buster’s isn’t just round the corner! We went there for coffee and cake the other night and it was nice, but quiet pricey for what it was. We will go back as it is close by, but would love to have the old Ziffs back that we loved.
31
19th May 2010
My daughter and I went to Ziffs for a quiet late afternoon snack recently and found the service cheerful and accomodating, no waiting, food yummy. Good one!
1
30th November 2009
visited with a group of friends with no booking staff was most accommodating and everyone was very impressed,the food was great and looked amazing well worth the short drive to get the best food in town. the only thing stooping us from trying everything was to full so we will visit again with an appetite to match the huge portions.
keep up the great work!
keep up the great work!
1
11th September 2009
Ziffs has been my ‘go to’ when visiting Invercargill for the past few years. I like to try something new and on my recent visit found that they have a new menu! And I have to say it is a cut above the rest!! Good to see the trusty chicken salad has remained though. The waitresses are efficient and have great respect towards not only there customers but also to each other. Love to see people who enjoy their job. Bring on summer and the awesome outside dining, smiling girls and yummy food. See you soon.
3rd September 2009
“Thank you” Ziffs – really enjoyed my lunch last Friday with a friend. Your staff are friendly, helpful and lunchtime service is bang-on. My lamb (although a little plain to look at) was a treat once tasted. We will be definatly coming back and soon. Chers
1
12th August 2009
we had the fish, and the chicken, and we where only there for a quick dinner but the services was very good and great fast staff. we are also booked in for your anniversary next week.
1
27th July 2009
went there last week to find the menu changed and what a pleasant surprise.we had lamb wellington and tuna wow all I can say and see you soon there is more we want to try out,cheeks what ever at is ?
2
14th July 2009
Dined at Ziff’s last weekend and what a lovely experience. It’s nice to see a menu that doesn’t take several hours to read. Was recommended the beef cheeks by a friendly, helpful staff member and what a great meal. It’s great to try Southland swede. I’ve never seen it on the menu before.
I truly rate this restaurant as one of the best of ever been to.
I’ll be going back every visit and will definitely recommend it to my collegues.
I truly rate this restaurant as one of the best of ever been to.
I’ll be going back every visit and will definitely recommend it to my collegues.
23
3rd May 2009
Last Saturday a large party of us booked in for a 40th lunch. We let them know we were coming at 12.30pm and that we would like our meals by 1pm please. No probs we were assurred..We arrived at 12.30, our orders weren’t even taken until 1.30 and we never got the entrees until 1.50pm! Bit of a hungry time for those not eating entrees.Plenty of alcohol offered though.Waitresses didn’t want to be there and things were slow and nobody appeared to be in charge. What a dismal time. Food okay but nothing to rave about.
Comment from Allan A. of Ziff’s Cafe
11/04/2010
Hi Lauren, there is no real excuse for this. We were going through some serious staff changes at the time and am happy to say thet we now feel that what we offer is a great experience. We take all comments extremely seriously and do discuss these at staff…
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1
30th April 2009
We’ve dined here on numerous occasions over the last few years and have always been more than happy with the service & food.
However our lunch last Sunday was very very average.
The wait staff were clearly not happy to be working on a Sunday morning.
The chicken salad I ordered had 4 extremely small pieces of chicken & an overly generous amount of lettuce and APHIDS.
Needless to say we won’t be returning in a hurry.
However our lunch last Sunday was very very average.
The wait staff were clearly not happy to be working on a Sunday morning.
The chicken salad I ordered had 4 extremely small pieces of chicken & an overly generous amount of lettuce and APHIDS.
Needless to say we won’t be returning in a hurry.
8
19th April 2009
The food here is very good with a fair selection of both food & drinks to choose from, it is always busy but the staff seem to be good at getting large orders out together & keep it friendly.
I prefer the deck outside for dining since the inside is quite dark & echoes badly so you have to yell across the table to be heard once a few people are seated & talking
I prefer the deck outside for dining since the inside is quite dark & echoes badly so you have to yell across the table to be heard once a few people are seated & talking
23
6th April 2009
Not a great experience overall. We ahve eaten at Ziffs a few times and although the food is okay the noise levels are a bit much to handle. The tv screens playing music dvds are also intrusive.
1
14th March 2009
This is one of my favourite restaurants in Invercargill. Very nice food, particularly chicken salad!!!
3
10th February 2009
I have always enjoyed Ziffs but the most recent visit was extremely disappointing – friendly staff yes but we had 3 different waitresses ask if we were ok for drinks in the space of three minutes and this happened three times during the meal. The seafood chowder starter was the most vile chowder I have ever tasted. There was next to no seafood in it, the texture was lumpy and gluey and the taste was just bland as though there was no seasoning of any kind used. That put us in not a very good mood for mains which where quite average with dry chicken breast. Presentation is somewhat important but there was what seemed like bottle thousand island dressing decorating every plate and combining with the food – I may give this one more chance as they may have been having an off day 
Comment from Allan A. of Ziff’s Cafe
11/04/2010
Hi Rebecca
please feel free to contact Allan the owner as I’d like discuss the dissapointments.
027 433 6408
3
19th January 2009
We had a friendly waitress and food was just lovely – the salmon entree is beautiful. We were served a glass of beer which was warm and the bar staff had no hesitation in replacing it with a cold one. Will definitely be dining again.
9
13th July 2008
We have eaten here on several occasions with mixed out comes. We have learnt a few things; sit outside if possible as it is nice out there and inside is far to loud, noise and distracting with the TV screens playing music videos. The service has always been very friendly and mostly efficient. Although on a couple of occasions we have had meals that have been OK and not much more, under flavoured, over-cooked and stodge. We have also had some really lovely soups, a meal in themselves and the platter is fantastic in both quality and price; perfect to share with a Rabbit Ranch P/Noir at lunch time. So pick your day and your meal carefully and you should be happy.
12th July 2008
This was probably the best meal i have ever eaten i loved the breads i had for a starter but my main was to die for the flavours of my pork were so intense but not over powering i swear it was the best pork i have ever eaten it was just the rite size not to small but just enough to full me a fully grown man quite comfortable
my wife had the lamb shanks and says it was really good and had to take a doggy bag cause she couldn’t eat it all ,we were in a table of 10 and not one of us had a bad comment to say about our meals or service
even the staff were very pleasant and professional i would recommend eating here for any occasion we didn’t use the courtesy coach but they did offer it to us
my wife had the lamb shanks and says it was really good and had to take a doggy bag cause she couldn’t eat it all ,we were in a table of 10 and not one of us had a bad comment to say about our meals or service
even the staff were very pleasant and professional i would recommend eating here for any occasion we didn’t use the courtesy coach but they did offer it to us
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