De Fontein

Seriously bad service…
I was starring at the menu for more than 25 minutes and no one even asked if I have been helped yet! it was a really the worst experience.

Food and service always seems to be consistent! Visited several times and you can’t beat the view

Aughhh I should of referred to the reviews below before booking De Fontein for a girls lunch. I completely agree this is not the DeFontein I remember from a few years ago.
I ordered a ½ pot of mussels and while the sauce was delish the mussels themselves needed a bit of work. This is the dish the bar is known for and it was disappointing to be served mussels that had not been cleaned properly. The service: OK but after some confusion the waitress had to go and ask a few simple questions of the Chef (you would think you would already know)
being an overcaste/​drizzly day the outside seating was a bit of a miss and being seated inside the atmos seams really dark with heavy wood everywhere.
If its not a super sunny day, give this place a miss.

Service is poor. Slow. Over an hour wait for food. Seafood chowder came out cold. Ice in water was dirty with yellow stains. Bacon and kumara soup was cold. All meats were warm. Beer was warm. Fries were oily and half raw. Most of the staff are new.
Got the manager here, who explained that it was under new ownership. Offered discount but really, that’s not good enough. We came here for lunch and now we’re leaving hungry.
This used to be a landmark location and was one of the best places in Auckland for food. Now it’s rubbish.

Why even bother offering food? We sat down and 25 mins later were offered water, despite the place being heavily staffed. When we finally got served, we ordered two beers, some chips and an antipasto platter. Two under filled beers arrived and so did the chips. When it became clear that the antipasto platter was not coming we ordered it again. We were told they didn’t sell that so we had to point it out on the menu to her. Bizarrely, the waitress bought us one plate and it became clear again that despite us pointing it out, it had still not been ordered. We approached the maitre d and ordered it a third time, at which stage she loudly told her other staff to watch out as we had not paid for our beer and chips (we are three mothers with kids and a pram, a quick getaway without paying was unlikely). The platter finally did arrive and it smelt rotten, like really old feta. Which was amazing as the cheese itself was so old and hard that I could not even pierce it with a fork. Both the smoked cheese and the Brie cheese had clearly been sitting around for days. All this pleasure cost us over $ 80.

Never too impressed with the food here. I like it as a pub and from now on will do just that. Mussels were tasteless and we were in a group (about 6 of us). Was pretty terrible across the board. Service is very slow. If you were to come though they have a great selection of Belgium beer; Kriek ect. They don’t serve it in the traditional glasses but you get to try it nonetheless!

This is the second time I’ve been to Eastern Bay and boy the view on the balcony was beautiful on a fine Sunday afternoon. My cousins who live locally took me and my fiancé here for some great view, drinks, and seafood.
Their menu for beers is quite a selection. My girl cousin and I had the strawberry flavored beer on tap and my fiancé and guy cousin had the bottled ale. It’s labeled on the menu «the most recommended beer». Unfortunately for beer lovers like them they were disappointed. They’ve had better. Maybe they should relabel their menu for that beer. At least the strawberry beer was easy to drink. Consider it deadly if you drink a lot of it like water. Ha!
The seafood selection was quite limited. Consider this restaurant known for mussels and oysters. I know for sure it’s known for mussels since they have a variety of flavors either steamed or grilled. We got the steamed mussels with the white wine garlic flavored to share for 4 people. As for my entrée, my guy cousin and I got the fish and chips, my grill cousin ordered the calamari, and my fiancé ordered the feta cheese lamb salad. The fish and chips was so delicious. It wasn’t greasy at all. I tasted the calamari and the lamb feta salad and both were quite fresh.
I gave this place a 4 star instead of 5 because I wish they had more of a selection for seafood and it seems the only seatings everyone goes to is the second floor. The first floor was limited seatings close the bar. The narrow stairs was the only way up and unfortunately I had a cast but luckily my fiancé carried me up. I wish they had accessibility for disability!

the view is nice and the food is great, but the pricing for drinks was just a bit expensive for the taste.
when you come to the restaurant, make sure you ask the waitress for a seat on the balcony. the view is amazing and worth the wait. you have the bright glowing sun in your eyes with a bit of shade to block it from scorching your eyes. the environment to enjoy the company you are with or people watch when your tired of starring into your that persons sunglasses that has a reflection of yourself, so technically you are starring at yourself.
the group started with steamed mussels. the recommended choice of the locals who has been to this place before. however, it’s different from memory, but was still worth the reason for the visit. there are a few sauces to choose from, but we recommend that lovely white wine sauce. all we heard was white wine and we were in. it’s delicious and not overwhelming for the course to come, the entrée.
since I was a bit overwhelmed and haven’t seen green in my last few meals that I had, I choose a light and filling salad. the salad is light, but damn for sure delicious. it’s a perfect balance and proportion of meat to cheese to salad to dressing.
the only downfall that I didn’t like too much about this place was the price for a 330ml bottle. the beer list says it’s highly recommended, but for a $ 15 bottle, I expected more.
for a light let down, I still say it was a good day after an expected rainy day.

De Fontein! De Fonshame!
This Belgian beer chain used to be so good and once one of the best places to have a beer and frites and their famous mussels. Now, it’s just a poorly run tourist trap that sets an awful expectation of casual dining standards in Auckland.
We had met here with an overseas visitor and unfortunately the view was not enough to distract him or come close to an apology for such an atrocious experience.
Drink orders took at least 15 minutes to arrive and even then it took several requests from the aloof staff. The bar tenders seemed to challenge the notion that there could be an art to pouring beer and seemed determined to ruin any part of the overall tasting experience. The glass was certainly half-​empty — of beer… And half-​full — of head. A few rounds of drinks were certainly among the poorest poured Stella Artois since 1366. To think that a former barman of De Fontein was once the winner of the New Zealand Stella Artois Draught Master’s competition seems bogus.
I’ve had more attentive table service at self-​service food court. It took over an hour to have one of several heaters turned on and in the space of ordering some chips and them not arriving another hour later we had decided to just give up. Despite this, the same orders orders (maybe also our chips?) sat still and unattended in the dumbwaiter between the time of two bathroom visits.
This kind of cruddy service can only be the result of incapable management and systemic operational issues. I felt sorry for the floundering staff who could distinctly sense the unanimous customer dissatisfaction.

View is great. Service is so average. Waited 15 minutes after ordering drinks just for the waitress to come back and ask what my order was. Waited for food for nearly 40 minutes and only ordered fries. Could be so much better considering the view. Staff are very unorganised, management need to implement a better system.

Went for a lunch and it turns into a long long wait. food was awesome however it’s busy and I don’t think staff can keep up with a good service. Even a glass of beer arrived when we finished our meal. Overall I would give 4 out of 10

Do come on a bright sunny day, then climb up to the first floor, go directly to the outdoor sitting area, facing Rangitoto. Yes, That’s what I will do.
Everyone must come here for the steam mussel. Then try the basic sauce with white wine– mostly Sauvignon Blanc, parsley and onion. Best quality seafood will stand out by itself, no need condiments to make it up.
The second favorite should be the sweet and sour pork rib. Please share it with close friends. It is so much fun. Better not for your first date.
Then the menu comes to your choice. Seafood platter is always right, with Hoegaarden is a beautiful plus. You wouldn’t stop picking up those cutie bites.
For dessert, try waffles with ice cream and chocolate sauce. If you don’t expect too much, then it is easier satisfied. Well, I have to say, the waffles is not as good as the one I had in Seoul or even in the Hollys Coffee. But in such a beautiful day soaking in the sun, better just enjoy everything at hand.
This is life. So just take it.

Soz De Fontein — but I really think you’ve got the potential for better!
We walked in and went right upstairs — great beer hall atmosphere up there. We were seated by a window (it was autumn so we didn’t sit outside), and immediately attended to. Like, way too fast. We don’t know what we want yet — we literally just sat down and your beer menu is the size of a textbook. After multiple waitstaff coming over within the first 3 minutes, we were finally ready to order. I asked the fifth waitress to talk to us what beers she’d recommend, and she had literally no clue. She started reading the descriptions off the menu to me, and only recommended fruity beers (listen, I’m a lady, but I like beer that tastes like beer, ma’am). I think this chaotic wait staff situation must reflect on management, so please, get a plan for how you’ll manage tables efficiently! We were put out of sorts by how many people came over in literally the first 3 minutes. Your hearts are in the right place, I get it.
When we placed our order, we both had just opted for the steak & frites special because we were too frazzled to make more decisions after the beer –menu-​and-​ordering debacle. The very sweet waiter was also very confusing, and kept asking which type of steak. It’s steak special night, 9 out of 10 people want the steak that’s on special. Kudos for clarification rather than assumption, but all he did was confuse us further and we were left unsure if we had actually ordered the special or something fancier (read: pricier).
The portion of steak & frites was HUGE. Comically large steaks you guys. For the hungry among us, this is great news. And on steak special night (Wednesday), it’s only $ 17.5 for the lot. I wish I would have ordered a different dish, but that’s my own fault.
The beers were delicious. My bf was upset because his came in this incredibly ostentatious siphon beaker thing, and he’s a pretty no-​frills guy. I had a Duvel, it was fantastic. Belgians know beer of course, so you likely won’t go wrong here.
The long & short — go for the beach view and the beer. I may try De Fontein again for their mussels special (Mondays) and another beer or two from their vast beer list.

I gave one star because No stars wasn’t an option on Unilocal.
Why does it take 15 minutes for someone to take your drinks order when it is not at all busy?
I wanted a simple steak and fries but I guess the most simple meals really are the test of a ‘restaurant’, if you can’t get that right then something really is wrong.
If you’d like an evening of bad food and even worse service then make sure to come here.

Since this place is in my neighborhood I had made a mental note to go there on a nice night not in the peak of summer. So when a GrabOne popped up, I just couldn’t pass. We went there this past Friday for a relaxed date nights. The place is at a great location, and the décor is very nice just what I would expect from a beer house. We ordered a pitcher of beer and then the lemon and pepper calamari for starters, an open chicken sandwich and the Belgian sausages with gravy. A nice mixture of things, but all pretty simple dishes. To start with the calamari: it was soggy, with a horrible over salted batter. I removed the batter just to make it somewhat palatable. Next came my open chicken sandwich and as described on the menu, it was suppose to have an aioli and avocado sauce on a ciabatta bread. So out comes this monster of a hard fried shell, covered in some type of a white sauce, laying on top of by now soggy greens. No avocado in sight. The very nice waitress tried to convince me that the avocado was in the bleach white sauce which by the way tasted appalling. She was also very apologetic but sadly she could not save the sinking ship that was our meal. The supposed Belgian sausages were just boiled hot dogs on top of a gravy that came out of a can.
All in all, a horrible place to come and have food other than a beer and maybe the frites. I know that this place is a tourist trap, and pulls a lot of the beach crowed, but even then I would have expected at lease a 3 star meal.

While they have a great range of beers, the food is below average. I did have excellent mussles here a few times, but most times we left disappointed because of the food. Worth coming if you are really i to Belgian beers

The place is first stunning. If you seat outside you have the view on the sea and with sunshine it’s just paradise. Food is a bit slow due to the number of people in the restaurant but the mussels are really tasty and we’ll presented. Desserts as well delicious and the Belgium waffles a must eat. Just wished that the beers were cheaper. Under they are imported but still 35 dollars for certains beers arggg. Otherwise good time

I came there because it’s upper moon pick. A great place with a nice viewed balcony upstairs and the beer list is great. If u r fresh to NZ, it’s fine, because the staffs will kindly explain these beers for ya. It’s easy for u to pick up u favorite.
I had special mussel and NZ beer. Staffs are very helpful. Find out that mussels are special on Monday by ordering cold drinks. That’s really cool, I think I m gonna came here with my pals next time. Just cheers!

Came here for lunch with friends during the summer. Was a lovely day– we were able to move from an inside table to an outdoor, on their deck and got some rays. Particularly cool for our friend who came over from England!
Ordered the half kilo steamed mussels with spiced ginger and lime sauce with golden frites and homemade mayo. The mussels were well cooked and the sauce was delicious. The frites were also a lovely side and mayo– a bit different since they make it there. A definite good lunch choice.
Neat place– with nice interiors and interesting food I need to sample later!
Being a Belgian beer café, will definitely need to go back to also try their beer!

I’m quite like here, mussels desert atmosphere. thats good. Absolutely there cherry beer and peach bear!