Review Oaken - Dunedin

The food surpassed our expectations, ordered "big breakfast" and it was delicious. Chicken tender wrap was okay. Coffee was stimulating. This cafe has a spacious place and great view from upstairs ( especially morning). Cafe close to the University is a great spot for get together.

A very nice place for coffee and breakfast. Easy distance from where I was staying. I enjoy being upstairs and looking out their window.

First impressions of Oaken are good but with room for improvement. Most of the tables are upstairs, so if you have trouble with these, you are probably best to go in a quiet time. There is one table downstairs and outside seating when its fine. I was served on arrival and was the only one in line at 9 am. I was quite surprised at how long it took for my order to arrive. It took 18 minutes for the tea and 25 for the food. The food was fine, but I felt like a little chutney or hollandaise would have gone well with it. I asked for a side of hollandaise, the staff member was happy to help but then carried on clearing tables before going to get it. That sounds a bit petty, but it's those little things that make you feel looked after at a hospitality venue. The atmosphere sells this place. I was left with the feeling that what they were doing was more important than serving the customer, but at the same time, they were friendly and polite. You are upstairs watching the morning traffic and leafy gardens through floor to ceiling windows. It's a nice space. I'll come back if I'm in the area.

Love their coffee and they have really good baristas during the week and weekends so it's consistent. Prices are going up a bit like everywhere but the quality is good and consistent with what you get across the cabinet and menu. Today I had the fried chicken sandwich special which was perfectly cooked and a big portion with plenty of flavour and a good amount of dressing. The side of fries was really decent and perfectly cooked with delicious seasoning. They don't write prices on the cabinet food and also not on the special they were offering. This detracts a bit from the overall experience because you have to wait to then ask how much things cost rather than seeing before you make your order. Today I just went with ordering without asking the price. Overall I'm really impressed with the friendly service and standard with everyone working hard to make it a good experience to dine there.

The muffin and coffee were very good. The omelet I had was OK. I would go back again.... Update: 05/08/23, Oaken is now 'My local' ✌️👍🏽

We had a eggs Benedict with bacon and flat white this morning and it is delicious and the price is very cheap and reasonable compared to all other cafes in this area, the coffee is very good and excellent service by the staff. I definitely recommend this cafe very reasonable prices and very good portions. Free Parking is available next to this cafe.

I ended up getting their eggs on toast and asked if they were able to add bacon, but decided not to just due to price (not too bad, it’s just everything’s expensive nowadays) but even after they put in my order, they still added bacon 😊 I thought it was really sweet and even after checking if they wanted me to pay, they were very respectful and didn’t have me pay for the bacon! The meal was amazing, the coffee was just perfect and the atmosphere, though earlier in the morning, was still pretty vibrant. All-round, it’s cafes like these that make my day a little better.

There were many options to eat breakfast that morning but I purposely chose one which was closer to University of Otago. This cafe was one street away from St David's Complex which houses lecture theatre, seminar rooms, a cafe and University Union... which was not there when I went back to Malaysia in the year 2000. I chose this cafe before it was within walking distance, and its proximity to University of Otago - I parked my car at our accommodation and walked towards the cafe before continuing to the university campus. First impression was very good - the cafe boasts floor-to-ceiling glass allowing maximum natural lighting to light up the whole place. Friendly staffs made our visit welcomed and in no time the breakfast items were served in front of us. All of which tasted freshly made and perhaps it was the cold winter morning that got us famished. Eggs Benedict, bacon, eggs and even wraps were those that we'd ordered.. and we could not find fault with all of the food. In the end, we walked out of the cafe happily and continued to my Alma mater.

19-3-23 Had eggs bene with salmon for the first time...salmon was fresh and tasty, sadly the eggs were over cooked, there was little holindase on the dish and it was bland, with the toast it just seemed dry and flavourless. They were super busy and we did have 14 at our table. Would be nice to have salad option or gf in cabinet. We have been here for Sunday brunch several times and the food has always been good... creamy mushrooms a favourite. Today my daughter ordered a Tropical smoothy which arrived clearly made with berries as was pink... we took it back and was told it was the tropical, so went back to our table. The lovely waitress Ursula noticed that my daughter wasn't drinking the smoothy and was instrad helping me with my iced coffee, and asked if she would like a refund we explained my daughter didn't like berries. She made her an iced coffee instead. Thank you Ursula.

I tried out the new dinner menu. The grilled chicken breast was cooked perfectly and the mushroom sauce with it was delicious. The staff were friendly and helpful!

A nice place to have breakfast with friendly staff and food. The avocado on toast was OK (just sliced avocado instead of smashed avo) and the toast was just acceptable.

It's on two floors. The ground floor has mostly outdoor with a couple of indoor tables. The second floor covers a large area with lots more more tables, chairs and couch options.

Good good, good customer service, a great place to start your morning while in Dunedin. Highly recommended.

Great food at ok prices, pictured from top to bottom is the scrambled eggs, French toast, and the oaken breakfast. Service was friendly, though given our 40ish minute wait there really needed to be a follow up check for additional drinks. Upstairs acoustics are also pretty bad when it’s busy, noise echos and everyone talks louder as a result. Would definitely go back, just maybe outside of the busier times.

Good meal,tasty burger..kinda would have preferred chicken breast over a processed patty but still yummy

Tried this place out for the first time during our weekly sojourn into town from up in the sticks. I was a bit confused at first walking in but the area upstairs was nice and spacious. Coffee was great, no complaints at all. Long black wasn't scalding hot either which was nice! The food! Hot damn. We had the honey soy pork belly benedict and it was FREAKING DELICIOUS! I reeeeaaaallly hope this ends up on the regular menu because I will come back every week for it. We almost came back to eat it again in the afternoon. Even the side salad was top notch, the pickled celery was a really nice touch and the eggs were perfect... the pork belly portions were good too. Definitely coming back.

Place was nice, atmosphere wise and so as the service. Food was good, decent size portions though.