Imperial Lane

My experience this morning for brunch left me literally banging my head against the wall. The service here was just bizarre and there definitely wasn’t a manager or anyone in charge. I went with a friend and after she received her food we waited ½ an hour for my food to arrive. Being a nice friend, she asked them to keep her food warm while we continued to wait for mine to arrive. This created mass confusion amongst the young waitstaff, why would she send it back? What’s wrong with it? I had to get up and explain to the girl that typically when there’s multiple guests eating, they like to eat at the same time. Once my food arrived we had to ask another staff member to fetch my friends food from the heat lamp… grrrr.
Although it was not busy, service was SO slow… a couple next to us waited so long for their food they asked for their money back and others left without ordering.
The place looks good but will not return for brunch.

Enjoyed a great Sunday Brunch during 8 hr layover. Baked Beans & Smoked Salmon. Laid back vibe, good service and according to my wife «best» hash browns ever.

This café can be access through imperial lane or queen street, locate under the ‘everybody’ restaurant. Very metro design with seating along the side of the café and some awesome sofa spaces and a table full of magazines, I do see a lot of designer came here with laptops :)
Coffee is on the strong side, sometimes a little burnt, but generally okay, tried their savoury scroll, not very good, a little dry and not too tasty…
I will come for the vibe of this place but for coffees there are better ones around…

We were treated to a complimentary breakfast at Imperial Lane as pat of our stay in Auckland. It’s an industrial style hipster haven that looks like it was once a loading dock and even comes complete with a bearded and tattooed barrista. Considering how open the space is I was suprised that it didn’t actually feel cold.
As I’d mentioned before, it’s a hipster haven, so it’s no surrprise that my dish of baked beans, poached egg and toast was served on a wooden board. Aesthetically appealing but not entirely practical when everything is crammed on there and you want to cut your toast. I was also a little disappointed by the fact that butter wasn’t served with our toast.
Nonetheless, my breakfast was definitely tasty. You can’t go wrong with good house made baked beans and a perfectly poached egg and staff that are there to top up your water as soon as they see you’ve finished.

The setting of this Café is so unique, it’s the type of place you take someone when you want to impress them.
The coffee is up to Auckland standard, the to order food is organic and good in a pinch. I wouldn’t come here just for food, but for the atmosphere. Sitting in the squishy chairs, small tables under heat lamps, or at the large shared table.
I can come here for brunch, lunch, a coffee, on a group project, or for drinks during happy hour. Bring good vibes and talk to the staff — they are all pretty chill. Ps, free Wi-​Fi!

The vibiest of vibes. Located down an alley and inside an old loading dock. We ordered coffees and sat here for a few hours in the comfy leather chairs. People around us were studying, talking, having some sort of small group meeting, or just reading solo. It’s good for everything. Small outdoor area and plenty of indoor seating. I honestly can’t remember the coffee, but it was a perfect little tuck away from the rain.

Rusty lofting décor with nice open spaces. Lovely food as well. Definitely wanna come again.

Seriously exceptional aesthetic, with food and service to match.
While I use Unilocal frequently I don’t often write reviews, however with Imperial Lane a five star rating is necessary.

So down a little lane near the quay, sits the Imperial Lane. When you walk down the lane you think that you might get robbed, but then there is an opening to an extremely large and opened café. Extremely hipster, as you feel that you are eating on a factory floor, this place is cool and different. Most of the cool cafes are not in this area — so if you are in the Centre of town and want a good café, this is probably one of the better options. Of course, if you are not, it is probably not worth traveling for.
The food here is really good. I came for breakfast, and was extremely pleased with the food that came out. The only unfortunate thing was they were under staffed, and so it took a while for someone to take our order. But saying that, once the order was taken — the food came out rather quickly. And even though it was under staffed, all the staff here were extremely friendly and happy to be there. Because there is nothing worse then having someone who is clearly miserable with their job.
And finally, the golden nectar, the coffee. In all honestly there is better coffee in Auckland. So even though this is not the best cup of coffee you will have, it is still good. In other words, I would order another cup — and I think that is always a good sign. When I come to Auckland again, I will stop by here one more time.

Tasty coffee, lovely funky open air space. Made time for return trip for a flat white. Worth a stop.

This has got to be my favourite coffee shop in Auckland.
The atmosphere, the service, the coffee! All spot on! I first visited Imperial Lane when I was leaving Auckland on a bus. It was raining and I was backpacking. I was able to stash my backpack and use the wifi for like two hours. The staff is awesome and their coffee is strong, you know how it should be!
They offer food here too, even though I’ve never tried it. yet. i really didn’t see anything vegan, but oh well. can’t win them all.
I try to go back whenever I am in Auckland!

I read the comments and had a high expectation on this place. So I went to there after a busy week to enjoy a casual Saturday morning. The food is not bad, coffee was okay. I just don’t like the service, not very friendly and made me feel uncomfortable. So I think I won’t back here anyway.

Went here yesterday and it was pretty good, the food was nice and so was the service. Really pretty setting I was impressed.
Good place to grab something quick on your lunch break.
Still haven’t tried their hot dogs yet but that fluorescent light is always begging me in.

Imperial Lane is the cutest little indoor alleyway in the CBD, if you ask me.
They serve up coffee by Caffe L’Affare, a Wellington-​based roastery, and it’s darn good. They also carry a decent selection of nibbles ranging from gluten-​free hazelnut chocolate cake to savory pies to fresh donuts oozing with custard.
The seating area’s airy and open, yet supremely cozy — perfect for those wintery days in Auckland when you can *pretend* to be outside without the ill effects of all that precipitation.
Pricing is on par with other cafes in the area and the baristas are smily and friendly.
I’ve gotta say, New Zealand does not mess around with their coffee. I’m astounded with the number of local roasters throughout the country … here’s to sampling them all (or at least trying my best!)
Pro-​tip: They serve hot dogs from 5PM here (except on Sundays) — rumor has it they are not to be missed!

This place has a cool ass atmosphere. Great for anything you want to do, even better for actually having a memorable coffee/​dining experience.
New to Auckland but the first thing I noticed was a million coffee shops, surely a lot of them are chains. This joint is 100 percent unique and I loved it. Staff is real chill and there is free wifi. Good coffee and I’m sure their food is great.
Only knock is that I couldn’t find their free wifi network :(make sure to ask for the password and network name.
Lata

Okay, let’s forget about the attentive staff, beautiful space and great coffee for a second and pay attention to something else — duck fat chips. DUCK. FAT. CHIPS. Holy cow. Crispy, salty, perfect. Nothing says ‘catch up with the girls’ like a glass of wine and duck fat chips. As an alternative, their baked goods are pretty bang on, which also makes this a great morning meeting point for coffee.
This place is definitely easy to miss — I only found it because I followed some friends here after class one day, expecting to find myself in another generic Auckland café with bad coffee. Once you find it, you’ll never want to leave. The industrial setting is just delightful, and quite a change from all of Auckland’s boring chain coffee joints. It’s also a pretty awesome place to study, as it has free wi-​fi and they don’t really seem to mind if you loiter around a little bit. Love it.

The Imperial Buildings are truly something for design conscious Aucklanders to be proud of. The buildings, originally built in between 1886 and 1911, have seamlessly juxtaposed old with new by preserving their original brick walls and adding exposed beams, spiral stairwells and an internal open air courtyard. The buildings also host a couple of great eating establishments — Everybody’s, a casual bistro (currently closed for renovations) and Imperial Lane Café and Bar. The latter of which has a fan-​bloody-​tastic hotdog stand, which some friends and I tried out last week, pre Gatsby.
This was my first time to the hotdog stand and I must admit, I was pretty excited. Every dog on the menu sounded well thought out and downright delicious. Whilst this did make it rather difficult to decide I ended up going with the Marrakesh (Merguez sausage, spicy eggplant, zucchini and mint slaw, harissa yoghurt, toasted almond all inside a soft bun, made in-​house at Elske). The spice from the sausage and the eggplant was perfectly balanced with the refreshing slaw and cooling yoghurt and the bun was wonderfully fresh and soft. It was so good that I practically inhaled it in 5minutes.
I am definitely putting this one in the rotation. What a great (and affordable) spot to grab a bite to eat and some after-​work drinks.

Imperial Lane is one of those places that are easy to miss if one doesn’t know Auckland… When I found it, I felt like I had just stepped upon a hidden treasure! What caught my attention walking onto that cobbled laneway was the massive gates that opened into a high-​ceiling, dim-​lit open space. I immediately noticed the lamps above the tables and large armchairs… Really cool!
This café/​bar has a great selection of pastries that look absolutely delicious (including the biggest almond croissant I have ever seen! The price matches the size though: $ 7.50 for one of those French specialties). That said, I went there for after work drinks/​nibbles so my attention was focused on their all day and hot dogs menu. You might think hot dog is easy street food and I wouldn’t blame
anyone for thinking that but Imperial Lane has managed to bring an exotic twist and make them more exciting than regular hot dogs.
I went for their Banh Mi hot dog. As its name indicates, it’s a mix between a hot dog and a popular Vietnamese sandwich called banh mi: chilli and lime chicken sausage with shredded carrot and cucumber salad, pickled cabbage, coriander, chilli, rice wine mayo and crunchy toasted rice, served on a soft warm bun. My partner went for the hot dog with a Hispanic twist, el Matador which was
equally delicious but a totally different experience: composed of a chorizo sausage served with salsa, grilled peppers, Jerez onions (for a bit of sweetness), aioli and spring onions, it was really caliente!
We paired our hot-​dogs with a serving of the duck fat chips and perfectly cool beers. There could not have been a better start to that evening!
This place is somewhat classy but still accessible (less than $ 30 for 2 hot-​dogs and chips) and I will definitely try it for brunch or lunch!

Part of a development which also includes Everybody’s (bistro) and Roxy (fine dining) on the upper floors, Imperial Lane is a café which sits in its namesake laneway that runs between Queen Street and Fort Lane. The development has made a point of retaining its original Victorian-​era buildings, and this has given Imperial Lane an almost industrial character — exposed original brick is juxtaposed with new shiny metals and polished concrete. Effortlessly sophisticated and cool.
The coffee is great, and the food is the usual café fare done to a pretty good standard. I confess I haven’t visited since the installation of the hotdog stand, but it is on my list of things to do! My only gripe with Imperial Lane is the floor slope towards the Fort Lane end which means you can’t sit flat if you’re on a single chair. Hardly a major concern though — the décor is so well done you hardly notice!

Imperial Lane is a long time favourite coffee spot of mine, whether it be 9am or 9pm. The Imperial building is a really cool building and when you’ve nestled yourself into one of the leather armchairs down the back, sit back and have a look at the industrial light fittings, the original exposed brick walls and high vaulted ceilings. The staff here are really cool too, one of the reasons I keep coming back.
The two most recent additions to Imperial Lane are the hotdog stand and the large fruit bowl at the counter. Even though I don’t eat meat, I think the hotdog stand looks funky, the white neon letters are the first thing you see at night when you walk in and the menu is projected onto the concrete wall behind the kitchen. Yes the place is cool. I like the fruit bowl.
Imperial is a place I come to meet friends or to sit and work, there are many tables down the back where you can hide in the shadows and reorder wonder coffee and not be bothered by anyone. One of the best spots in Auckland and if you go up the stairs there is more to discover, Everybody’s and Roxy.