New Zealand Herald

Reviews for Toru

by Natalie W.
15th June 2013

An Aucklander at heart who has traveled the world and has a love affair with Europe can honestly say Auckland city has come along way in terms of cuisine. A casual breakfast date with a girlfriend early Saturday morning resulted in a delightful culinary experience at Toru cafe in Ponsonby Central.
The menu is stylish with tantalizing food options, variety and flair. I ordered the Waikanae crab omelette (absolutely… to die for) if you love crab, like i do! Rebecca ordered salt and pepper prawns with a Vietnamese salad, incredibly moorish and so tasty she could have gone for round two.
Overall the team at Toru are very professional, vibrant and friendly. The service was fast and efficient even though every table was full.
Highly recommend this spot, Ponsonby central is definitely the place to be, caters to all taste buds, fantastic atmosphere, people watching and great food!

by Louise H.
6th June 2013

Treating myself to some time out at Toru has become a real pleasure for me lately. I’ve been several times recently and have always enjoyed my experiences here. The food is fantastic and I love the way they use such interesting ingredients on the menu. My favourite meal so far has been the ricotta pancakes with salted caramel butter… or maybe the Asian crab omelette… or maybe the salt and pepper prawns -yum!! It is slightly more expensive than your mainstream café (although no more so than any others in Ponsonby) but I don’t mind paying a bit extra to get guaranteed good food, coffee and service – and the atmosphere is great too. I will definitely be back in the near future to sample more delicious dishes!

by Jaclyn B.
1st June 2013

I went to Toru on a very busy Saturday with my Mum, cousin, niece, and nephew for lunch and we had a great time.

We loved the atmosphere which was just so right – even down to the lovely blue and white water jugs.

The food was fantastic – I had the marinated chicken and halloumi salad, my Mum and cousin the Vietnamese prawn salad, nephew the pork belly sandwich with crinkle cut chips, and niece had fabulous ricotta pancakes.

The service was friendly and attentive but not overbearing. We were very much looked after by our waiter Aaron who explained the menu and helped with our food and beverage selections.

Overall I thought – spot on and I’ll be back with more friends, family and colleagues. Such a fantastic addition to the Ponsonby dining scene and certainly one of my new favourites.

by Kacie S.
31st May 2013

I usually would never use my valuable time writing a review but our experiences at Toru were so awful that I see it as my civic duty to warn people off of this horribly managed disaster of a cafe. We went once after opening and found it good so we went back a second time.
First, it took the server forever to come to our table, after serving a number of tables who sat after us. He took our order. We waited. We waited some more. We waited even longer as everyone around got served even though they ordered after us. Finally, he shows up and asks, “Can I get you anything else?” I said, “Yes, how about the food and beverages we ordered over an hour ago?” When I complained to the girl at the register, she under-generously comped our drinks only.
Like masochists, we went back again, hoping that we had merely had a rouge bad server.
This time we waited for twenty minutes and no one ever came to our table.
Also, my brother in law and his partner went the next week, only to have the same thing happen to them.
I have worked in the restaurant business for over twenty years and have never seen so poorly managed a floor.

by Carl E.
11th May 2013

Toru is a tail of two halfs. The food there is some of the best that we’ve tried in Auckland. However, the drinks were not very good at all. I was on the verge of giving it 3 stars but bumped it up to 4 because the atmosphere in the cafe/bar is good.

My partner had the ricotta pancakes, with whipped salted caramel butter and vanilla sugar. They were probably the best pancakes that we’ve ever tasted and that’s saying something because my partners orders them a lot when eating out for breakfast. I had the colcannon, corned beef, sauerkraut, crème fraiche, poached eggs which was a great combination of flavours (although very stingey on the beef).

We order two smoothies and a coffee to go with that. The smoothies were poor to average and pretty small. The coffee was very strong and just not on par with other local cafes. Hopefully that was just a mistake by the person making the coffee. The other potential is that they maybe don’t have a dedicated barista?

We would still go back though and that’s probably the most important thing.

by Julie P.
19th April 2013

I’ve been meaning to review this place for a while. We have been lots of times, in facts its becoming our regular Saturday breakfast spot. Only problem is what to choose from the menu.

My current faviourt is Ham hock on Polenta, delicious. And the Pancetta and eggs is wonderful too.

It’s a really nice environment, great service and good for a large group.

Only thing is my coffee could be a bit hotter – but thats just being picky

Its great to have found a new breakfast spot. See you again this Saturday!

by mariana
14th April 2013

we had bfast once and we loved the menu thats why we came back today with some friends and it was shocking! waiter told my friend to speed up herwine because he had been there since morning! so rude and unprofessional! and i ordered a donut with my coffee and she brought two coffees for me and with an arrogant tone she insisted i was wrong and hadnt order any food. no idea about customer service that waitress! of course none of us is coming back!

by Cynthia H.
23rd March 2013

Last Monday I ordered prawn and Vietnamese salad and nuoc nam as a meal and it came with peanuts. I am allergic to them. Peanuts were not mentioned on the menu. Not good.

by Roanne P.
15th November 2012

Amazing! Steve & co does it again with Toru – number three cafe after Newmarket’s Teed St Larder and the stunning Wai Kitchen in Oneroa, Waiheke.
The food is perfection. Crab omelet anyone? Ham hock on Polenta? Go try it.
The space perfectly executed by Paul Izzard Design.
This is our new local, and I would go every day if I could.
Liquor license to come but in the meantime great coffee, juices and smoothies.

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