kaiaroha vegan deli and eatery

had bbq jackfruit ribs for lunch, which were amazing - the portion was huge, and i would have needed hollow legs to finish. lovely staff, good range of food. would go back for sure.
i almost missed the shop as its quite tucked away; i would recommend better signage.

very welcoming setup and staff. unfortunately took an hour to get our food order. not sure how it works but we saw a tray of lasagne just out of the oven so were tempted to some fresh lasagne. however we were served it barely warm and super late despite being told it was in the oven and would be ready in 10 minutes. the noodles and fried tofu was nice but again took extremely long to arrive. we were apologised to for the delay but it didnt seem to be a one off. hoping to have a better experience next time

kaiaroha has a great platter menu. there are plenty of options and it's great for sharing. i they have different size options suitable for 2 to 4 people.

the portion sizes are decent, and i'm glad they come with lots of sauce and stuffing for the roast chicken platter.

they also have a great vegan menu and the smoothies are delicious.

really yummy, everything they prepare. the neatballs, the curry, everything. the problem is the service. even though they are friendly, every time i go it takes ages for my food to arrive.
even though is reheating something from the cabinet... if you are in a hurry, avoid.
otherwise... congrats for the cruelty free kitchen, is delicious!

so good to see vegan cafes popping up, and we really wanted to love this place... it's possible that we made poor choices, but we were pretty disappointed with what we ordered: the chickpea and polenta bake, sausage roll, tomato soup with spicy sausage, and green juice. the polenta base of the bake had an unappetizing texture and the dish as a whole lacked flavour. the green juice had such a strong ginger taste that we couldn't get through more than half of it. the soup was ok, but the sausage lacked flavour and had a weird, spongy texture. the sausage roll was the only thing i iiked, but it wasn't worth the price... nothing, come to think of it, was worth the price. although this place specialises in meat/dairy substitutes, i think they might be better off just making simple, honest vege food well. we didn't like leaving feeling like we could've made better vegan food at home for half the price :(

that roast? it is extraordinary. tender and juicy and dense and suuuuper filling but not stodgy. it's got all the flavours you want in a roast without any cost at all to the environment or my conscience.
high in protein, made me feel great, and kept me full for ages.
perfect food.

amazing for a vegan cafe. the food selection is really nice. drinks are quite pricey though. same with cabinet good. it is really tasty, but the portions do not quite meet the price, in my opinion. try their jackfruit and lasagna. my favorites.

unfortunately has been a disappointment. i have been longing to visit kaiaroha for a very very long time. i used to buy their cheese and goodies at the parnell markets. sadly it took me so long to visit their cafe and what a let down it was, may be my expectations were too high.

the service was very poor. the lady at the counter and the customer before me were just chatting away non stop with no consideration for the people waiting after. my frustrations started to build as i was just about to walk away listening to these two chat away, the lady in the counter considerably asked for another staff to help.

the other staff did not know how much their cabinet food cost. there were no labels on some and she couldn’t try and get the info from the till tablet. i just wasted so much time just standing to be served it wasn’t funny. i got some cabinet food and sweets to go and unfortunately neither of them were tasty. it’s not about the money it just wasn’t a lovely meal. if you look at the range in the cabinet, you can see so so much effort has gone into making them but unfortunately the taste factor just wasn’t there. sadly don’t have a reason to visit again but do feel like i should go and have a done in proper meal to accurately review

for a special occasion i organized a party for my wife, i wanted for her a unique evening with all our closest friends, vegan and non vegan.
alara helped me organizing a terrific party, we had the venue just for us (about 40 people) and the serving was impeccable.
food was great, we opted for finger (licking) food to have the freedom to move around and not confined in tables. alara and i discussed different options, from simple things to more refined bites, to finish with a professional cake with sugar free icing (awesome).
you don't organize things like this often and they must be memorable. this will definitely be.

food should have been good but was served cold, and forgot coffee. worse - waitress asked to borrow my daughter's knife while she was eating to get the sauce out of the jar - when trying to make up for the fact she'd forgotten to put it on the plate originally.

we noted another customer complained as well about a meal left on the counter, and then served to him when it was cold.

so sad to see what should be a good cafe let itself down so badly. sadly we won't be going back.

amazing cozy friendly place
beautiful food
sad it’s now too far for me but still i try to make it at least once a week there

been here now several times. food is always fresh and really tasty. my non-vegan husband swears by their sausage rolls. had the sunday roast for 2 today. this is a halfway pic. portions were ample. couldn't even finish it. the veggies were allowed to have unique flavours and had a good variety. the stuffed "chickun" had a lovely crispy skin and was well complimented by a delicious gravy. great comfort food for this colder day. such a pity i didn't have space to try that delicious-looking cheesecake! well... next time then :) !

came for brunch on a saturday morning. i had the kumara waffles which were a treat to be able to have gluten free waffles and really delicious. my friend had the toasted cheese sandwich and was a little disappointed that the bottom of her sandwich was a little burnt. the food also took a while to come out considering the cafe wasn’t busy but overall a nice experience.

i love their delicious nut cheeses. i always grab one. they have a great range of vegan items with many that are also gluten free. great vibe and lots of effort goes into each meal.

absolutely terrible service- tables were all covered in used plates and dirty napkins, the staff made no attempt to tidy them, even after they served us they didnt take away the previous customers dirty dishes (it wasnt just our table too all the others were a mess). the food in the cabinet was not labelled and the lady serving us had no idea what it was. they didnt have any change in their till for cash. after i ordered my coldbrew and had been waiting for it for around 15mins they informed me they had actually run out but politely offered to swap to an iced latte which was nice but tasted very average- like a weak shot poured in a large glass of very sweet coconut milk. our food which was a pie and a quiche(from the cabinet) took a solid 35 mins to arrive- and when it did it was cold. it tasted ok, would have been better if we werent eating a cold pie tho . would have asked them to heat it up more but didnt want to wait for another half hour. overall the place was in absolute shambles- it looked as if the staff had no clear direction whatsoever. would not reccomend and will not be returning unless their is a clear change in organiseation as although the food was not bad the service was unacceptably horrendus.