Review Lei - Auckland

Amazing food, amazing staff in an amazing location. It's such a refreshing feeling seeing a place bring some of that Polynesian flair back to Ponsonby. The food here is delicious; try it for yourself and see. My fav is the Panipopo and Raw Fish 😁. Also if you want to have awesome coffee go here; I am a huge critic when it comes to coffee because I like mine a certain way - best Mocha I've had in NZ 👌 this place is definitely recommended. The little details you notice in everything here - the food, the decor and the people who work here; you can definitely feel the love and this is what makes someone want to come back time and time again 😄

Beautiful cafe, good sized venue, heaps of cabinet food to choose from, plus a kitchen menu to order from til 2pm each day, and great coffee served by one of the owners. We only stopped in for coffee and a raw caramel slice today, but will be back for something more hearty because we love the joint and the staff are lovely. Malo 'aupito!

Provides various snack and coffee, like cake, salmon bagel, roast vege salad, caesar salad, breakfast wrap, free wifi, nice place for chit chat and toilet available.

Yummiest Scrambled Eggs, no seasoning required. Nice English Breakfast Tea. Staff were super friendly. Open early.

Lovely place. Great environment. Only down side - I had to wait about 25 mins for my meal to come out where as my partners came out within 10. Would have been better for us to be told there is a wait and for both meals to come out at the same time. In saying that, they were quite busy. The lovely lady at the counter offered me a free coffee because of the wait. Our meals looked very good, proper portion size and tasted great. Over all not a bad experience and I would definitely go again :)

Had ice mocha, was delicious. Ordered Fijian curry, everything on the plate was delicious. Also ordered salmon eggs Benedict which was also yummy. And lastly we ordered a big kahuna breakfast and everything was delicious except there was a bit of rock or gravel amongst my mushrooms ?? Didnt want to make a scene and send it back because I'd almost finished my plate anyway, but instead took a photo and video stacked my plate then left. Was all 5 Stars for me till the gravel bit.

My daughters and i had a first here and what a delightful cafe atmosphere.Have a look at my photos for more of an insight. I ordered egg with toast hot chocolate cocnut buns.Absolutely stupendous. They have toilet facilitates not sure on the baby chairs.Im coming back for more.

Very friendly service, fell in love with their Poly Pancakes! They’re to sabotage & die for! 😈 Had no clue we were being served by the owner! Lovely & humble guy! Will definitely visit again with friends. 😊

Beautiful and modern setting with awesome service to match. Food was delicious. The standout for me was the peanut butter shake smoothie thing. Good to support your local.

Delicious food and coffee here every time. Very fresh and high quality food, good portions as well. When you walk in and see the food, you just want to eat everything !!!

I absolutely love this place. I would definitely go back. Great vibe, great service, friendly staff. You have to go!!!!! And of course, TASTY FOOD!!!!

Looking for a low carb lunch? Ask for Caesar salad without croutons. Great coffee, pleasant staff, love the Pacific touches.

The best eggs bene I have had! Great coffee and atmosphere as well. Definitely recommend it to all

Friendly team good menu choice. Street Parking limited, seating limited suitablefor small groups. .. enjoyable

Went here to test it out, great delicious mocha and a heated up chocolate brownie. Was just delicious. Highly recommend. Go test it out.

Good food, great service and the Polynesian influence in the menu is great.

Cute little spot. You almost can’t tell there’s a café there from the outside. Which is a shame.<br/>Lovely service and great tasting coffee. I’ve come here for coffee a few times. Breakfast once and a snack another time (snack pictured - a delicious coconut bun!!!)<br/>Recommend if you’re in the area. Nothing jaw dropping. But they make good food, accompanied by good coffee and good service

I’ve only had flat white here before (which was creamy and delicious), but I really like this spot. Great place to go for a drink before a casual business meeting. They have cabinet food too. Service was friendly and the wall art at the back is beautiful too.

Very nice service and food, been there 3 times never disappointed me. Staff are friendly, food are always fresh, will definitely recommend my friends to go!

The staff are friendly and the cabinet food is great for the most part, although service is slow and coffee orders are often mixed up! My favourites the popular salmon bagel and the vegetarian panini made on the occasion! Not so favourite - vegan choc slice and vege frittata!

Breakfast.<br/>Gorgeous fit out. Looks funky and fresh<br/>Menu. Needs work. Very limited.<br/>Food.<br/>Eggs n toast with side bacon<br/>Sour dough bred<br/><br/>Food cooked well. No complaints.<br/>When you lightly toast bread.. need something like a lil butter or oil to reduce it. B&E with tough toast is a little dry<br/><br/>It's a nice spot. But needs some menu work and a little chef thinking to dishes.<br/><br/>Coffee medium.<br/>Could be a 4* but at present a 2*<br/>Has the look but not the delivery

Had brunch in here today and it was absolutely lovely. Had been wanting to try this pl for a very longtime. The space has a beautiful mural and has a nice chill vibe. <br/>The service was amazing and the food did not disappoint. We ordered 2 big kahunas - 1 Salmon eggs Benedict ,1 salmon bagel and 2 peanut butter & banana smoothies 🤤👌🏽. I will def be back and I recommend you check this pl out.

Beautiful wee cafe with Polynesian flavours. Loved the pani popo (coconut rolls), passion fruit slice and bear brownie I’ve had in Auckland! Also very reasonable brekkie prices and great coffee - $11 for eggs on toast. Loved the beautiful artwork around the cafe incl. stunning the island flower mural by Flox one wall. Very friendly service too - a gem in Ponsonby! Lovely to have a cafe to represent island flavours in Nz’s biggest Polynesian City.

This was a great location. Ambience was warm, inviting and beautifully decorated with pops of colour and flowers to fit the island theme. I ordered a toasted salmon bagel was alright maybe too much bread and not enough filling. Disappointed I didn’t order any of the island food but will go back to try one of the island dishes. Staff were friendly and the island music was a nice touch.

Have been waiting to dine here as I’d heard rave reviews; sure enough, we were not disappointed!<br/>Our vegetarian tried the Crushed Avo and we had the Poly French Toast - delish!! <br/>Love the Pasifika vibe accentuated with the vibrant artwork. The service was amazing and the location is accessible with plenty of parking.

Visited this quaint cafe on a lovely Saturday. Beautiful decor especially the wall paintings. Beautiful staff, kind smiles and very friendly. Homely feel when you walk in. Ordered The French Poly Toast, Panipopo, Chai Latte which I loved. The french toast was a bit on the sweet side with the addition of the jam which didn't really need to be there. Lovely plating style tho, very creative. Nevertheless i full enjoyed my french toast. Wonderfully cooked, also fluffy not limp. Panipopo was very lovely, but a little doughy. My friend ordered the Big Kahuna Breakfast and a Berry Smoothie. She was very pleased with the portion size of her breakfast. I was pleasantly pleased with seeing homemade hollandaise sauce instead of store bought. Great work Chef. I recommend anyone should give this cafe a try. Been there once, & i can't wait to go back again.

I really like the island decor in this restaurant. It's simple but effective without going over the top. The menu is also straightforward and simple. The breakfast menu has your usual cafe staples but with an island twist to it.<br/><br/>The lunch menu is simple and I opted for the Ika mata. There is quite a lot compared to what you would get for a similar price at other places. The Ika mata was played nicely and had plenty of fresh ingredients.

Great location, atmosphere, good music and vibes & very considerate staff! My husband is normally a big eater but couldn’t finish his big breakfast! Great big portions, americano & mochas were awesome, and thank you so much for serving the hot chocolate for our 4 year old at the right temperature he could drink it straight away! I don’t remember the last time any cafe has ever done this! We will be back to try the panipopo.

Finally got to visit Lei Cafe - perfectly located & set in such a nice vibe feeling atmosphere. <br/>Cabinet case full of yummy food, love how there is a couple of island options.<br/><br/>My husbands eyes lit up at the chef special of corned beef, chives & potato hash with hollandaise & poached eggs. - something different from the normal eggs bene. He enjoyed that throughly and portion sizes were perfect.<br/><br/>I had the big kahuna breakfast, beautifully poached eggs, good variety on the plate - YUM!<br/><br/>Coffee was great too.<br/><br/>Staff were friendly and patient. The owner is absolutely lovely. <br/><br/>Location: 5/5<br/>Price: 4/5<br/>Variety: 5/5<br/>Clean : 5/5<br/>Staff: 5/5<br/>Food: 5/5<br/>Coffee: 5/5<br/><br/>No faults found on our Lei experience. Can’t wait to come back again and try some more of your dishes 😊😊

This place is crazy good. From a growing cabinet to hot drinks and mains - Lei cafe is sure on the rise to being a great place. Loads of potential and a hard working team, dedicated and focussed on making customers happy. If anything doesnt sit right, the managers are happy to chat. Selfless and flavorful with every serving. Our band got to jam there on Christmas eve-eve and the turn out was great. Thank you LEI team :)

I understand that Lei cafe are still learning there way around things but the food was well below average. It’s a a beautiful looking cafe but that’s it. My sister ordered a double shot latte only to be given a cappuccino. We were one of the first people there and other tables were getting their food before us. We waited 40 to almost an hour for our food which was 4 eggs Benny’s and 1 smashed avo. The food was really bland-it was really disappointing. It was so disappointing that the next day we had to go to another cafe to satisfy our cravings of a good eggs benny. It would’ve been nice if they write what comes in each dish. I really do hope this cafe ups their food knowledge. It has a lot of potential!

Beautiful meal! Second time I have been and again thoroughly impressed. My partner loved his raw fish and I was amazed by how beautiful they made it!<br/>

Vitale EtiAAndrew @anjeatsm Ahhhmazing service. Tash & her brother have accomplished I'd say, exactly what they set out to do. Their service is fantastic, food great and to hear all the laughter and see all the smiley faces is exactly what we needed to be around. We had Eggs Benedict w. bacon x 2 & a child's portion of French toast. All delicious and I must say. The strongest, best Americano I have had in Auck in a long time. 👏🏼👍🏼👍🏼👌🏼Tash you're an absolute inspiration and the love for what you do really shines through. Keep up the amazing work. Heading back w. friends next week for some Pani popo!

Awesome to see some Pacific culture amongst the vanilla output of Ponsonby cafes. Lei has an authentic Pacific Island vibe, with friendly staff and a gorgeous interior design 🌺<br/><br/>We ordered a salmon bagel from the cabinet which was somewhat lacking in wow factor (and definitely needed some more cream cheese, if there was any in there to start), the coconut and berry porridge which was huge, creamy and delicious, two coffees which were pretty good, and the pane popo (coconut donut) which was delicious.<br/><br/>I understand this is still in the soft opening phase, but a few improvements would transform this cafe into a real destination. Menus, and a few more options, would be good. I understand gluten intolerance is not particularly common in the PI community but just some GF bread or one GF option would help cater to all customers.<br/>The cabinet food is somewhat lacking in identity, and it would be good to have the names and prices of dishes written on the glass (imagine my shock when I discovered after paying that the pane popo was $7.5!). <br/>Overall I think Lei is a fresh and warm introduction to the Ponsonby food scene, can't wait until it's made its final touches :) will definitely be back soon

Lovely little cafe, was busy when we arrived just after 11am, head chef was away that morning so was a little disappointed that the options left were the cabinet food which wasn’t much to choose from, requested our hot drinks to come in takeaway cups, unfortunately was served in glass cups, ordered the salmon bagel, barely had cream cheese in it, it wasn’t the greatest bagel, staff were lovely, decor is beautiful and so homely. Maybe still little early days. Still yet to go in and have a more enriched meal.

Cafe was very busy. Service was friendly however it was a bit unclear if it was table service or you had to order at the counter. You order at the counter FYI and food options are written on a blackboard or in the cabinet. Would have been helpful to have a menu to know what you are ordering. I ordered the crushed avo which came out as a slice of toast with a little bit of avo and 2 big poached eggs on top which I don't eat. Maybe still early days for cafe, could be good if few improvements made.

The warm Pacific greetings you get when entering this establishment makes you feel right at home 😍 love the food & drinks and the customer service here is just awesome 😊 will definitely be back 😊.

Loved Lei cafe's Panipopo - soooo yummy! Beautiful setup & friendly service, defs try it out 😊 Can't wait for my next coffee date there 👍👍

The best polynesia infused into food and an awesome Mocha.Look no further youve found the best of food and service!Great vibes and artwork to compliment the newest cafe to Ponsonby!