ampersand eatery

Had a fantastic brunch at Ampersand. I wish they’d open abroad too. They are elevating classic dishes with new flavours and ingredients, and I’m all for it. Their classic breakfast looks boring on paper, but was one of the best full english I’ve had (even comparing to UK). The Smokey beans hit right, with a good amount of BBQness, complimenting that chunky sausage. Beautiful hash brown and eggs. Butter melted just enough to be spread and absorbed by the toast. The shrimp and lao gan ma eggs was a wonderful surprise - HIGHLY recommend to try this dish. Smoothie was also a great accompaniment. 100% must visit.

We ate at Ampersand Eatery tonight and honestly, everything was top notch. The service, the food, and the ambience. And don’t even get me started on the food… absolutely drool-worthy 🤤 Every dish was a hit. You can really feel the care and hospitality behind this place. The owners of Hello Stranger Café in East Tāmaki own Ampersand, and it shows. The wait staff across their brand are just the best. So friendly, attentive, and genuinely welcoming. They were amazing with our little one and made us feel so comfortable, to the point where you honestly feel like family rather than just another table. Such a fantastic spot in Auckland, especially for families. We’ll definitely be back!

The BEST cafe I've ever been to so far! The food prices are similar to most cafes in Auckland but the food is tastier and comes in more reasonably portion. But good luck with parking 😅

A lovely spot to stop for a bite of something delicious and healthy too. I stopped in with family after the Orakei Bay park run and enjoyed a delicious bacon quiche with a delightful Yellow Bango smoothie. Pleasant service and nice environment.

The steak was so good! 300gr with truffle sauce, delicious crispy potatoes, all generously proportioned. We also had the korean fried chicken pasta which was delicious and not at all spicy. 10/10 would return to try the dessert. Service was excellent

Excellent brunch cafe, we had a big group and needed a place we could book - they have a large space here. Food and coffee was excellent!

Lovely environment. Open, spacious and not noisy. Service was great. Welcoming with a smile. The food was delicious. We had the Lamb Shank, Spicy chicken pasta, Pan fried market fish which was Snapper and we shared a beautiful Lychee dessert. So yummy! A lovely evening was had by all! Not forgetting dogs are welcome!! A cute most well behaved fur baby was three tables down from us!

I've been to this cafe a few times before, but I stopped coming because I felt like the portions were getting smaller and the staff seemed unenthusiastic. I recently heard it changed owners and wanted to check it out. I wasn't disappointed. The staff were very warm and friendly, the ingredients tasted fresh, and the portion size was generous—I usually can't finish a plate this big. Of course, this is a new start with the new ownership, and I hope they can keep it up. All in all, there are so many cafes in Auckland, and not every one makes you want to go back.

Nice ambiance . Pet friendly. Nice views indoor/ outdoor . Limitirfmenu . Quaint , busy and inside a mini mall. Serves everything from coffee/tea to wine and bar drinks Food was very good and served quickly once the order was taken . In a great location to go for a walk also .

I was really excited and been anticipating the opening of this joint venture of an experience local chef and one of my favourite coffee shop. Maybe I caught them in a bad time, the experience was not what I expected. The location: newly revamped Orakei Bay Village, where things are really starting to pick up. Sits high above the Orakei Basin with a view of the bay and the city, perfect place to spend the weekend mornings. Very family oriented. There are two toilets in the restaurant also, so you don't have to go outside to the main area. The coffee and drinks: no complaints, try out their ice coffee!! they also have fresh juice and a small local brews on tap. Service: this is the biggest downfall. Maybe they just have not sorted out the flow, but it took way too long. We went as a large group, and have repeated requested them to serve the children's meal first, but it still took more than 30min before anything arrived. During that time, we ended up having to visit the nearby supermarket on 2-3 occasions to buy snacks for the little ones. Hopefully this will improve over time! Food: you can taste the freshness of the ingredients, unfortunately its sort of ruined by the amount of peas you see in each dish. Nothing against frozen pees, but when you are pay more than $20 for a branch dish, you hope to get some fresh greens as well. Everything in general is salty. The serving portion is also a bit on the small side for the price. Somewhat disappointed with the experience. Will give this place 4 for a coffee shop, but really a 2 for a restaurant. We've visited this place twice over the past 2 days, and similar disappointing experience each time. Hope they really get their act together, plenty of room for improvement.

Setting: a big space with a deck overlooking Orakei Basin and walking distance from home Food: a tasty twist on the usual cafe fare Wine list: beautifully different Service: haphazard Excited by a new cafe opening close to home in an area (Orakei)where there aren't many decent cafes, we've visited twice in the 3 weeks that it's been open. The first time I had corn cakes with wild mushrooms which probably now carry my personal award for best corn cakes in the city. They're made with polenta and had a lovely texture. My husband had the smashed avo with poached egg which he raved about. The second time, I had the spaghetti with seafood which I'd spied on the previous visit and liked the look of. The spaghetti was a great texture but sadly the seafood was a bit overdone. The dish was also tiny which necessitated the need for something else, so we settled on cheese. From a selection of four, we chose the Brie and the blue which we're both fine, but not amazing. My husband had the cheeseburger which had a very tasty pattie, but was so dripping with butter/cheese that he couldn't pick it up, so ate it a knife and fork. As for the service, I know they're new and it's hard to get good staff in a city with so many restaurants and cafes, but this isn't the owner's first cafe. A little more training or process would be good. On the first visit, our waitress was so distracted that while taking my husband's order she looked away and we were tempted to ask if we were interrupting or boring her. I then had to ask her twice for a wine list whilst she stood by and wondered what to do next. The second visit was better with a more attentive waitress. However our food arrived before our drinks (a personal dislike) and our mains were brought out with no salt or pepper, despite both badly needing them. In summary, I like Ampersand and I will go back again, but not if I'm really hungry. I'm sure the service will get better over time.

I went with a friend for coffee and loved the location & setting. Went with my husband for dinner the following night & we were both hugely impressed with the service, setting & food. We dine out often at a variety of restaurants both cheap & cheerful and top end around the country. Not often we both say "wow" but were in agreement with this sentiment at our meals at Ampersand. We will go back a second time to confirm our thoughts, meanwhile good luck for continued success.