Stafford Road Wine Bar

Love a good neighbourhood wine bar. This is the kind of place where if you manage to find a table, you hang into it! Can be quite crowded and noisy, but on this occasion it wasn’t too bad. There’s an enticing menu of small and large share plates. The steamed bbq pork buns are top notch, meatballs are good too. The surprise was how well thought out and presented the desserts are (check out the photo), from my zesty lemon option to the chocolate one that was paired with a cigar icecream! Well worth a visit, only a short drive over the bridge from the city.

You can’t beat a little tucked away neighbourhood wine bar especially if they have good food. Lots of locals and little chance of tourists. There’s a boutique cinema — Bridgeway and the Engine room just down the road. I know someone who frequents this local as its just doors from her house.
The wine menu is extensive and includes Chianti’s, Rioja’s and Montepulciano. The waitstaff know the drinks list well enough to make recommendations. They’ve also made the Top 10 bars in Auckland.
Ed Verner (ex-Meredith’s and Sidart) has a great tapas type menu. The meatballs were average but the foie gras was delish and the Confit potatoes scrummy. Apparently the Chili beef buns were great too. Desserts were interesting — one being the Chocolate Moelleux with cigar ice cream.
I’d come here any night of the week, and in Winter there is a fire with some chairs you expect in some old hip library nook. Small and excellent, I wish there was a Stafford Rd wine bar in my Suburb.

Took the whole family for an early afternoon weekend snack and ended up staying several hours. Food was great and the staff were wonderful even with our 6 and 7 year old kids. The beef short rib sliders were amazing as was everything else we tried on the menu.

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw Stafford Rd wine bar full at 6.30pm. This place must be a favourite place for locals. Fortunately I was able to find a seat at the little corner which was the last table. I tried waving at a waitress to order a glass of wine and when she didn’t see me, a waiter on the bar kindly came out and served me which was very nice.
I was too hungry to wait for my late companion, so I ordered the beer-​battered fish buns ($ 12) first. It wasn’t exactly what I had imagined as I have such high expectations for Stafford Rd Wine Bar — the food was always fabulous and out of square accompanied by flawless service. However this bun was more like a pub dish. Bun was cold and everything was just average. With a little disappointment, we ordered more hoping for something delicious. Organic pork belly ($ 23) was so tiny that we couldn’t really share it between three of us. Quail egg and black pudding didn’t have much spark to it either. Steamed pork buns ($ 14) were slightly better but it almost tasted like a Peking duck.
We didn’t give up and moved on to the dessert. Chocolate Moelleax ($ 14), like a chocolate fondant was quite simple with the fondant and raspberry sorbet displayed on top of cookie crumble crackles and freeze dried raspberry pieces. I have been praising this place to my friends and I was a bit shamed, especially when my previous experiences at Stafford were spectacular. We had to ask twice to be filled with water and it was hard to get attention from the waitress — what I wasn’t expecting from a good start.

Hands down one of my favorite places. Outstanding wine, cocktails and beer. Incredibly friendly and knowledgable staff, and the food keeps getting better and better. The ambiance is perfect: never too loud and prompt service. My husband and I were regulars and came in for their house Pinot Gris: one of the best deals in town at $ 35 a bottle. My husband is gluten free and the staff would go to the adjacent beer and wine store (owned by the same guy) to get a six pack of his fav GF beer. We recently moved from NZ and this place is one of the things we will miss dearly!

There has been a lot of good feedback on this wine bar so we thought we would give it a whirl on Saturday. It was pretty busy with groups coming and going, and perhaps that accounted for our experience.
Given it is a wine bar — ordering a cocktail first up probably wasn’t smart and may have been the reason we waited almost 25 minutes for it. The wait staff asked/​commented three times that we didn’t have our drink and she would check what was happening. Given it was a champagne cocktail and a negroni, it wasn’t that complicated. For the next round we chose wine. I was surprised at the narrow choice of Chardonnays but the one we chose was good enough.
Perhaps the food would redeem the experience, and some of the dishes were good but others were average. The oysters, grilled with a Maori potato chip was excellent and we should have had more, the bread was good but the boneless chicken wings were a bit dry and the deer dumpling with broth was promising but seemed a little undercooked.
I should have read the Unilocal reviews more carefully and had the pâté which has had good reviews.
Overall the service while friendly enough was not great.
But, I haven’t written the place off and will give it a second chance with another visit — perhaps on a Wednesday to take advantage of the $ 70 Bollinger. Will definitely dress down next time as well as it is a very casual.

It had been a good couple of years since I last visited Stafford Road but I remembered it fondly as a charming, neighbourhood bar with a laid-​back atmosphere. Well, I am pleased to report that not much has changed!
Dad and I stopped in here on Sunday for a tipple or two just as they were opening. We had first pick of the pews but it wasn’t long until locals — kids and dogs in tow — filled the empty seats.
We ordered a couple of glasses of wine — Tempranillo for me, Chardonnay for dad. I must admit, the wine list was shorter than I expected with only merlot/​cabernet by the glass and not that many extra ‘by the bottle’ options.
We also couldn’t resist ordering the chicken liver pâté, which was smooth and creamy — albeit a bit cold (although this is likely to be due to the fact that we arrived just as they were opening — 3pm on the dot). It came with two big pieces of crusty sourdough on a wooden board, which i’m not sure if they bake onsite or buy elsewhere but it was devine. I only wish they served it with a bit of chutney!
We very much enjoyed our trip to Stafford Road and are looking forward to going back for dinner. Word on the street is their new (ish) chef is creating food that’s worth making the trek across the bridge for!
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Great service, great food and great drink selection. This is our local and we’re proud of it.

Wednesday night is Bolly nite and that’s a date for sure! That means half price Bollinger for non-​bubbly drinkers not Indian themed. My kind of local grown up wine bar with tasty tapa or just fries if you prefer. Pre-​cinema, post work or Sunday afternoon chill out, an easy atmosphere hang out. For loyal customers you also receive a voucher each time you spend over $ 50, although sometimes you have to ask for it. My only grumble is once I redeemed a voucher which was declined as it was 2 days expired and as a regular I find that a bit petty and disappointing.

When this wine bar popped up a few years back in the middle of suburban Northcote Point, I wondered if it would work.
Now, several years on the place is always busy around the after-​work drinks time of the day, and on a Thursday and Friday night it seems pretty much as though the place stays quite busy.
This is the kind of spot that attracts a pretty loyal crowd of locals and for that to happen things have to be right.
As well as a large wine selection, and a reasonable beer selection too, the delicious Tapas will keep your after-​work unwind more interesting.
Although seasonal and regularly changing I have tried delicious small servings of meatballs, lamb, organic almonds, shoestring fries with aioli, roasted garlic mushrooms and breads and dips.
I am a big fan of Tapas, and the selection here did not disappoint. However I have to say that these little meals are not cheap and that the servings are small.
Service is pretty good, all and all it is smart place to go.
A great place to meet up after work for a drink on the way home if you are heading to the shore.

This is hands-​down my favourite bar on the North Shore. It might seem a little out of the way but its completely well-​worth it, you won’t want to leave! Open seven days from the afternoon its a sun-​trap year round, though you’ll have to get in early to grab one of the outdoor seats, even in winter. Once through the wrought-​iron doors it has a comfortable feel with a big fireplace and loungeseats or you can sit at the bar. The mostly tapas menu changes occasionally but is consistently amazing, my favourite is the seared tuna. The wine list is incredible, unsurprising as they are directly adjoined to Point Wines, a specialty Wine store. They even have a special Bollinger night and organise monthly winemakers dinner’s throughout winter. Doesn’t get better than this.