Verona

Just a bar, nothing special about it. The location is convenient. I don’t think there’s much left to say.

They’ve polenta bites that are outstanding, and a vegan sandwich that’s really tasty and filling. Puddings to die for. Breakfast is good, but the poached eggs are almost always overcooked.
As a bar, not our kinda place. Overpriced and undersized. Definitely have stopped going for anything but food. The staff is mostly quite nice, though some will studiously ignore you awhile on their phones or chatting up friends who come in.
Give it a go for breakfast. The Juliet with grilled haloumi is just great.

Had a yummy brunch here… husband was stoked with the big breakfast, and they were happy to make small changes to a menu item for me. Maybe wouldn’t have the wait staff standing around gossiping about last night’s carryons… yes, we know this is a funky bar at night, and café during the day, but oh well, I’ve heard worse!
PERFECTLY POACHED EGGS. And I’m happy again :)

I get this is one of those ‘cool’ hipster K Road eateries and that I’m supposed to shut up and totally buy into the whole area’s pretentiousness but our maiden experience here was pretty freakin bad. Sorry I’m not sorry. My friend and I have experience in hospitality/​fine dining which means we’re simultaneously empathetic and super critical of wait staff and service at eateries. We wandered in after having a look at the menu which sounded incredible and sat down at a booth.
A waitress came around and asked if we wanted to order any drinks so I ordered a red juice. she comes back around fifteen minutes later and tells me their blender just broke so she can make me a green juice instead. No problem. We decide to order food this time, a three-​bean ratatouille with rosemary polenta chips for me and a Miso Pretty salad with extra tofu for my friend and pudding for dessert. Another ten minutes later and the waitress tells me their smoothie maker thing has also broken so she can’t make a green juice either. Ermmm okay then. Obviously I didn’t bother ordering any other kind of beverage in case their whole kitchen fell apart in the process of making me a drink.
Our meals arrived on silver plate-​bowl things which some may either find QuiRkY/​EthNic/​insert your choice of pseudo-​racist adjective, however they kinda gave us slight prison vibes. As for the food. my three-​bean ratatouille was bland bland bland. My friend was pretty annoyed at her salad. three pieces of tofu, one leaf of kale and a bunch of cabbage for $ 16. The portions are pretty small too, I’ve seen entrées that are bigger. While we waited for our dessert to arrive the waitress comes back and tells us that she set our dessert aside for us only to return and find that another staff member had eaten it. Uhhhm? By that point we just wanted to leave but not before there was another mix-​up with the payment (facepalm).
I really don’t give a crap if you think you’re the cool place to be and have your own little DJ booth and Virginia Woolf quotes on the wall (whoopdy doo) but if you’re that disorganized and your food looks and tastes like it came out of a children’s cookbook then you sure aren’t eating up any more of my money.

I am not a very alternative sort of person. I don’t have a sleeve tattoo or a pierced anything, so K Rd is not my usual place to hang out. I do, however, like Verona. It’s a little bit rough around the edges, although intentionally so I think. The food, coffee and wine list are always superb. If you want to go somewhere central mid-​week and feel like trying a new corner of Auckland, Verona might be worth a shot. The only down side is a lack of parking in the K Rd area, although if you do have a long walk to your car there will be plenty of local colour to entertain you along the way.

Verona has been around many years for me, I remember being a young twenty year old and drinking Sangria and chatting into the night with friends, while cool music by local dj’s kept the restaurant and bar grooving.
Sangria is one of my favorite drinks at Verona and always will be. They get the combinations of wine, fruit and citrus juice just perfect. A cool chilled out Bar/​Café/​Restaurant on Auckland’s most eclectic rd.
Her shimmering silver sign calls out to you as you wander pass, how could anyone with any curiosity not venture within. The Verona has comfy seating indoors with intimate booths, or long tables out the back. Staff working there are cool, and chatty. The Art work is funky and innovative, and all for sale should you be interested.
Verona will always remind me of Dave Gibson of Elemeno P’s song– I’m still waiting to see the girl in the black frock intoxicated by her company.
A great café to grab a coffee street side and people watch any day of the week.

The first date I took my boyfriend on was to Verona, and 7 months later he continues to rave about it. Such a win, the place with its cool vibe really left an impression on him. I told the waiter to choose a few starter types off the menu for us and that was a good move. We had these yummy ‘chinese whispers’ made up of haloumi and kumara and herbs, for the teeny price of $ 4. so good and so cheap. all the ‘smaller dishes’ were amazing and well priced. the food and the atmosphere were fantastic, all that let the place down was the lack of imagination of the bartender. Having said that, a full bar meant i could be the creative one.

There’s something magical about starting a night at Verona — you can take your seat outside as the afternoon turns into evening, then snake to the back of the venue and take up a booth to wile away the hours. One of the most hilarious and magical nights of my life started at Verona — wine glasses were clinked, snacks were eaten (and knocked onto the ground) and the staff there were thankfully oblivious or complacent enough to not care about our ruckus.
While there’s nothing too flash about Verona — the wines are good, the décor is good, the food is good — I keep going back there because it’s such an easy sell.

I remember going to Verona after that Elemeno P song came out and trying to hit on alternative looking girls just so I could sing it to them. Nothing ever came of it, either because I had a mop on my head, or the fact I couldnt afford to buy drinks. Now that im a real grown up, Verona still holds an attraction to me — but it isn’t because I like singing that song. Although I do wonder just how the staff would react to a rendition.
Verona have started having live music nights on Wednesdays, which is a real pleasure as Auckland can sometimes have some pretty dire weekday material. I caught the Acetones, a near-​instrumental band in the vein of the skatalites –and they were a real dance floor action generator. The beers are priced okay — nothing too special, but nothing too out of the ordinary for K Road. It’s a nice place to have a coffee in the day time as well.

Verona has really long trading hours and is in a handy location, so I feel like everyone in Auckland ends up here at some stage, even if just for the convenience.
It’s a great venue with a rustic kind of feel, and it has a decent range of drinks and eats. Yet somehow I always feel like the Verona that’s in my mind, and the Verona of reality, never quite meet up. It’s because after every visit I seem to manage to block out the memory of the truly rustic service.
I’ve always found it hard to get served — think long minutes standing at the bar and trying to catch the eye of staff who seem intent on ignoring you. Then when you finally get served (if you do — I have actually given up on occasion), you’re made to feel like they’re doing you a big favour by taking your money. The lack of service is a shame because Verona has so much potential.