Raw Power Cafe

I was starving — hadn’t had breakfast and it was 2pm and I’d seen this place recommended on a website for «best vegetarian lunch places.» I went in for the falafel and pita pocket. They don’t make the falafel — come on, its not that hard. They put the supermarket falafel in a pita pocket and then they microwave it for too long, so the falafel turn to crumbs and the pita is overcooked and chewy. The salad looks like it comes out a supermarket bag, in fact the whole thing looks like they crossed the road to New World and bought it all from there. The tomato sauce was tasteless — I had to ask for some hot sauce to give it some flavour. This food it not raw. It’s not even cooking! Maybe my expectations were too high, but when I think of «raw food» I’m thinking organic, home made and definitely not microwaved. Where is the love? There was none on my plate. Sadly I paid before my food arrived, and I even put a tip in the jar. And I was very hungry so I ate it, but I won’t come back and can only assume the good reviews are from people who dont know how to cook.

Tofu burger and curry pumpkin soup are huge portion and tasty. The tofu Burger came with hummus, mushroom, salad, onion. The soup came with two big pieces of bread and hummus.

The best vegetarian lunch place in Auckland in my opinion. Relaxed, tasty food, good size servings and value for money.

Love this place. Healthy, wide array of options to keep everyone happy, yummy baked potato with cheese and veggies, tons of side salads to choose from, all kinds of great food.

I absolutely love having breakfast/​lunch at Raw Power. It is about a 30 second walk from my work, which makes it an amazing location! They serve a range of delicious vegetarian meals and salads.
Their breakfasts are out of this world! I usually order the Lemon Pancakes ($ 13.90) which comes with grilled banana, mixed berries, maple syrup and crème fraîche or the French Toast ($ 14.50) with the exact same accompaniments. Both are very filing and delicious and will keep you full till lunchtime!
For lunch, I either order the Curry Vegetable Soup ($ 8.50) which consists of pumpkin, carrot and onion and is served with focaccia bread or I really enjoy the Toasted Feta Sandwich ($ 10.20) — both are equally delicious. But the real deal is definitely their salad bar. You can choose from a bowl or plate size and fill it up with as many salads as you like. Some of the salads include: roasted mixed vegetables, salad greens with avocado and cucumber, soba noodles, pumpkin, beetroot, chickpeas, kidney/​broad beans and cauliflower/​broccoli. Then when you’ve finished piling it mountain high, you can add as many olives, nuts, gherkins, jalapenos and cottage cheese to your salad as you wish. So amazing!
They also make hot drinks, smoothies and juices. I have ordered a Mocha twice and both times, it was delicious and extra extra hot (just how I like it!).
I recommend this café to all. I’m not a complete vegetarian but I do enjoy vegetarian food a lot. The food is great, the service is quick and friendly and the portion sizes are perfect.
Absolutely delicious every time!

This is my kind of place! Great self-​service salad bar, hearty cabinet food, soups, juices, smoothies, desserts and they are all healthy (and vegetarian)!! I cannot comment on the coffee but I think it is the perfect place to come for a quick lunch that doesn’t hurt the waistline or the bank. The staff are so friendly and helpful too which gives this place a two thumbs up from me.

Popped by for a late lunch midweek and ordered the soup of the day: pumpkin curry. A little bland, but pleasant enough. Holy hot scalding throat was it well heated! Not recommended if you are in any kind of hurry. Still, I guess it’s better than lukewarm, right?
Atmosphere is pleasant enough, though could feel a bit jam packed at peak times.

For some people the mention of vegetarian food conjures up thoughts of tasteless rabbit fodder. Think again peeps — come in and leave your inner carnivore at the door. Raw Power has a good selection of tasty food and in spite of the name much of the food here is actually cooked. (I think perhaps the name of this place is possibly a nod to the Iggy Pop song). There’s a blackboard menu and they do nice juices/​smoothies too. There’s a self-​serve salad bar from which you can choose a selection of delicious, freshly-​made combinations of salads.
Raw Power has been in Vulcan Lane for yonks, it must be nearing 20 years, and the décor has not changed at all in that time. It is not hip and trendy: actually more hippy than trendy, with polished wooden floors and wooden tables, which give the place a sort of rustic down-​to-​earthiness. There is a good amount of seating and it turns over reasonably fast. I agree with someone else who said the coffee is not good, but it’s not far from High Street where you can get a decent cup of Joe to keep you wired.
Prices are reasonable for the inner city and the location is a great central place to veg out!

«raw» is a bit misleading (ie not EVERYTHING falls into the raw category) but it’s still a nice little find when you’re looking for a healthy lunch option in CBD.
they have a well-​stacked self-​serve salad bar, a range of veggie sandwiches, vegan desserts, freshly squeezed juices and some interesting smoothie options (i’m thinking about the «yolky» ones… thanks but no thanks).
they also always have two «special» juices of the day which are $ 6 for the medium size. not too shabby. i’ll be back.

I’m a carnivore at heart so I really have no place in Raw Power Café, what with it’s entirely vegetarian menu and all. But with the missus on a bit of a health buzz at the moment I’ve had to play along sometimes, so off to Raw Power for brunch one day we went! And surprisingly I didn’t mind all that much — I got myself a falafel wrap thing which I quite enjoyed, but I did find the salad a bit average — like I could grab a bag of mesculin salad at Countdown and it’d be as good. So a little pricey for what it is, but it is on Vulcan Lane after all. For a meat-​free meal it was good, and the view over Vulcan and its cool urban vibe were enough to keep me happy.

The coffee at Raw Power is kind of terrible, but that’s its only downfall really. The juices are great, the salads are too. Everything is healthy (or at least feels really healthy) so you’re basically losing weight and doing good to your insides if you dine there. It’s vegetarian and has vegan options too. One time, Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow were spotted there so it has some sort of street cred. The service is standard, as is the interior. I don’t feel like they go above and beyond to help you but they’re nice enough. I’m a full carnivore so I find it any kind of vegetarian or vegan menus kind of difficult, but I tried some of Maddy’s salad when I was getting a juice one time and it was pretty yum for a non-​meat dish.

Raw Power is a curate’s egg, and actually much of the bad part of this place is tied up with their use of eggs: they use battery farm eggs here. Yes, lots of places use battery eggs, but it seems so incongruous that a vegetarian restaurant uses these when so many of their customers would actually be bothered by this. I really don’t understand why they just don’t put up their prices a little and buy some proper eggs. It says to me that the owners don’t really care about why people eat vegetarian.
On the good side, they do make some of the best salads in town, and I like their airy, light filled space up above Vulcan Lane — although it would be more comfortable if they could take away one or two tables.
Also note you’ll be sadly disappointed if you are a raw food person and are expecting this to be a place for you — very little of the menu is raw!