Esplanade Restaurant in Dunedin

Great tasting food and good service.

The only resturant in dunedin which makes the wood style baked pizza. It was great experience and really enjoyed the food. I will definitely recommend to try their fries because it has a very refreshing and different taste as compared to the conventional fries. It is vegetarian friendly place. Love the sea view.Road side parking was available when I visited. This place is located on the ground floor and easy access for whealchair.

been coming here for years. excellent ingredient and excellent quality. last year, we were here there was a whale off shore for a bonus!

Beautiful location and really good customer service! Good pizzas, dessert, coffee ☕ and fries 🍟 with aioli. Thank you, manager Luca. Thank you Annie, Sky and others for giving us a lot of aioli and look after us! You guys are the best 👌

Superb service, delicious food and great location. One of the best restaurants I have been in a long time! Highly recommended. TIP: Get in early as they dont take any bookings

Been coming here for 20 years. Great casual vibe. Good pizza.

One of the best places in town when it comes to views with a coffee or a vino. We go there whenever we want a lift in our moods. Walk on the beach, see happy dogs and then sit inside or outside on a table in this legendary restaurant. Great service and food that is not pretentious but yumm and authentic. Love you team.Quick lunch stop with our friends from Auckland. They loved it, we love it anyway. Arancinis were delicately flavored with saffron and in thick tomato sauce and fresh grated parmesen cheese. Pizza in fresh baked base was delicious as well. Vino and coffee as per their usual high standards. Service was prompt with smiles. An absolute gem in sunny dunners. A wee stroll on the beach was a perfect finish to our afternoon.Love this place, cant say it enough. Had coffees and a pizza to share. Great views of the beach, a humming dining space, chefs serving wood fire pizzas and a fairly switched on team, a recipe for a divine experience. Thanks team.Come with our guests from up North and were they totally blown away or what!Fermented dough pizzas, terrific wine selection and great ambience with stunning views. Everything top notch and tasty. Service impeccable. No wonder why this place rocks. Thank you team. Loved it

The waitress was very lovely. She also complimented me on my jersey :)).Oh and the food was delicious as well!

Pretty disappointed to be honest..paying $27(whole order was $89-takeawayfor a salsiccia pizza which was filled with old mushrooms.It should have a name something along the lines mushroom express,mushroom delight,Mushroom extravaganza-as there was only 1/2 dozen pieces of meat and about 20 chunks of old mushroom that tainted the whole pizza.And the bloody chips were cold by the time I got home,which is only 600m awayI feel there will be a fight next time when me n the Misso will be talking about getting a feed from here again

Just popped in for a quick coffee. Nice service, good coffee. Suits me much better when I go for food and wine.

Simply fantastic. So good we ate here twice consecutively; first for dinner we had the lasagne and a pizza as takeaway.Whilst both were a bit cold unfortunately as the pizza had been sitting awhile waiting for the lasagne to be ready both dishes were superb. Better kitchen communication would have avoided the cold pizza!The ragu in the lasagne was very tender, and overall this was probably the most traditional/authentic Italian we have had in New Zealand. So good we came back the next day for lunch and both had it again, albeit this time we ate in.

Excellent pizza and the butterscotch dessert is stunning. Good and fast service.

Great views of St Clair.Friendly staff.I had French toast and hot chocolate 🍫 😋 👌

A lovely place with excellent Italian food served by friendly staff. I would happily eat here again and again watching the surf come in.

We stopped here several times and the hospitality and food is always top level!We enjoyed our stay and highly recommend to stop over!

Delizioso! One of the best woodfired pizza in NZ. You can see the pizza magician working his magic at the wood fired oven, ever smiling and acknowledging the patrons. Great food, swift service! 👍🏼😘 Grazie!!

Food was OK but service left more to b desired. Took ages to order, food came staggered (somes got mains long before othersand when clearing table they took soem plates and came bak like5 mins larer

Food & Service was great. Favorite spot in Dunedin looking out over the sea. Eggs on toast with Bacon (Bacon was amazingand Avo on toast.

Very extensive menu, decent quality and helpings, nice staff. Gets very busy so be prepared to perhaps wait for a table as they do not take bookings.

Great food and drinks. Excellent service. We were a group of 12 and the last to leave. There was no pressure on us to go. Unlike a similar restaurant in Wanaka!

It is one of my favourite restaurants in Dunedin. I spent most of holidays out there. The food are amazing. The young stuffs and especially the Italian manager are super lovely. Unexpectedly, today there was female stuff/manager who seemed was on charger when I ate there. She brought the drink to me in a quite rush and careless way. She also seemed treated different customers in different way. Well, it doesn’t change the fact it’s a great restaurant with beautiful service but I do wish she could be as lovely as other stuffs.

Love this place! The service is amazing the staff are so friendly and helpful. The best spot for a hot choc and a bowl of fries (these are so tasty, super salty with zingy parley and garlictopped off with a toasty fire and a great view of the surf 🌊

Its a really cute place, and the drinks were good. The food was not that impressive, my party of four had appetizers and pasta. No one was blow away with their food, but I still want to go back and try the piazza. The service was impeccable, the wait staff were very kind and knowledgeable about the menu.

Taste: 5/5Price: $$-$$$Portions: Medium-largeAtmosphere: 5/5Everything we ordered was amazing, highly recommended if you can afford the higher prices

Incredible Italian restaurant from the team that do No. 7 Balmac. No reservations, so you can still get in last minute on a Friday or Saturday (if you are early enough.).Food is delicious, so good we came back the next day to try more.Lovely drinks menu including a selection of local wines and spirits.

Fast Service ! Servers were very efficient. We came in at busy time and they were so good at multi tasking. Felt like they had mind connection to each other. You would never see them standing around doing nothing. Smiling is the best customer service. Keep it up ! No need to comment on the food they have the reputation already :)

Delicious food, helpful staff and a fantastic spot for any time of the day. One of my favorite places in Dunedin. Would highly recommend them.

Hands down the best Italian restaurant in Dunedin and possibly in Aotearoa. That cheese selection... yum!

The perfect way to start a Saturday morning. Coffee made to perfection and tasty treats. The service was warm and very professional

Great pizza. Usually come here for special occasions. Wouldnt come here for the pasta personally. Staff are friendly. Warm, and rustic atmosphere.

Excellent service, delicious food and stunning views. Cant go wrong 👌

On our first visit to Dunedin 4 years ago, we stopped by the esplanade not knowing where exactly to eat. Its been 4 years in the country and being Italian-Canadian I refuse to eat pizza that is not authentically Italian. I decided to give this place a go for the the wood oven experience, double 00 flour ive seen sitting around the restaurant, and the imported tomato sauce also visible within shop. It was the best pizza ive had since Nonnas pizza back home in Canada. weve tried the calamari fritti, the tiramisu, the pesto calzone, a few of the pasta options, lasagna, and we always, always, always get the pizza. We always leave The Esplanade happy, satisfied with the food, the chefs, the service, and the beautiful aura of the atmosphere. We had a JiuJitsu tournament in Dunedin/Mosgiel not long ago, so I made sure the team and I made it over there after for a nice celebratory dinner! We usually end off our meal with a coffee (and sometimes dessert if we are not too full). The beans are perfectly roasted already, and the coffee never burnt or left with a bitter taste. Thank you for always getting my cappuccino with cinnamon on top correct. Very hard to find baristas that can actually decipher the difference between a latte and cappuccino. Gracie Mille!

This is a very complicated close up photo I took of inside this restaurant around the corner with the main beach views from where I sat before having lunch for the first time with Trixie Vosseler the driver and support worker I really enjoyed one half each of salmon flavoured pizza, a bowl of chips, and a filled water glass from one table after a walk along the track to the second beach walk via Esplanade. Then I got a ride back home after an excursion in the urban city area.

😍 Had the wonderful experience of having dinner at this place! Simply WONDERFUL! If I was not living in Auckland, I’d definitely come back more often, several times. Also lovely staff.

My best experience in Dunedin!🤤 Best restaurant EVER! Please try "formaggi al forno"😍 and the pasta "pappardelle" definitely a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Also they have ice creams from Patagonia, Dulce de leche flavor, amazing!

The food was really delicious full of flavour extremely busy so might pay to book ahead of time. Really nice beachfront views. A bit on the expensive side especially for a lunch meal but overall good experience

We loved the pizzas & the vibe. It was super cozy, perfect for some food & wine.We saw cannoli on the dessert menu -- my all time Italian favourite. We rarely order a dessert but since the food was good we decided to give it a go. Unfortunately, they didnt deliver. The cannolo was super small and pretty bland to be honest. Lost a star for that, sorry.

St Clair is awesome place. Cafes, Restaurants, Beach side walk and good surf spot. Breakfast selection is very good and excellent view and service.

Great food, great water front location, fast friendly service, great atmosphere. Only drawback is they dont take reservations but tables turn over fairly quickly. And parking can be a bit trying.

Amazing restaurant highly recommend. Amazing food and service. Well priced for the quality of food! You cannot book so it does sometimes pay to go in a little early than busy times. The woodfire pizza is fantastic as is the pasta dishes.Also great for a coffee or wee cocktail.

They are my favourite place in New Zealand now! The food was perfect. Very flavoured and fresh. The French fries was huge (for two people probablyStaff was friendly.5 stars.

The Best. What a fantastic atmosphere with a delightful menu - filled with friendly people - great ambience. I cant recommend Esplanade Restaurant enough.

Brunch here is seriously under rated. If you’ve had an amazing dinner here like I have multiple times, the brunch is just as good. A nice refuge from a stormy windy day with a fireplace. Italian influences breakfast dishes are much more interesting than the boring food you find at most other Dunedin restaurants

Very nice Pasta, friendly service, often gets busy and sometimes I found not enough space for dining when we have around 10 people together so I think booking essential.

Stopped by for a mid-afternoon Sunday pizza and beer. The pizza is done in a brick oven and absolutely fantastic, even if it did feel a ~little~ on the pricey side for the size (24, 25 dollars a pie). Beer selection felt a little scant, surprisingly, but maybe we were just too hasty to settle on a pitcher of Emerson’s 1812 for a reasonable $20.Vegans: I did visit a year or two ago and we managed a decent vegan meal, but I remember it feeling a little constrained (like most restaurants tbh), but it’s good food.Pictured: The four cheese,* which includes gorgonzola but no ricotta for a different, but •very• satisfying take on the classic.*Which of course goes by some Italian name on the menu — though that’s no gimmick to fancy up the joint: much of the staff is Italian and the maître d’ was happy to converse it with the couple next to us.

We visited at lunchtime on an overcast Sunday and had a great time. I had sardines on bruschetta and a caprese salad, which were not only individually delicious but they also complemented each other nicely. My wifes gnocchi were pillow-like and served with a delightful sauce, while my grandmothers meatballs were super tasty and well complimented by a well-balanced tomato sauce. The service was also excellent, and our food arrived promptly. A great spot, with nice seaside walking opportunities right outside the door.

Our guide recommended this place. Cute beach front local pizza place in St. Clair. Pizza was delicious--choices (toppingsmight be limited if youre from the US. Thin crust similar to CPK. Salad fresh and yummy. Prices reasonable. Wish we had more time to hang out.

Nice, cozy restaurant. Excellent service. The staff were so amazing. We had a birthday lunch, the staff were very accommodating, even got a wee little candle for the slice of dark choc cake. Thank you for making it special for my birthday girl.For the food. The pizza Frutti di mare was really good.But the Reginette zafferano pasta with mussels and clams, was way too bitter. It must be the sauce or from the mussels, but the pasta dish gave a bitter after-taste.Other than that, really enjoyable evening.Thank you. Will visit again. 👍

The Esplanade is in my top3 restaurant of Dunedin. Its only drawback is that it is not a restaurant in my perspective but "just a pizzeria", otherwise I love to go there.The place looks good, waiters are nice and professional (most of them are Italian), it is clean, the view on the ocean is great, but above all their pizza are, from far, the best pizzas in Dunedin, specially if you are looking for European taste.The dough is really thin, it is nice and subtile, with delicate flavours.I also tried some antipasti, the clams were absolutely perfectly cooked.To sum up it is an amazing place to go chill after a walk on the beach with one of the best quality food in Dunedin.

Awesome spot on the beachfront. One of the best restaurants in Dunedin with by far the best pizza in town. Good portions and reasonably priced. Customer service is faultless too. Highly recommended.