Beautiful location to watch a jet take off while pulling on a long black or pint. Busy bee hive with a coffee corner and dining room in constant motion. We were there on a gorgeous day with 40km views. On to the food. Your your normal breaky all day menu with Benedict's, bacon, beans and burgers. We had the Montreal with smoked salmon and it was brilliant. Oozing bright yellow yolk shows the chook lived on a farm not a cage. Spouse loved the bread crumbed fish as a nice change from the normal beer batter. So easy food, fun aviation location and a nice break before your flight. read more

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TL;DR The wait times are long but overall it's worth it. This is a reasonably priced cafe, that is not just in the vicinity but also the overall ballpark and feel of the more established Maranui Cafe. This child friendly venue is a common choice for families looking for a brunch location close to the beach. The menu is diverse enough, ranging from egg dishes to burgers and salads. Having beer and cider on tap is very appreciated on a hot summer day. The outdoor seating should be avoided on a windy day, mostly because sand should not be the main ingredient in any dish... The coffee was much better than I expected and came quicker than the beer. The desert selection was quite generous, too, and it helped wrap up a great outing. The only real complaint has nothing to do with the venue itself: it takes a while to be seated because of the popularity of this stylish Wellington Cafe. read more

Spruce Goose - The Smoked Salmon crepe was as tasty as it looks... - Modern European Near Me - Wellington, WGN

Nothing to write home about. Food was a bit bland. Great location on a sunny day. Service was okay but expected slightly more. On a positive note, you never have to wait for a table as crowds are at Maranui. read more

Steep prices, good food (but not great). I arrived on a Sunday afternoon. There was a long line so I sat outside (first come first serve). I ordered a burger, it wasn't really anything special. The view of water is quite nice though. read more

Spruce Goose is the sort of place that will be able to ride far on its menu and location alone. I found the food to be pretty good. The Big Breakfast was a calculated serving size with homemade beans as a nice touch. The toast was served cold on the side and therefor wasn't well integrated. The salads were impressive, which is expected for their $20 price point. The 2 floors of dining are modestly decorated and indistinct. There are windows overlooking the water and outdoor deck seating in warm weather. The service was lean, mildly informed, and not very attentive. Spruce Goose is a good destination largely because of its surroundings. read more

Spruce Goose - Big Breakfast - Modern European Near Me - Wellington, WGN

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I enjoyed a very relaxed dinner here. My companion and I arrived in the late afternoon (5pm) and had a drink before we ordered something to eat. There were a few tables of guests, but it wasn't crazily busy. It was nice to sit, chat and look out over Lyall Bay beach. Service with drinks was relaxed but responsive, so we didn't feel rushed into ordering anything further. After an hour or so, we ordered our food. The two rib eye steaks came quite quickly - served beautifully. They were cooked as we had asked, medium rare, and were good. I was not expecting such nice quality food, so that was a surprise. We left by about 7-15pm very satisfied. I understand the place starts to get busy around that time. Parking is right next door. Overall it's a good place and I would be happy to return. read more

Great location and good food. It was unfortunate that employee who took my order at the bar was horribly rude to me, all because I was unfamiliar with New Zealand's credit card readers and I asked a couple of simple questions. It was to the point that I was being talked down to like I was a child. Spruce Goose was literally the first place I went in NZ, and this was not a very nice introduction. Considering that the Spruce Goose is near the airport, I would suggest being more patient with foreigners. Luckily, NZ is amazing and everyone else I met on my trip was very friendly. read more

This place is in a fabulous locale, right on the water by the Wellington airport. The service is slow and the food is just ok. The veggie burger is tasty and their french fries are yummy but nothing to write home about. My lunch companions got the daily special and they both agreed that it was under seasoned and "meh." Nice flat white though. read more

The location is great, near the beach in Lyall Bay, overlooking the airport runway and easily accessible with strollers. The coffee is great, and the muffins and cakes are excellent too. But I was disappointed in the French toast, which is made of 2 very thick slices of bread and tastes more like toasted bread in syrup than French toast. I will however be back to explore other items on the menu. read more

We've eaten here -- lunch, afternoon tea, and dinner -- maybe half a dozen times. The first few times the experience was good and the menu wide enough to make it interesting. However, the last 2 times were terrible. But we thought -- well, things happen, maybe it will get better in the future. So we thought, okay, let's dash in for a quick meal. I ordered a cabinet sandwich, chips, and the boyfriend ordered mince on toast. Now would you expect that to take 40 minutes before the last dish dropped? YUP, dish by dish came out of the kitchen in 5 minute intervals. And worse, the food only began to arrive after I caught a waiter's eye and stared at the order ticket attached to the bucket of napkins and forks and knives. Luckily, she caught the hint. Clearly there is no expediter in the kitchen. The cabinet sandwich arrived 10 minutes before the chips. really?? As my boyfriend paid for our meal, I spoke with the manager. Everything I said was answered with "I'm sorry you feel that way. Thanks letting me know." Every. Time. He was pleasant and bland. Mediocre food, expensive for the quality, and lousy service. it's a pity, really as the building is quite nicely done and it is wonderful to look at the ocean on wild days. It's sad but I hope to never return. read more

Our first experience visiting this cafe while visiting Wellington A cafe which was recommend to us by a friend Its a very busy place on a cold wet and windy Sunday morning. We were greeted at the entrance by a very pleasant employee who showed us to a table upstairs with views over a stormy Lyall Bay. Very good first impression. Unfortunately this did not last. After being seated by the greeter we waited an unacceptable amount of time for the waitress to firstly acknowledge us and secondly take our food and drink orders. I think if my wife hadn't attracted her attention we may have still been sitting there waiting. Again after placing our drink orders we waited another unacceptable length of time for the drinks to arrive. During this time we had discussed just getting up and leaving as it was plain that the service here was shocking. However we preservered an eventually the drinks did arrive. Well not all of them arrived only the coffees. Seems she forgot about the tea and once again my wife had to enquire as to its whereabouts. Our meals arrived sometime after this only for me to take the first bite and discover the hot meal to be cold. Two others also were served cold meals. Again we had to attract the waitresses attention but on explaining to her that our food was cold her only response was to answer back "No Its Not". Only after insisting that she take it away did she accept it was indeed cold. Replacement meals were served up in due course by an obviously grumpy by this time waitress only for us to find that they were only marginally warmer. However we we accepted them and carried on with the meal. None of us ate much as it just didnt taste that great. Funny that. Was this some form of subtle new age communication technique? All in all a very dissapointing experience from an aptly named cafe as we all know the story of what happened to the Spruce Goose. Would not recommend this place and certsinly wont be back. Only gave them one star because you can't give no stars. Cheers Pete read more

Spruce Goose - Excuse me but this meal is cold. "Not Its Not" "Yes It Is!" "Take It Away". - Modern European Near Me - Wellington, WGN

I think the location makes it overhyped. It is awesome on a good day to look over the water and watch the planes land, but the food has never wowed me. My girlfriends and I ordered a bowl of wedges to share and had to send them back as they were still frozen in the middle. The portions weren't generous for the exorbitant price paid - I've since found out the place is owned by Wellington Airport which explains a lot. I'd stop here for coffee but would hop across to the beach parking lot for dinner at the burger caravan there. read more

I thought the service was excellent. The wait was short both times I've been. The wine list was good. Coffee was excellent (I had a cappuccino), and the food was good. I had the vegetarian breakfast with poached eggs. When the restaurant is busy, they'll have customers sharing tables, so as long as you're okay with that, then definitely try it out. You won't be disappointed with the views! read more

The food is really good but the service is really bad. Our waitress forgot my drink 4 times and I ended up asking a different girl, who also didn't bring it. They are SO busy and you wait SO LONG. Seems like the really need more staff to accommodate how popular they are. We'd go back.... but not if we have any kind of time limit or are starving! read more

Was a regular haunt for us as we're locals, but service and food been going downhill for a while. Appreciate today is a holiday and is busy but from the way we were asked to wait all the way through to paying, we got appalling and rude service. Drinks slammed down, rolling eyes when we asked for water, and at one point lost our order. When we politely complained we just got more attitude. Food is average - great location but in future we'll go to one of the many other great cafes in wellington. read more

Only their second day of business and already getting a bit of word of mouth, the Spruce Goose has the potential to be a favourite... but only going by the as yet untested dinner menu. The snack menu leaves a lot to be desired but that dinner selection looks delectable. I must come back to sample read more

Pretty pricey for what you get. The small serving of fish was overlooked and the lamb shank pretty average. Views are great but won't be hurrying back. read more

Dine here on Sunday evening 5.15pm with our guest. We were seated promptly, orders taken for drinks. They arrived and food orders taken. We asked for the squid enough for all the table, it arrived with a serving for one. When our mains arrived there were three, the fourth meal arrived after asking three times and 20 mins later. When asked how our meals were it was made clear to her that we were not impressed. The service is shocking, the meal portions are small, I piece of fish with paua risotto? They certainly have shrunk. We have dine here often and I the last two times we have notice a definite drop in service. Disappointed. read more

Loose as a goose. Love to munch down an eggs B. in between surfs. Best mid week, check out the other options nearby during the weekend if you don't have time to wait. Unbeatable views to keep an eye on the waves and air traffic. #blessed read more