Esplanade Hotel

Grab a seat outside in the sunshine under an umbrella and watch the horse drawn carriage pass by. Or settle into a comfy leather seat in the stylish and bright indoor dining areas. Prices here are pretty standard beverage wise ($ 10 for a glass of house wine) but i would recommend splitting a couple of sharing plates. Although the bread and hummus wasn’t very good quality, the beetroot salad was tasty albeit a bit small between two. The staff are really friendly and attentive plus the outdoor area suits your furry friend if he accompanies you. There is no disabled access with the bathrooms but instead i used a bathroom in one of the stunning hotel rooms. The views were stunning even from the first floor! I would come back as i would like to try more off their menu. They cater well for vegetarians.

We had Sunday lunch here today. We jumped on the ferry from Auckland and headed to Devonport. It was such a lovely day that we decided to eat outside. We had the mini burgers (which came with chips) and the garlicy prawns. It did seem to take a long time for the food to come out but with the day being so awesome it was hard to complain :-) The food was dropped out but there was no cutlery. We assumed the waitress must be gone to get us some but she never returned so we had to go searching for them inside the hotel. The mini burgers were super cute and tasted really good. They came with gherkins and onion. The prawns were really tasty. They came with baby potatoes and were in a lemon garlic sauce. The slices of bagette were very useful for mopping up the sauce. The food here is good, and reasonably priced. The staff unfortunately let the place down. They do not show any interest in the customers and seem to be pretty good at trying to pretend they dont notice that you are trying to get their attention.