esplanade restaurant

esplanade has a cosy feel and is perfectly located looking out onto st clair beach. i go here at least once a week for either a “pics & whitaker’s shake” or for one of their delicious pizzas/pastas. it is on the pricier side of italian cuisine... but it’s always nice to treat yourself while looking into the rolling waves!! the food tastesauthenticand the service is on point. the owner is one of the loveliest restaurant owners i have encountered and makes us all want to keep coming back to support this truly wonderful place. will be coming back on the regular... as usual - @gastrogeeny

i took my fiancée and her daughter and daughters partner here for my fiancée's birthday.
when we walked in we were quite excited as the place was nice and inviting with great views of the beach.
we ordered drinks from our italian waitress and i was looking forward to someauthenticitalian cuisine.
well, what a disappointment.
we got two garlic breads, two pizzas and two bowls of fries to share between all four of us.
the garlic breads, i thought were ok but no one else did. actually, i have to rephrase l that. i thought the bits of the garlic bread that wasn't burnt was ok.
the pizzas were a whole different kettle of fish.
they were undercooked, under - topped, over seasoned and the sparse toppings withe cheese that was on them would fall off at the slightest movement of the slice of pizza.
still, although disappointing, they probably taste good right?
they were disgusting.
the fries and the soda were the only palatable part of the whole meal.
now...here's the kicker! the price for this not overly large, totally disgusting meal?
$104.00!!!

but wait!...there's more! after this meal, i felt violently ill with terrible stomach cramps and diarrhoea! my partner was feeling similar by the next morning.

we, nor our family, nor our friends nor (hopefully) anyone that reads this review - will return here again while the current management and cooking team are there.

cannot fault the service, location or ambience in this place, but....

in the early days after re-opening the food was reliably excellent, simple, tasty,authenticitalian.

i'm so sad that in the last 12 months the food has become reliably terrible. and i'm not saying this because i don't 'appreciateauthenticitalian food'. it has ranged from soggy to burnt and bland to over salted on different occasions. if the old chefs are still there they must have singed their tastebuds.

still hoping for a return to its former glory!

i've always been very pleased dining here - i've been here many times. the atmosphere is fantastic. pleasant, warm decor. their service is spot on, very friendly, timely and attentive. their food is great too -authenticitalian. lasagna is my personal favourite. their dessert (particularly the tiramisu) is a must have. coffee is generally pretty good. drink selection and pricing is great. the only criticisms i'd have is that the table spacing is rather close, so if you're trying to have a private conversation - you might get a little uncomfortable. they seem to be sticking to a somewhatauthenticitalian style - so pizza may not be everyone's cup of tea. other than that, overall very pleased.

we had an amazing meal wonderful flavours veryauthenticcustomer service was excellent and attention to detail second to none. proud to think we have a restaurant of this calibre in dunedin all i can say to bad feedback is you don't understand good food . highly recommended

the esplanade has a prime location and there was great excitement when it reopened in 2014 with a new owner, design and menu. unfortunately the concept is a bit misplaced. the service is generally quite good - friendly and professional and the restaurant is kept clean and tidy. the food is a challenge to assess in some ways. the pizzas are very nice "but" at well over $20 they are overpriced and not really value for money. it is true that the only other place where you can get an equivalent style ofauthenticitalian pizza is mama mias (which is very good for takeaways) but one has to wonder why they can produce an equally good pizza for about $10 in most of europe (and north america) and it is over double in dunedin. the pastas servings are small and many of the choices are not what most people would expect - that could be a good thing but generally it isn't. it seems as if the esplanade is trying to sell a unique high level form of italian food that most people just don't want - it would be too much to call it pretentious but it just doesn't seem the right fit. beyond this the beer selection is quite limited and overpriced. their featured tap beer is peroni at $11 a pint - outrageous! the only other tap choices are speights or a cider. if you want an emersons be prepared to pay $13 - again outrageous! with such a narrow choice on the menu and overpriced drinks (and no byo) it will be interesting to see how the restaurant goes during the winter months when one off tourists are gone and they are dependent on local business. they have such a great location but with the recent announcement of new establishments being developed at the beach they may find themselves struggling.

i can see what these guys are trying to do here -authenticfood that speaks for itself. ummed and ahhed about reviewing but this has sat with me for a long time. being a keen diner frequenting dunedin's eateries never have i eaten a three course meal that left me feeling hungry and slightly ripped off. the food is obviously made fresh and cooked well with simple flavours but the meals we had were small in portions and more flavourless than small bursts of flavours to tickle the taste buds.
the service was great-attentive but not in your face- knowledgeable staff clearly trained well.

probably wouldn't return which is sad because there ain't many places you can getauthenticitalian style pizza rather than the american all goes on often seen in dunedin.

i'm sure this will offend some, but i feel the need to put some of these other polarised reviews into context.

so the key thing here is that the esplanade is now servingauthenticneapolitan style pizza, the likes of which dunedin has never seen. because of this you'll find all the reviews here are either:
a) 4 or 5 star reviews - by dunedinites who have probably travelled beyond the city limits and have experiencedauthenticpizza elsewhere and are delighted to finally have the good stuff available locally.
b) 1 or 2 star reviews - where the reviewer considers the pizza to be "burnt" and "had hardly any toppings" and will feel ripped off because "they didn't put enough stuff on my pizza" and they'll be basically fuming about it. oh and of course they will claim its overpriced.

so, i'm in camp a) and i'll quickly give this place 4 stars. i have eaten better neapolitan pizza, but not in dunedin. in dunedin this is the only place to get goodauthenticartisanal pizza, made with quality local and imported ingredients. i know my flours (weird i know, but i am a pizza snob) and they are using one of the finest 5 stagioni - it is apparent in the flavour and texture of the final crust. i know they employ an experienced napolian pizzaiolo who takes care with each and every pizza, not a student on minimum wage who doesn't give a damn, also very apparent in the result.

my recommendation depends on what camp you fall into:
a) you know what neapolitan pizza is and you'd like to eat some in dunedin - well this is the only place that serves it. it really is the only good pizza i've had in dunedin, and i've tried them all. i'll be going again for sure.

b) if however you reckon gourmet pizza = good pizza, then you'll be sorely disappointed with the burnt, stingy, overpriced pizza on offer here. avoid this place at all costs and perhaps hit filadelfios for a "kiwi gourmet" pizza instead.

i will be very interested to see whether this place can sustain itself in dunedin, it takes a lot of guts to do somethingauthenticdown here when the majority won't understand or appreciate it. good luck esplanade!

oh, and no comment on the pasta... didn't order it. i'm all about the pizza baby.

i went to the newly revamped esplanade restaurant at st clair on 3rd jan 2013 with my brother and his partner to celebrate my sister in law's birthday. i have been away from dunedin for a few years and upon return, i found out the esplanade has changed management and therefore a new menu. we used to love the chicken livers pasta and the salads and pizza. when we arrived, we were met with excellent service. we ordered a pizza bread with rosemary and garlic, a margherita pizza and a pasta with calamari and asparagus. while waiting for our food to arrive, the manager came and had a chat with us while filling up our water. i was very impressed with the hospitality and when i mentioned the change in menu the manager proudly told us that its now anauthenticitalian restaurant hence he guarantee a good dining experience once we tasted the food.
so we waited in anticipation. when the food came, it did look amazing and very inviting. but the taste was disappointing. the portions were small. the pasta was dry and hard. there were hardly any calamari and a few pieces of shaved asparagus. the margherita pizza did look cheesy enough but there was one and a half piece of basil on it. the crust was slightly hard and dry. the pizza bread was even more disappointing. slightly burned on the underside. i have been to several italian restaurants all over new zealand and i am aware of what to expect of italian cuisine and this despite beingauthenticas claimed by the manager, it was very disappointing.
we did order desserts and we had a chocolate tort and tiramisu. they were slightly more comforting than the mains. but overall, it was not a good dining experience after all the big talk-up from the manager despite having great service.
doubt my brother and his partner who lives in dunedin will be returning to the restaurant anytime soon. and while i reside in wellington, i possibly wont make any special mention to anyone i know who might be visiting dunedin.

i have nearly 20 years hospitality experience & was sceptical about the new esplanade. (the old one was diabolical)

i have been pleasantly surprised by theauthenticmenu, the simple but elegant wine list & a group of staff that are genuinely welcoming.

the food is veryauthenticitalian style, the "simple pizzas" that it seems some people don't like are perfect examples of true pizza, if you want domino's then go elsewhere!

the doors only opened like 2 weeks ago, so i expected teething issues as you get anywhere brand new, but to be honest it seems to have been a smoother opening than other places that i have seen over the years.