leuven belgian beer cafe

nice place for lunch. great service. waitress v tolerant of us taking time with our orders. they are very well set up for quick business lunches.  herring salad was lovely. lots of choice for lunch so that anyone could find something nice to eat. no pressure to get out. would go back any time.

always great food at leuven so thought it was time i did a review. this is a favourite place for my mussel loving partner and he always has the grilled mussels with wilted spinach, bacon & cheese and rates this highly. big portion as well!

i don't like mussels myself, but there is always something else good to choose from. the meat loaf is always great. this time i had the pork belly salad which was devine.

as some reviewers have said - and i agree - the service is a bit rushed, but to be fair, it was lunch time so they probably working on the assumption most people have less than an hour to eat and get back to work. sure can't fault the food.

we went here for my dad's birthday not long ago. it was quite noisy, but i suppose this is expected for a restaurant/pub. the service was ok, the staff were nice but kept forgetting we had asked for water and bought my mother the wrong glass of wine. we then had to request the one she asked for originally again, they did not bring it out to us themselves. the fourth waiter we asked for water finally brought us some. i had the mussels and chips which i enjoyed, but could not finish. the portion was huge. the lamb salad that my mother ordered was sub-par, basically just a mountain of mesclun lettuce leaves, and the fish cakes that my father ordered were very bland.

moules, frites et bière - the classic belgian combination. and this is indeed the classic belgian beer bar, no monks lurching around in roman sandals after imbibing a little too much of their own home brew, but otherwise the complete package. i ordered the moules au safran, a generous serving of green lipped mussels served with a cone of chips and perfectly washed down with a bottle of duvel. if only every weekday lunch could be so civil... my colleagues all seemed to be enjoying their food as well, and weren't even able to finish everything which was frankly amazing as we have some decent appetites in the team. it is quite noisy which is pretty much the norm for these bars - all that authentic looking wood also makes one heck of a good amplifier - so don't come here looking to whisper sweet nothings into your beloved's ear, you'd need to bring an ear horn with you which might spoil the romance a little :o

i had been really looking forward to dining at leuven. i had had a look at the menu online, and thought it sounded amazing. i wasn't sure what i would pick! it was not very busy when we arrived and we were absolutely pounced on by the wait staff. there is an extensive drinks menu and we wanted to have a good look before we ordered, but i felt like we were rushed. we were seated close to the bar and our waitress stood at the bar the whole time we were there. i guess this is so they can see who needs anything, but we just felt like we were being watched. it was not comfortable and although we did enjoy our meals, we decided to move on to somewhere a little less intense. the food is good, and i can't really fault the service, but it would have been nice if we could have just had a little space on our date!

we had dinner there recently
the food was excellent
service a bit of a mixture
but well worth a visit

ah leuven's. you used to be spectacularly good at breakfast! many mornings were had and enjoyed, but this time not so much. our meals took 25 minutes to arrive, but only after the 20 minute wait to have our orders taken. i had to walk up to the counter to place our orders. the fruit waffles arrived and were a little discolored than usual, but being as late as it was it went down hesitantly but was alright.

we have always looked forward to a morning starting at leuven's having planned for a few days to bring a new friend to try, and since the previous times we've been were fantastic, nothing gets past the exquisite hot chocolate on a winters morning so there should be nothing to lose. except the service, got to work on that my friends.

great food! service could be better

the leuven is one of my favourite places to eat. i've not had any problems with the service and yes, i think the chips are just about the best in wellington. the food is served quickly, and vegetables accompany some of the dishes, as well as being a side. as a gluten free eater, i've eaten there without any difficulties - the lamb rump is a good choice and the fish while pan fried, is not floured. it's often difficult to get a seat around the end of the work day, so if you're wanting to eat there, you might need to book.

wish i read the reviews before i came here! food (mussels and chips) was good as was the beer, service from entering to leaving was terrible. everyone was rude as if they couldn't be bothered and wanted to be anywhere but there. this is obviously not a new or one off issue and clearly trickles down from management, so i will never come back and tell everyone to avoid like the plague.

i was scheduled to meet one of the most affluent person in wellington, at leuven, the treatment i received when i entered leuven wasn't friendly.

i told the waiter/waitress that i am supposed to meet someone and once that person arrives, i will place the orders.

in spite of telling that i was presented with the menu.

customer service zero, hospitality doesn't work that way, i myself have worked for 5 star properties here in nz as well as overseas at management level. every customer should be treated like how you would treat yourself .. because of the customers our daily livelihoods are met.

wouldn't expect service like that, absolutely disappointed.

i ordered dessert it was all right.

don't know if i will go next time.

the difference between a good restaurant/eatery and bad is not only about the food, but service and treatment of its customers. the food is mediocre at best but when something goes wrong (which is what happened) and a complaint made, it should have been put through a complaints process and with a genuine intent to resolve it. the owners instead, responded with absolute denial, a bully boy attitude and sought personal revenge. how appropriate is that? i for one, have never returned and never intend to.

it had been a long time since i last dined at leuven and i see reviews have been up and down for quite a while. we were in the area before a show last night and looking for a quick meal so decided to give it a try. although the bar wasn't particularly busy (early evening), we informed our waitress of our time frame and were still impressed with how quickly our meals arrived. we each ordered a 'light' meal, which had more than adequate main sized portions. (the prices were very different to their online menu, though, so beware.) i had a lovely warm salad of sweet lamb fillets and my partner had the chicken and duck pie, served european style in a ceramic dish with a crust 'lid'. very nice! our service was really good; our waitress was smiling and friendly and even brought our bill to the table at the end - something we have not encountered for a long time.

my friend and i came here for breakfast this morning. we were both feeling quite hungry and had trouble deciding on the menu. my friend is gluten and dairy intolerant and was able to find a number of items on the menu she could have - she was impressed. she decided on the potato hash with ham and eggs. it looked delicious and she said it was lovely. she also enjoyed a lemon and ginger drink - unfortunately leuven appear to be one of the few wellington cafes that don't have soy milk as an option. that was the only let down.
i had the poached eggs on herb toast the baked tomato and hollandaise, with a side of bacon. the bread was delicious, the poached eggs were perfect and there wasn't too much hollandaise. the wait staff even asked me how crispy i liked my bacon - good one. my mocha came with a block of dark chocolate on a stick which i stirred into the hot drink - bit of a novelty.
i will be back here, lots of variety on the menu and their weekday breakfast options are excellent value for money as well.

great priced breakfast and lunches. with extra large beer glasses for lunch! plus a great selection of beers