The Best Places To Eat & Drink Around Auckland’s Waterfront

From coffees and pastries to lobster rolls, award-winning restaurants and rooftop bars, these are the eateries to keep you satiated on Auckland’s waterfront, which we must say, is a real joy on a still, sunny day. For this story, we’ve included locations from Westhaven to Wynyard, Princess Wharf and the Viaduct, all of them delicious.

Homeland

Peter Gordon’s community-minded cooking school-meets-restaurant Homeland is home to some of Auckland’s best cheese scones, but it’s also a great drop-in point for breakfast, lunch or dinner (from Thursday to Saturday). Nestled between the many boat-focussed businesses on Pier 21, Homeland is next to the water with great views of the Harbour Bridge — and the sunset. Breakfast is available Wednesday to Friday and includes some great-sounding smoothies that you could grab and go before a show. Or, stay for Turkish eggs or Homeland’s famous creamed pāua on toast. The lunch and dinner menu is extensive and is a celebration of New Zealand’s artisan producers — some of which you can find at the Homeland store. We’ll be stopping in for a toastie of hāngī beef brisket with double cheese and a side of salad.

Website: Homelandnz.com

Address: Pier 21, 11 Westhaven Drive

Baduzzi

Baduzzi is a no-brainer when it comes to great food near the waterfront. A stalwart of the Wynyard Quarter restaurant strip, Baduzzi has been included in Viva’s Top 50 Restaurants for the past two years, with Viva’s dining out editor Jesse Mulligan noting “this Italian-American kitchen turns out deceptively fancy food inspired by the cuisine of the eastern seaboard. Every plate is perfect and the drinks list goes deep.” Its location near the water’s edge makes it ideal for a long lunch with a relaxed feel, but the interiors are fancy enough to make any visit feel like a special occasion, with its generous circular leather booths, tiled floors and accents of gold bling. The pasta here is handmade daily and cooked to order and some standouts include the saffron and potato tortellini, a beautifully yellow pillow of goat curd-encased pasta drenched in brown butter sauce. The buttered maltagliati with duck and porcini ragu is another unmissable order, and there’s also Baduzzi’s version of cacio e pepe. Bellisima!

Address: 10/26 Jellicoe Street, North Wharf

Swashbucklers

A Viva favourite for a cold beer and basket of fish bites, Swashbucklers (or Swashies) is a low-key (yet heavily ocean-themed) spot for lunch or dinner. You won’t find craft beers here, but rather a solid list of Speights, Lion Red and Monteiths and that’s how the regulars like it. The menu reflects the seaside location with plenty of fresh seafood served with a reassuringly retro twist like shrimp cocktails and scallop mornay, plus fish of the day and even whitebait fritters. For the seafood-averse, you’ll find a classic pub-meets-bistro menu of chicken parmi, steak and pasta. The best spots to sit are at the wooden picnic tables along the boardwalk next to the water, but there’s plenty to marvel at inside, with Swashies’ walls adorned with all manner of seafaring memorabilia.

Website: Swashbucklers.co.nz

Address: 23B Westhaven Drive

Williams Eatery

Williams Eatery is a family-owned daytime cafe that’s always bustling, always reliable and always a good time, especially if you score a table outside in the sun. The ever-changing menu is definitely not your usual brunch fare of eggs benedict and French toast, but rather interesting dishes with a Filipino twist using seasonal produce. Expect to find your eggs served with a smear of aquachile and nduja, and your toast to be topped with baby carrots and ricotta. Coffee is Flight and you can order natural wine, Sawmill and Garage Project beers and Forage and Bloom teas. Open Monday to Friday, 7am to 2.30pm. Saturday to Sunday, 8am to 2.30pm.

Address: G03/85 Daldy St, Wynyard Quarter

Captain’s Bar

If you’re looking for a cocktail with harbour views, find Captain’s Bar on the ground floor of Park Hyatt Hotel. Stepping into Captain’s Bar is like setting sail on a sleek wooden ship destined for brighter shores. Maybe it’s the waterfront location, or maybe it’s the extensive rum list and sailing puns abound that makes it feel like a watering hole for mariners, but it’s the wood-panelled interior with plush booths, comfy couches, warm amber lighting and a working fireplace that makes it a nice spot for a drink and snack. If you’re not in the mood for the aforementioned rum, the Captain’s Bar team can whip up the classics — espresso martinis, an old fashioned or a margarita, or try their signature cocktails, like the N72 with Woodford Bourbon infused with thyme, coconut-washed Aperol, mixed bitters and maple syrup. To eat there are tapas-style plates of calamari, baked brie and charcuterie.

Website: Hyatt.com

Address: 99 Halsey St

Esther and Rooftop at QT

“Restaurant food doesn’t get better than this,” wrote Viva’s dining out editor Jesse Mulligan after his last visit to Esther in May this year. A Viva Top 50 Auckland Restaurant for good reason, Esther offers both world-class fare and service, on the ground floor of QT Hotel in the Viaduct Harbour. Chef Sean Connolly’s menu canvasses the best cuisine from sun-soaked parts of the Mediterranean, from Italian to Greek. Dine on fresh pasta and line-caught fish, grass-fed eye fillet and Cloudy Bay clams. If you’re just after a drink, the Rooftop at QT offers views of the harbour alongside cocktails and a wine list heroing local drops and some from further afield. There are also small plates of Mediterranean-style mezze to snack on.

Website: Estherrestaurant.com

Address: 4 Viaduct Harbour Avenue

Hello Beasty

Sometimes all you need to know about a restaurant to gauge its greatness is what beers it has on tap and which wines by the glass. Hello Beasty, which specialises in “contemporary New Zealand fusion cuisine” through the flavours of Japan, Korea and China has Parrotdog’s Hazy IPA, an Urbanaut Pilsner and Asahi — the only three beers you’d ever need with this type of menu. On the wine front, there’s The Huntress pinot noir, Amoise gamay noir and Quartz Reef pinot gris, which represent some of New Zealand’s best wineries — read more about these wines in Viva’s 50 most thrilling wineries for 2023. Of course, it’s about the food and the atmosphere too, and to eat you’ll enjoy chef Stuart Rogan’s excellent Asian fusion share plates — dishes like Korean fried cauliflower with gochujang sauce, roasted John Dory with XO butter with greens, chilli and a garlic confit; katsu sandos or crispy soft shell crab. For dessert, don’t miss Hello Beasty’s near-iconic soft-serve ice cream.

Website: Hellobeasty.nz

Address: 95-97 Customs St West, Viaduct Harbour

Bivacco

Holding court on the impressive Viaduct corner once home to the notorious Headquarters bar, Bivacco is the place to be for lunch, afternoon drinks or a multi-course dinner. The waterside location is great and the restaurant is huge, with seating for 300 people, but be sure to book at this busy eatery. The menu is “unfussy Italian food” and that includes a solid list of wood-fired pizzas, alongside handmade pasta, antipasti, and “phenomenally good plates”, that, “like the best Italian, is mostly incredibly flavoured food, prepared comparatively simply,” says Viva’s dining out editor Jesse Mulligan in his recent review. Opt for the potato pizza with red onion, burrata, caviar and dill, or the mushroom pizza with truffle, gorgonzola, walnut and radicchio, and leave happy.

Website: Savor.co.nz

Address: 115 Customs St West

Onemata

Park Hyatt’s in-house restaurant Onemata puts the flavours of New Zealand on a plate in beautiful surroundings. It’s open for lunch and dinner with a menu that highlights premium local produce from Aotearoa’s land and sea. Don’t miss the ‘from the hearth oven’ section of both seafood and meat dishes like Mt Cook Salmon or Scotch fillet, as well as smaller plates of fish crudo, vegetables and snacks. It’s a handsome space, with brown leather banquettes, plenty of marble and wood surfaces and slick lighting. Onemata benefits from having the prime position on the bottom corner of the Park Hyatt that looks directly out over the superyachts in the Viaduct basin towards the Auckland city skyline.

Website: Onematarestaurant.co.nz

Address: 99 Halsey St

Somm

Wine bar and cellar door Somm, located on Princess Wharf in Auckland’s central city, is a showcase for a stable of well-known New Zealand wineries under the Foley wines portfolio, including Church Road, Martinborough Vineyard, Te Kairanga, Vavasour and Mt Difficulty, Somm acts as an “urban cellar door” with wines by the glass, bottle and tasting flight. There are also “guest wineries” on the drinks menu from Waiheke and Canterbury, local beers on tap, cocktails and Champagne. The food menu has been designed by Soul Bar & Bistro’s executive chef Gavin Doyle to complement the wine. Like the wine, the menu showcases the breadth of New Zealand too, like olive oil from Martinborough, sheep’s milk cheese from Masterton, and quince paste from Hawke’s Bay. The sleek fit-out is noteworthy too, designed by Nott Architects, who have married exposed concrete with warm walnut and oak timber.

Website: Sommcellardoor.co.nz

Address: Shed 22, Princess Wharf

Seafood Paradise Restaurant and Bar

We had heard rumours of a new yum cha spot in Wynyard Quarter and can confirm that Seafood Paradise Restaurant and Bar has a main restaurant next to the Fish Market, and a second yum cha-focused dining space on the water side of North Wharf. Available Monday to Sunday from 10am until 3pm, the yum cha menu has all the hits, including steamed dim sum — pork shaomai, prawn dumplings, barbecue pork buns and more — as well as deep-fried treats like sesame balls, turnip cakes and chicken wings. There are also lunch specials of roast duck and roast pork, if dim sum isn’t on the cards.

Phone: (09) 309 5898

Address: 39-47 Jellicoe St, North Wharf

The Auckland Fish Market

The Auckland Fish Market is still a reliable spot for a bite to eat, with its collection of seafood-focussed vendors like Lobster and Tap, Billypot and the Market Galley. Visitors can enjoy their food in the communal outdoor dining area, which is serviced by The Wreck Bar, and has a large TV for screening sports and other events. At Billypot, opt for a tray of freshly shucked oysters. Lobster and Tap is the place to go for hot buttered lobster rolls or lobster-filled Kiwi dip with a side of Proper Crisps. The Market Galley has fresh fish and chips, salt and pepper squid, crispy fish burgers and grilled Glory Bay salmon. Inside the market there’s Chao Vietnamese Canteen, which specialises in pho and banh mi and Britomart stalwart The Store has a counter at the Fish Market, selling Allpress coffee and a selection of sandwiches and sweet treats from 7am daily.

Website: Afm.co.nz

Address: 22 Jellicoe St, Wynyard Quarter

Soul Bar

A Viaduct institution for more than 20 years for a reason, Soul has been serving up high-octane glamour with its contemporary menu and classic cocktails (where else can you still order an appletini?), its regular roster of parties and events and its sought-after outdoor terrace area. A seat here truly is an experience, with the bustle of the Viaduct promenade just below you and hanging flower-filled planters and globe lights above you, and more importantly, the regular Soul diners around you, who treat coming to dinner here as a reason to dress up, and good for them. The menu spans Italian, French and bistro-style classics with dishes like spaghetti alla chitarra with New Zealand scampi and tomato sugo; whole fish with fermented chilli, tomato butter and capers; and its famous macaroni cheese with ham off the bone, truffle and parmesan crust. Soul is a big, bold restaurant and the staff know how to take care of you.

Website: Soulbar.co.nz

Address: Cnr Lower Hobson St and Customs St West

Origine

Viva spent an afternoon in the upstairs private dining room of impressive French restaurant Origine in Commercial Bay recently and were reminded how beautiful its harbour views are, with a clear view out to the Waitematā, and a front-row seat to the ferries coming and going on Princes Wharf. It’s equally as dramatic on a good day as a rainy day, when being cossetted in a glamorous restaurant while watching the wind whip the water outside makes one even more glad to be sharing a meal and a glass of something French. On warm days, the floor-to-ceiling louvre windows open to the outside and allow a gentle breeze to sweep the restaurant — it’s almost as good as a holiday. To eat, chef/co-owner Ben Bayly has focussed on a menu celebrating seasonality, terroir and technique with French classics like soupe a l’oignon (French onion soup), boeuf bourguignon and terrine with baguette, house mustard and pickles. Until the end of November, Origine has a special express lunch menu with a choice of three dishes, a great option for the time-poor who still want to dine with sparkling sea views.

Website: Origine.nz

Address: Level 2, Commercial Bay

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