Spruce Goose

Loose as a goose. Love to munch down an eggs B. in between surfs. Best mid week, check out the other options nearby during the weekend if you don’t have time to wait. Unbeatable views to keep an eye on the waves and air traffic. #blessed

Our first experience visiting this café while visiting Wellington
A café which was recommend to us by a friend
Its a very busy place on a cold wet and windy Sunday morning. We were greeted at the entrance by a very pleasant employee who showed us to a table upstairs with views over a stormy Lyall Bay.
Very good first impression.
Unfortunately this did not last.
After being seated by the greeter we waited an unacceptable amount of time for the waitress to firstly acknowledge us and secondly take our food and drink orders. I think if my wife hadn’t attracted her attention we may have still been sitting there waiting.
Again after placing our drink orders we waited another unacceptable length of time for the drinks to arrive. During this time we had discussed just getting up and leaving as it was plain that the service here was shocking.
However we preservered an eventually the drinks did arrive. Well not all of them arrived only the coffees. Seems she forgot about the tea and once again my wife had to enquire as to its whereabouts. Our meals arrived sometime after this only for me to take the first bite and discover the hot meal to be cold. Two others also were served cold meals.
Again we had to attract the waitresses attention but on explaining to her that our food was cold her only response was to answer back «No Its Not». Only after insisting that she take it away did she accept it was indeed cold.
Replacement meals were served up in due course by an obviously grumpy by this time waitress only for us to find that they were only marginally warmer. However we we accepted them and carried on with the meal.
None of us ate much as it just didnt taste that great. Funny that. Was this some form of subtle new age communication technique?
All in all a very dissapointing experience from an aptly named café as we all know the story of what happened to the Spruce Goose.
Would not recommend this place and certsinly wont be back.
Only gave them one star because you can’t give no stars.
Cheers
Pete

Nothing to write home about.
Food was a bit bland. Great location on a sunny day. Service was okay but expected slightly more.
On a positive note, you never have to wait for a table as crowds are at Maranui.

We’ve eaten here — lunch, afternoon tea, and dinner — maybe half a dozen times. The first few times the experience was good and the menu wide enough to make it interesting. However, the last 2 times were terrible. But we thought — well, things happen, maybe it will get better in the future.
So we thought, okay, let’s dash in for a quick meal. I ordered a cabinet sandwich, chips, and the boyfriend ordered mince on toast. Now would you expect that to take 40 minutes before the last dish dropped? YUP, dish by dish came out of the kitchen in 5 minute intervals. And worse, the food only began to arrive after I caught a waiter’s eye and stared at the order ticket attached to the bucket of napkins and forks and knives. Luckily, she caught the hint.
Clearly there is no expediter in the kitchen. The cabinet sandwich arrived 10 minutes before the chips. really?
As my boyfriend paid for our meal, I spoke with the manager. Everything I said was answered with «I’m sorry you feel that way. Thanks letting me know.» Every. Time. He was pleasant and bland.
Mediocre food, expensive for the quality, and lousy service. it’s a pity, really as the building is quite nicely done and it is wonderful to look at the ocean on wild days. It’s sad but I hope to never return.

TL;DR The wait times are long but overall it’s worth it.
This is a reasonably priced café, that is not just in the vicinity but also the overall ballpark and feel of the more established Maranui Café.
This child friendly venue is a common choice for families looking for a brunch location close to the beach.
The menu is diverse enough, ranging from egg dishes to burgers and salads. Having beer and cider on tap is very appreciated on a hot summer day. The outdoor seating should be avoided on a windy day, mostly because sand should not be the main ingredient in any dish…
The coffee was much better than I expected and came quicker than the beer.
The desert selection was quite generous, too, and it helped wrap up a great outing.
The only real complaint has nothing to do with the venue itself: it takes a while to be seated because of the popularity of this stylish Wellington Café.

I think the location makes it overhyped. It is awesome on a good day to look over the water and watch the planes land, but the food has never wowed me.
My girlfriends and I ordered a bowl of wedges to share and had to send them back as they were still frozen in the middle. The portions weren’t generous for the exorbitant price paid — I’ve since found out the place is owned by Wellington Airport which explains a lot.
I’d stop here for coffee but would hop across to the beach parking lot for dinner at the burger caravan there.

The location is great, near the beach in Lyall Bay, overlooking the airport runway and easily accessible with strollers. The coffee is great, and the muffins and cakes are excellent too.
But I was disappointed in the French toast, which is made of 2 very thick slices of bread and tastes more like toasted bread in syrup than French toast. I will however be back to explore other items on the menu.

Only their second day of business and already getting a bit of word of mouth, the Spruce Goose has the potential to be a favourite… but only going by the as yet untested dinner menu. The snack menu leaves a lot to be desired but that dinner selection looks delectable. I must come back to sample