Review Hungry Elephant - Warkworth

Great fresh homemade food!!!! We stopped here as part of a random sunday drive after going to Goat Island. The staff where very welcoming and happy to help us sort out what we wanted, We decided on the Satay Cauliflower salad and A Nacho pizza with Avocado and Capers. Although there was a wait for the food (Its all hand made instore) we left completly full!!

Tasty food and interesting, characterful shop. Out the back we were pleasantly surprised to discover a quaint courtyard with seating looking out over a stream and waterfall. Very peaceful. Great coffee.

Great selection of organic, holistic & natural goods in the store. Stunning view from the cafe! But the markup on the grocery store & baked goods is really up there compared to any other specialty store. I decided to spend $9 on a slice of vegan cheesecake as I know how much work it takes, but it was no more than a slither. It would be great to encourage all people in the area to visit & choose organic, not only upmarket folk.

A wonderful picturesque Cafe and shop which breaks away from the negative stereotypes of Vegan cafes to provide a place of maturity, tranquillity and solidity. The waterfall quietly burbles in the background providing the perfect background for your latte - I recommend their hazelnut milk made in store. The shop is well stocked with genuinely useful items rather than the usual array of New Age tat. This place has restored my faith in the Vegan movement in NZ.

Lovely well equipped shop with a cafe in a beautiful setting and good coffee. Protein balls are yummy! From the shop we bought the essential oils we needed, cosmetics and a couple of grocery items. Some self control required as there are a lot of beautiful organic and natural items for sale.

This place is amazing and how refreshing! I had a delicious meal, and a matcha latte (can't find it anywhere else!) Their back terrace is facing the forest and the creek. Is is a very beautiful and peaceful place. They also have a shop with a large variety of beautiful products. I highly recommend this place.

Wonderful! Loved the wholesome-cooked food and the hot chocolate was delicious! Well worth checking out - not your average vege eatery, more like the family cooked meals which your mum decides to make when she's had a flash of inspiration. We will return.

Super friendly staff, a plethora of vegan gluten free sweet things, and a gorgeous build a salad kinda thing. Then a fridge with the drinks, organic fruit and veg and vegan treats like sausages and nut cheeses. And then an entire store full if books, food, teas, clothes and the only negative thing about my visit there was that I bought too many sweet things and made myself feel sick because I ate so much. Highly recommend for anybody of any dietary restrictions, or lack there of :)

Amazing beautiful place with nice coffee. Great service!

January 2020, note that this cafe is for sale and they have stopped selling food. They just have coffee, tea, smoothies and some small cakes. The service is still great and the organic shop is still open.

I had a wonderful experience today at this cafe. I see people complaining about the cost but just one glance around at the scenery, location and the qualified staff, not to mention the absolutey delicious food, you can see it would cost a bomb to run this place as there are no corners cut which means the food and coffee are a very good price.

A great place to stop in Matakana. The food is vegan and vegetarian, and there is cabinet food and salads as well as a range of pizzas. They also sell organic fruit and veges, and a selection of healthy products. The actual cafe has outdoor seating and covered areas, facing out to native bush and a waterfall.

I really like it here! Nice waterfall, cool staff and tasty food that makes you feel good. I've been back twice and hope to come back soon!

Its always a treat to eat at a place that serves vegan food. Fantastic shop, stocked with all sorts of healthy foods, supplements and great gifts. I will be back.

We had the vegetarian breakfast pizza. And man, that was amazing. Very friendly staff. Absolutely amazing morning here ! Go check it out.

Awesome cafe. Particularly good for vegans 😊 brilliant staff, Louisa is fantastic 😊 friendly atmosphere and delicious food

The most delicious vegetarian and organic food. Great service and in a lovely setting by the waterfall.

It is great to see a cafe offering a shop which has an extensive range of merchandise. This however did little to overcome the small range of cabinet food and the portions are small for the price of them. Organic, vegan etc does not mean that items need to be overpriced. We went there around 11am on a Friday morning to find we were the only ones there.<br/>

Very tasty plant based options here . I had a really nice couscous salad which ticked all the boxes. Absolutely recommended , beautiful wholesome food.

The platter was one of the best i have had! The staff was particularly helpful, even though the kitchen was closed they were ready to help with the food! The view of the water fall from behind the restaurant is particularly good.

Drove here from Auckland because of the vegan options over the summer break. The food was really overpriced and seriously underwhelming. I ordered the vegan garlic bread - a rock hard, thin piece of “bread” came to me with about one clove or burnt garlic on top of it. My friends and I couldn’t believe it! What a joke. Will not be coming back.

Coffee over priced & not that great. If you are not vegetarian/vegan/GF etc probably not going to excite you and you will leave hungry as I did. If that is your thing then defiantly come try it as food looks well made and fresh

TOTAL RIP OFF! We read the great reviews so decided to come here for a late lunch. A lot of the cabinet food looked dry and unappealing. There was a whole baked dish of dry lasagne sitting there that hadn't even been touched. Wonder why not? Prices were ridiculous. Only a few menu options. We ordered a pizza to share for $25. (The cheapest of only 2 options.) It was called a pizza Margherita with 2 toppings - 'cheese', which was greasy, yellow and looked like tasty cheese from Countdown - definitely not mozzarella or anything as such, and 'tomato' - apparently the tomato base doubled as a tomato topping. No fresh basil in sight. I could have made this pizza at home with 5 toppings for less money. The food was better when it was Dragonfly. We won't be returning and would not recommend.

We have heard many friends raved about the place and finally made it today. We were greeted on entry by an impressive array of salads,  dips, marinated tempeh and tofu, gourmet pizza, hot meals and soup of the day (today soup was Pumpkin, Quinoa and Asparagus) in the display cabinet. And to the side, there was also a large selection of vegan, gluten free, sugar free raw desserts like Caramel slices, S’more cupcake, Lemon cheesecake, Panna cotta, berry slices, mint chocolate slice, almond protein ball. The price ranges from $8 - $3 . The staff were very helpful and gave us many of the sample to try - they were all delicious.<br/><br/>We had a pizza and platter for 2 to share.  As with all nutrient dense food that is full of goodness,  the meal was perfect for the three of us and we still have room to have some takeaway dessert for the trip home :).<br/>We will definitely come back again and can't wait to try some of  the interesting  smoothies

We went to the Hungry Elephant because we heard how good it was, being Vegetarian we were looking forward to it. And I have to say it was fantastic, great food, super nice people and a great venue for lunch.<br/>If it wasn't so far from where we lived, we would be regulars.  I hope it stays busy, so the cafe survives, we need more like this.<br/>Very Highly recommended.<br/> The Hungry Elephant At 615 Matakana Road, Matakana, Auckland. <br/>Enjoy, Rajpal File.

Food was amazing, servings are generous and three is a large variety of options on a menu to choose from. Tea selection is really good too, I tried a delicious high quality green tea that a friend shared with me and really enjoyed my turmeric late.  They also have things like mocha late and a selection of nut and soy milks. The desserts cabinet looked fantastic too!<br/><br/>The interior of the place is very lovely as well. Very clean and modern. They have indoor heating and a cosy outside deck overlooking a waterfall.  <br/><br/>The other great thing about this place is a little organic store sitting right next door! So after having a cuppa or a meal it was great to browse all those cool natural things at the store.

I'm full of admiration for the huge accomplishment that the Hungry Elephant represents. I took a group of 35 vegetarians/vegans there last week, all discerning foodies and great cooks themselves, and they were unanimous and vocal in their praise as well.  I've been in the food industry for a long time and know how hard it is to survive in this industry. But the Hungry Elephant is a real triumph, great food, solicitous serving staff, excellent menu, and delightful owners. The location is super, quiet and scenic with a waterfall virtually in their back garden. The Hungry Elephant will succeed because it is in the vanguard of an incoming consciousness shift in humanity - ethical practices, organic food, originality, an immersion in a wider world of food consciousness and knowledge that's  moving in to our awareness at present. It's an inspirational place and a must-visit experience. We were all very impressed, both by the food and by the courage and initiative  to create such a great space.