Review Welfare Bbq Noodles Bar - Howick

We had the roasted pork rice and soy sauce chicken rice. They provide free hot tea which was really great. The roasted pork was delicious, crispy skin with tender meat, packed with flavour but not too salty. The soy sauce chicken on the other hand was average, the taste of the chicken was bland but still acceptable. The spring onion oil was absolutely delicious.

Authentic family run restaurant with lip smacking roast duck! 🍗 So popular people line up and call ahead to buy their crispy dripping meats 🦆🐖🐓 It’s only open until 8.30 and duck comes out at 6pm so get there early! 🍜 They have lunch service too and free flowing jasmine tea to warm and settle the tummy 🍵 You can sometimes see the handmade pork and prawn wantons being assembled by a knowing nan 👵 The prices are super reasonable and the egg noodles are gorgeous. Absolutely love this place. Always clean and tidy if humble. There is limited seating and the lights are bright, they don’t serve many beverages and no alcohol but you come here for a friendly, cozy feed.

Been here many times when I was younger. Their duck here is always very good. We ordered the duck leg rice and egg noodles and a small plate of char siu. The duck was meaty and juicy. The pork was pretty good too, nice caramelisation outside. The rice and vege was a bit cold which they should serve it while it is hotter. Service was quick despite a fully packed restaurant by 11am.

Very popular for the barbecue meats. The crispy roast pork often sells out Have had pretty good and consistent experiences here with the meats but one time we did get some roast pork with a lot of fat Have tried and can recommend the roast pork, BBQ pork, BBQ duck, and soy sauce chicken The meat on rice and dry noodle dishes are both nice

Been coming here for at least 10 years now. Whenever I feel like a treat of Cantonese BBQ meats. Lovely family and always greeted with a smile no matter how busy.

Have eaten here for over 10 years every Friday, even Saturday and Sunday, if I was lucky. Food is absolutely fantastic. Had the same meal on every visit. The staff are family to me. Sadly I have to move back to Scotland for health reasons. Boy, I am going to miss my friends and wonderful food. Guys miss you all the best, especially the Dancing Queen and her wonderful girls and guys who I have shared many hours with. Thank for being the best ever.

The best roast pork, chasiu, duck and chicken I've had in Auckland. Noodles were nicely cooked. Rice was so good with the sauce. I cannot have enough of this.

This joint is an absolute institution. I have dined here since I was born, and practically every Chinese person in East regularly makes the pilgrimage to this shop. The workers know secret to good Chinese service: amazing food, quick service, and memorising your order (and maybe even what degree you're studying, etc etc). I have eaten Cantonese BBQ at local small joints in many different countries; all pale in comparison to the mastery that is Welfare BBQ Meats. Please give them your patronage!

I walked passed and saw a queue so I decided to try it. It’s a Chinese BBQ meat in soup, on rice, or on egg noodles place. I went with Duck and BBQ pork on rice $15.50. It was great and a large quantity for the price. Rice had some soy sauce or something tasty on it. Definitely will go back.

Highly recommend. It's a great quick feed Chinese BBQ, also known as "char siu," is a tantalizing culinary experience that combines succulent roasted meats, like pork or duck, with a sweet and savory glaze. The result is a mouthwatering symphony of flavors, crispy exteriors, and tender, juicy interiors, making it a beloved favorite in Chinese cuisine.

Our go to place when we want some frills free, tasty Chinese food. Their crispy pork on rice and beef brisket noodle soup are our favorites. The staff are also lovely and their service is fast. Just wish they would always have crispy pork available in the evening as it gets sold out usually after 7pm.

Soya chicken, roast duck, BBQ pork and roast pork. You can order the meat in it's own or have it as part of a rice 1 x meat dish or more combo. You can also order other items such as wonton noodle soup or beef brisket noodle soup. This place us popular and often sells out before the end of day. Takeaway available

My all time favourites. Roasted Duck Thighs with dry noodles. This can not go wrong especially for a solo diner. There are options for rice, soup noodles, rice noodles etc etc. If ordered soup variants the roasted meat will be served on a separate plate.

Very tasty roast duck and roast pork, it's probably one of the best roast meat restaurants in Auckland, will definitely come back again. Update-ordered three meat combo this time, meat wasn't as tasty and a little smelly....

Best place for soy chicken, roast pork on rice with extra ginger. The lady's there knew my order everytime i phoned through or went in to the shop. Great customer service and food is to die for. Highly recommended.

always good never fails to please we love all their food the braised beef brisket noodle soup is so yummy.

Finally I got my chance to taste this very famous Cantonese grilled house in Highland park. No doubt it has been popular and famous for years, they are really good. Though, it looks kind of boring, meats, rice and a bit green. The classic flavour is in the meat and the gravy soaking the rice. I can imagine why many of my friends buy the BBQ pork, Crispy Belly, Grilled Duck and Chicken whenever we have house gathering. Yummy is the only description of it.

Yummy roasts and excellent service. Will definitely come back!

Very nice Cantonese style restaurant 👍🏻 Efficient and good service. Foods are very yummy.

Came here for lunch on a weekday. Very quick service, and friendly at the same time. Although the place is very small, their prompt service is able to work with it. <br/><br/>Food was excellent. Considering the lack of traditional Hong Kong BBQ meat shops in East Auckland, this is probably the best in the East. Flavours and taste is very authentic. All of their meats are excellent. As a Hong Konger myself, I don't have any questions there. <br/>I am being picky here but their noodles are a little on the soft side which I'm not a fan of which is why I come here for their rice more often. <br/>9/10<br/><br/>

They have the best roasted duck in Auckland, must try!!

This is definitely one of our favourites for a quick meal. The food is fantastic - they have one of the best roast duck and BBQ pork/chicken around. Be aware though - their BBQ roast is extremely popular especially their roast duck and can run out pretty quickly.<br/><br/>The service staff is excellent - friendly, extremely helpful and always with a smile on their faces.<br/><br/>I usually order my rice dishes with less rice, and the service lady / waitress even remember me and every time I order a rice dish she'll automatically ask and check with me if I want it with less rice, which is a really nice and lovely touch. And she remembers even after I haven't been back for a while. Just to clarify - I haven't been back for a while not because their food is no good but due to my time commitments one reason or the other I couldn't make it back as often as I'd like.<br/><br/>Therefore if you're looking for a quick meal around Highland Park / Aviemore Drive area then this is definitely recommended.

Ok

Tried this place for the 1st time as I was passing through..had the crispy pork noodle soup and it was good, definitely would be stopping in next time I'm in the neighborhood 👍

I don’t usually give reviews but this place is an exception. Been eating here since I was a kid and they never failed to provide LITTY ROAST DUCK. The lady also remembers my fav dishes and food is pumped out real quick. I also like the soya chicken and bbq pork. Add red vinegar in your noodles for a kick 😎

One of the best Cantonese style BBQ ducks in New Zealand!!! Sometimes you need to wait for a while since roast ducks are freshly made, which guarantees the crispiness of the duck skin. The amber-color skin was melting in my mouth without leaving anything but a mouthful of satisfying greasy fragrance. Totally live up to my expectation.<br/><br/>The lady was absolutely nice and has been very helpful all the time!

It’s a very disgusting restaurant. Rude staff, unprofessional service!

Love coming here for the bbq duck and other roasted meats.<br/><br/>Always seems to be packed with hungry customers waiting to be served delicious food.<br/><br/>Definitely recommend the takeway over the fine in option purely because of how crowded it can get. However, service is fast and food is delicious.

Simple and delicious. If you have a dry egg noodle craving, this is your go to. Great value and simple Hong Kong food. Can't go wrong with char siew bbq pork and siew yuk roast pork noodles. Steamed chicken here is also very moist and succulent. Very friendly service by the usual lady waitress.

Found this place randomly as I was going to Luna Tea one day so we decided to try it out. The BBQ pork and the Roasted pork are the best. I never buy the meal deal but always just buy the meat. I do recommend going there before 5pm because sometimes they run out of roasted and bbq'ed pork pretty early.

This is one of my favourite noodle bar when I’m craving a simple lunch or dinner. The noodles are always freshly made and always cooked consistently well. The soy chicken and char siew combination noodle is by far my Go-To option every single time I visit this place. At $12.50 a fish, it’s reasonably priced as well. There is also the roast duck or roast pork to choose from. Both of which are very tasty as well. <br/><br/>The location is also fantastic as there are multiple shops around that sells a variety of products. From pearl teas to Chinese groceries to a butcher and a bread shop, it’s really a one stop location for most of your needs. <br/><br/>Plenty of free parking as well. Highly recommend this place if you are ever in this area. 👍🏼

Went there lunch time today. Try out the roast pork, char siew, roast duck and beef noodle soup. The roast duck is nice.<br/>Beef noodle ok good.<br/>Char Siew too dry and no fats, there's improvement to be made.<br/>Roast pork, not ok for me. Skin isn't crunchy and very hard.<br/>Price wise reasonable.

My favourite BBQ duck restaurant. They never disappoint, with tender and flavourful meat, good service, cheap dishes leaving you very full, and they're very quick to bring up the dishes (timed it - literally 4 mins during busy hours) . Good for hangover cures too 👍

I think this place probably has the best roast pork in Auckland! The meat has a slight Smokey flavour and skin is very crispy. Dip it in the sauce and munch away! <br/>I probably ordered too much meat today but this is a must visit if you like canton roast meats.

Staffs at this restaurant are friendly and the food is good. The price is cheap and good portion. Overall it is value for money with good food.

Always like the consistency in food and service they provided. Doesn’t matter how busy they are, they always greet you with a friendly smile, provide a cup of hot tea after you seated.

Last time i came here was 5 years ago, decided to come back and give it another crack! Was not disappointed they clearly have changed owners since then! One of the best bbq pork rices in Auckland

One of my favourite places for Hong Kong style BBQ meats. I usually get the Roast Duck and Char Siu on dry noodles. Duck has a nice flavour along with the crispy skin. The char siu also tastes as it should.<br/><br/>Once seated on a table you get brought a cup of tea and chopsticks and then they take your order.<br/><br/>They do serve other things as well such as wonton and dumplings.<br/><br/>Great place for a quick, tasty lunch or a long drawn out one.

Welfare is a family favourite I have dined at for several years and upon eating there recently, I only realized it is a place I have not yet reviewed.<br/><br/>I believe the general idea of these Hong Kong style noodle bars is to have a roast served on top of rice, egg noodles or soup noodles. I feel like their Roast Duck is the most consistent item on the menu as in terms of tenderness, skin and taste. There isn’t much to describe other than that it’s a very solid roast duck. Roast Pork is my favourite roast and while Welfare manages to always make it tasty through incorporating some sweetness to the meat, I feel like there are some consistency issues, even compared to other restaurants, in terms of quality (especially the crispy skin) when dining at non-peak hours. I find the BBQ Pork also similarly inconsistent. It can taste very good and be very tender on occasion but there are times where it just isn’t sweet at all and has bits and bobs that require spitting out. I was never really a fan of Soy Chicken as I find the dish overall (not just Welfare’s) bland and uninspired. The ginger + spring onion sauce it comes with was delightful, however.<br/><br/>The wontons contain pork, shrimp and some Chinese black fungus. They’re tasty, balanced and taste a bit like Siu Mai, which is unsurprising given the ingredient choices. A ‘small’ order of wontons will give you seven pieces and while it’s been a while, I believe a large gives 10. The egg noodles are nothing special. I feel they are better with soup (salty chicken broth with spring onions) as opposed to being consumed dry. It is interesting though that choosing egg noodles over rice will be considerably more filling even though they should really be the same.<br/><br/>I feel like Welfare has above average service compared to many Chinese eateries. The servers are always prompt and actually smile back at you. Orders come out very fast, especially considering how busy they can get.<br/><br/>Assigning Welfare a star rating is tough. On one hand, the food can be truly good and in most situations it is a nice go to. On the other, it is hard to recommend a restaurant with consistency issues. I’ll conclude by saying Welfare is a BBQ noodle house I will readily return to when the occasion suits but wouldn’t have anyone go out of their way to try it.

This is the best of the best place for roast duck! Sooooo yummy! Drooling just thinking of it now! The young girl who has worked there for almost a decade she is absolutely lovely and service is fast! I wish i just live next door to it and will order from them day and night! Never sick of the meals they have to offer!

This is the place to go, I've been waiting my whole life to find a restaurant such as this one. Their duck is the tastiest thing I've ever had and the spring onion dipping sauce is just pure love man!!! I go to this place at least once a week, if you're in for a meal that you could fill you up with love just go here and order everything on the menu.

We wanted a light dinner and chances upon this eatery which mainly serves roast meats. What I like about this place is that they give you the choice of a smaller size. I ordered a roast duck noodle in smaller size and the noodle portion is definitely more than enough for a meal. My husband has the rice with two roasts (bbq and soy chicken). The service is also great. We thanked the staff when she served our food and she actually reciprocated which does not often happen in Chinese eateries. This is definitely going to be a place for me to come for a quick and light meal.<br/><br/>PS: Just want to say that we have actually been back several times after this first visit and the service is consistently good!

The most yummy roasted duck in Auckland<br/>The staff are so friendly and helpful<br/>It is hard to chose as all roasted food is so good such BBQ pork ribs, char siu and chicken.<br/>Strongly recommend it to anyone.

I absolutely love this place the food is so delicious 😋 any two choices on rice 🍚 BBQ pork 🐖 or crispy pork 🐖 soya chicken 🐔 or duck 🦆 I recommend this place I like the ginger n spring onion sauce on the side tastey fulling as well

I usually enjoy the takeaway I get here, but went to dine in for dinner and meat was lukewarm at best, and just got cold by the end of the meal... Sort of ruined it for me for the future.

Foods are great but the service can be bit slow. And the restaurant is not really clean as well. I use napkins to clean the table sometimes because I can smell the old kitchen wipes. Camparing to other roast duck place around Howick, foods are really good. And good potion as well.

Terrible service! Ordered some BBQ pork for takeaway and had to wait for 30 minutes. The reason being they insist they will serve all their eat in customers first. What kind of logical is that? All the eat in customers who came after me all got their BBQ pork before me. When I placed my order there were 3 big nice piece of the BBQ pork, when they finally get around to me, what is left was a half burnt fatty piece of meat. Very disappointed at their service.

Tasty, cheap, fast and kind staff. Ordered from here regularly and this time I got their BBQ pork rice. The pork was flavourful and tender. I would also strongly recommend their soya chicken.<br/><br/>Update: Roast duck is very good too, but be quick they run out!

The last time I went here was a few days ago, and the food is still great as usual.<br/><br/>Food(5/5): The roast BBQ Pork, Crispy Pork and Soya Chicken on Rice are just the dishes to die for in my opinion and are extremely great. I mean for 9-9.50 per meat on rice dish , it's great value, because you get your chosen meat, bok choy(I assume) with the rice and it just tastes perfect everytime. For someone more health-conscious, I would say it's not the healthiest thing to eat regularly but you would go here occasionally to treat yourself.<br/><br/>Service(5/5): I can't say much for inside service, but when I called to order my dishes, and they said 10 minutes, they meant 10 minutes. When I reached it was already done, which I was very pleased about.<br/><br/>Ambiance(1.5/5): Personally, I wouldn't like to be inside this restaurant for a long while. I somehow just don't feel comfortable eating inside the restaurant. It's a bit hard to explain but it's just a gut feeling, maybe you'll know if you go inside.<br/><br/>Overall (3.83/5): This is a great place to get some great quality food with fast service. I would recommend to just order on the phone like I did and grab your dish when you reach, or just order inside and do takeaway.

A little hidden gem in highland park, they do hongkong style bbq. I went there for a quick dinner, but apparently they ran out of ducks and pork. So they must do awesome food! <br/><br/>I ordered the small wonton soup and some choi sum with oyster sauce. They were really good! Especially the wontons. For $7.50 you get 8 pieces on wonton with some bok choi.<br/>Will definitely come back to try their meat dishes.

Amazing traditional Chinese and great price. My fiancés favourite takeout in NZ which he gets every week. Love it and highly recommend to anyone who loves Chinese :)

Welfare BBQ Noodle Bar is a little gem tucked away, alongside Aviemore drive. Immensely popular among the locals, they occasionally run out of meat selections leading on into the night. If you're looking for ambience or service - look away, the restaurant severly lacks in character and given the nature of the restaurant - the focus on customer service is nothing spectacular. However, for quality simplistic Chinese cuisine, look no further, the portion size is plentiful, the food varieties are tasty, unique and distinctive and the value for money is second to none. Welfare BBQ Noodle Bar has been a family staple "cheap eats" for the last decade - and still delivers the same consistent quality.<br/><br/>Food: 4/5<br/>Ambience: 2/5<br/>Service: 2/5<br/>Value: 5/5<br/><br/>Photos is the typical "go-to": BBQ pork and roast pork on dry noodles with extra roast and bbq pork, side of white rice and a side of choy sum

Order takeaway whole roast duck from this place, went home to find it wasn't a whole duck, is a mixture of bits and pieces. Very disappointed!!! Feeling rippped off by this place!

Good value for money, lots of variety.Food comes out very quick.<br/><br/>Sometimes the noodles are bunched up together, but they compensate with the cheap-ish price.Sometimes the waitresses are a bit cold, but it's okay because you get your food quickly!<br/><br/>Sometimes it can get quite busy so be sure to go early.Nothing really special about the atmosphere, everyone is just there to eat some cheap Asian food!

Always love finding an undercover noodle house 😎👀🍜. Came here after a workout with a mate and we were blown away with how cheap this place is! ($11 is the most you could spend on a dish!). Limited English but that's not important when the food is this good andddd cheap! 💸. Relatively clean, ok service and small location. Otherwise I had no issue here - have to come back for some cheap eats!

Food was very nice, moist and delicious at affordable prices. Service was decent and quick. Place was clean and overall would definitely recommend and be back to visit.

One of the best roast duck places in Auckland, taste is top ranked and price is reasonable. We come here all the time for half duck and $10 roast pork. Recommended. Would be nice if opens on Monday as well

Our local go to place for roast duck, pork and BBQ pork. My favourite of the three would definitely be the roast pork. The roast pork here are definitely less fatty than other places and have amazing crackling. <br/><br/>We came here for dinner on a Saturday night and weren't surprised to see the place quite packed with customers waiting for their orders to take away. We opted to dine in though and had quite a lengthy wait. We got the roast duck leg noodle soup and a small plate of roast pork. Both had great flavours. The noodle soup was average though. <br/><br/>Despite the wait, we still enjoyed our meals. Would definitely return in the future :) <br/><br/>

This used to be one of my favourite eateries for a quick bite, other than going to a cafe. Menu is the same for lunch & dinner. I had roasted duck & BBQ pork with soup noodle & my wife had roasted duck & roasted pork with soup flat noodle. Its food was still the same - good. (Washroom is rather unacceptable.) <br/>(Food - 3.5/5; Service - 2/5; Ambience - 0.5/5)

I've grown accustomed to this restaurant and seeing as though I've tried just about every dish in this establishment I believe I am qualified enough to write a review for BBQ Noodles Bar.<br/><br/>I've been going to BBQ Noodles Bar (or as my little sister likes to call it, "Duck", which I'll get to why in a second) for 7 years now and I have to say that in the span of those 7 years the quality of everything hasn't diminished. <br/><br/>The duck is the best dish of the restaurant whether it be on rice or the egg noodles (which I think is the best type of noodle there whether you eat it "dry" meaning the soup is on the side or as a soup, with the soup and noodles already mixed together) the duck is simply the best if you like your duck juicy with just the right amount of fat that bastes the bird to add a greater depth of flavor. <br/><br/>The soya chicken would be the next best thing because chicken can easily be dry and usually is in most restaurants. However, this is certainly not the case for 90% of my visits. The chicken is succulent and served with a green onion sauce that compliments the chicken very well. <br/><br/>The bbq pork would be a close second but is more inconsistent with the cooking. If you do get a good bbq pork you'll find a sweet and savoury pork and find more reason why this is only one of the few places with the top 100 stickers in the east Auckland area. At worst you'll get an above average bbq pork that isn't worth mentioning but can't be complained about either. <br/><br/>The roast pork and beef brisket are delightful but I prefer the 3 meats mentioned above as it is harder to make at home and I'm more appreciative of them. <br/><br/>The last thing to mention is the soup. They use a great broth as the soup is light and warming to add to the total experience of the dish.<br/><br/>To conclude, I'd recommend the duck and chicken (bbq pork if you're feeling lucky) on dry noodle as it really displays their knowledge and experience of what they're creating. It is the best restaurant in the Eastern Suburbs if you're looking for a restaurant that's worth more than what you pay for it.

Always a good place for hearty meals. Delicious barbecued meats at very good prices. The rice is inexplicably tasty, fragrant and packed with flavour whose source we can't figure out. As for their dumpling soup, shaped more like wontons, the dumplings are fat and packed with meat and mushrooms, all floating around in their fantastic, hearty broth.<br/><br/>Great place for a good, filling meal.

This place would have to my number one favourite to eat!!! I would come here for lunch and dinner if i had the chance. My all time fav food is the soya chicken with a plate of Choy sum! Keep up the good work!!

In terms of a restaurant, it would be fair to say that this place wouldn’t get many brownie points for ambiance, style or service, but what it lacks it makes up with deliciousness.<br/><br/>This is a well-established BBQ and noodle house and I’ve been coming here for years. However, the line of people waiting for takeaway just after 5pm in the weekend, caught me a little off guard as I thought I would’ve arrived during a quiet patch before the dinner rush. Sadly, this wasn’t the case, as the locals are clearly aware of a good thing in the neighborhood. <br/><br/>For this occasion we ordered a wide selection of barbecued meats. This included the bbq pork, roasted pork (with crackling), duck and bbq ribs. The BBQ pork was very tender, moist and had just the right amount of honey glaze on them. The barbecued duck was meaty and the fat was roasted off really well compared to other BBQ houses. For those unsure where to start on BBQ meats, I would suggest ordering a half/half dish, or if you’re looking for individual meals, choose one with a few dumplings included, or ‘dry’ noodles for something a bit different. <br/><br/>Don’t be put off by the indifferent service, it’s not you, it’s…. <br/>But hey, you get value for money, the food is well worth the wait and besides, all be forgotten by the time to you get home.

The BBQ food here is delicious ! Usually run out of the good stuff after 7pm. The only problem is twice now being ignored and the Asian person behind me served before me. If you want to have great business then it's best to treat us kiwi customers the same as you treat Asian customers (especially since you are in NZ)

Quick service, super cheap food and delicious. Limited menu so if you don't like bbq pork, roast pork or roast duck, then I wouldn't bother going. I've been here many times and it gets extremely busy. The place is funny because the closing time is usually dependent on when the meat is sold out.

Very delicious, probably the best chinese BBQ restaurant/shop in Auckland.The food is definitely worth the price. The waiting time was short, wouldn't mind going again.

Have been to Welfare BBQ Noodle Bar twice in the past three weeks, and the food has been tasty both times and is excellent value for money. The first time around we had wonton noodle soup and well as a combination of roast meats on rice, and the second time we just shared a massive plate of bbq'd meat. Each time cost us around $30 total for three people - and we were very full afterwards. Would recommend - is comparable to Panda Cafe in Meadowlands (which is run by the previous owners of Duckling King). Note that the menus available on Zomato are outdated.