Review Bongusto - Merkato Fresh - Wellington

Such a good little cafe, best coffee I’ve ever had and staff are always the same (which shows how well they are treated) and are all extremely lovely. Hands down best place to visit every time I find myself in Miramar. Love this place ❤️

Everything at Bongusto is really good, I have not had a bad experience here ever. I’ve had lunch here a few times now, ordering pasta of the day, coffee and tiramisu. Every single time I enjoy it so much. Recently I finally was able to go on a Friday night when they just do pizzas. Thinking that they would be normal sized pizzas I ordered two to share between two people. But these pizzas are pretty big, which I can’t complain about, I had plenty of left overs to share with my family and of course everyone enjoyed it so much. I don’t go to Miramar often but when I do I try to always stop here.

The only real pasta in town. I've eaten a lot of pasta in New Zealand over the past 20 years, but I truly think it's the best pasta in New Zealand.

Very nice pizza. Coffee was good too even with a bit of confusion around my order. Thanks

Easily the best cafe in the Eastern suburbs for traditional Roma Pizza and Pasta . Great coffee and amazing Pastries !!! Best staff and the owner is a superb guy !! It’s very hard to please everybody in Hospitality but this place comes closest !! 10 stars for me !!

Location = Miramar central-Very close to Airport 5/5 Parking = On street 5/5 Overall Ambiance = Average 4/5 Quality of Food = Great 5/5 Quality of Coffee = 4/5 What i Ordered = Chocolate Danish & Decaf Mocha. $ Spent = $ 9.00 Amazing caffe with awesome coffee and a smiling service. Coffee was perfect temperature with creamy texture. Highly recommend for coffees - Will visit again. Review Ranger Over all Rating = 5/5

Service with a smile, very reasonable prices. Amazing custard tart & coffee - fresh and delicious. Everything else in the cabinet looked yum too.

Welcoming and friendly stuff with the best pizza you can get in Miramar. The supplí are just too good to be described with words.

Stunning Pizza, Good Fortune coffee, sweets and Customer service is the best!!!

Great pizza, amazing pasta thats always changing and beautiful pastries. My favourite is the chicken focaccia sandwich, big serving and great value for lunch.

Wonderful food, outstanding atmosphere, nothing at all is a negative. 5 stars all around.

Simply done to the highest standards.<br/>Popped in here for a quick slice of pizza and a coffee. Just Wow! The pizza was just that good and so was the coffee. Left a very happy customer.

This place is MY SPOT for light, healthy, wonderfully flavorful, absolutely heavenly Italiano Cucina. Kilbirnie has Taste Of Greece, Miramar has Bongusto. Now I have all my favorite foods covered and my life is complete! ✌😊😊😊

i only get the chicken foccacia sandwhiches which are the greatest chicken foccacia sandwhiches i've ever eaten. come to bongusto for chicken foccacia. BUT!!!!!! i hate when they choose to sell burnt foccacia sandwhiches. 3 times in a row i got burnt sandwhiches. STOP SELLING BURNT FOCCACIA SANDWHICHES. IF ITS BURNT DO. NOT. SELL. IT.

First time there ....more by accident than design. Three words "Yes ,yes and yes". That's four words. The "and" means " And I will be back". When you find something good in life, embrace it or in this case "eat it".

It’s all been said already. The food here is amazing. Totally unpretentious just simple and amazingly tasty and I’m going back (probably tomorrow). <br/>It’s taken me 6 months living in Miramar to discover this place. What a find!!<br/>The potato salad is completely out of this world.<br/>I want to give this place a 6.

Visited about a month ago for the first time. This place is a gem. Absolutely fantastic baked goods, coffee, and service. Homemade pasta sauces for sale as well. Absolutely awesome. They cater for gluten free and vegans as well which I thought was impressive for a wee Italian place. No pretension here, just great food and friendly excellent service. I love this place and recommend to all!

I got recommended this place by a friend and what a hidden gem <br/>The meat ball sandwich is amazing crispy fresh bread a good amount of meat balls and melted cheese it's fresh home cooked food that makes your soul feel good on a cold day<br/>The coffee is outstanding and the desserts are outstanding the tiramisu is probably one of the best I have every had<br/>

Excellent Italian food, the food is fresh and authentic. Tried the ravioli and pizza which tasted amazing. It's definitely a must try restaurant. Highly recommended for pizza and pasta lovers.

What more can be said? They supply some of the best restaurants around town. We wanted a particular pizza that wasn't on the menu for Friday night dinners. They made one for us and we've been ordering it weekly for a year. We love 'em. Also they make great sauces which I think are sold at Moore Wilson's.

Authentic Italian hidden in the middle of Miramar! The selection of fresh pasta changes daily but is always served with a smile. Try the lasagna on Fridays.

The 10th try at an ongoing quest to find a good cup of tea in the capital (rationale and first attempt is in my Astoria review).<br/><br/>Having had a good cup of tea at Louis Sargeant yesterday, I knew it would be a reasonably hard act to follow, but still, the question is worth putting – If Italians are famous for coffee can they make tea – after all Enzo, the Italian has given his name to L’Affare’s range of teas.<br/><br/>Bob Gusto seems to rate well on Zomato, an Italian manufacturer of pastas, bread, pasta sauces, as well as being a café tucked away in a place that even in the digital age my cellphone struggled to locate … basically think “its next to the video shop”.<br/><br/>A pretty unassuming little café, almost full on Saturday morning, and the lovely Italian accents run thick and fast. Obviously a favorite haunt for many locals. I loved the downmarket ambience, and the prospect of something good seemed real.<br/><br/>Calzone in a variety of flavours (salmon and spinach; pork sausage etc) were on offer and difficult to resist. We chose a ham and brie, with a cappuccino (Italian easy?) and an English breakfast tea (Italian not so easy?). We also took away a baguette, a pack of fettucini and two pasta sauces – tomato, and puttanesca.<br/><br/>Service was excellent<br/><br/>Coffee: Well made, excellent texturing, but disappointingly thin and flavourless.<br/>Calzone: Excellent<br/>Bread: Excellent – two of use ate half the loaf within minutes.<br/>Fettucini: OK, I found it on the thin side and didn’t feel it carried the sauces too well.<br/>Tomato sauce: One person thought it was great, two good, I found it uninspiring, commercial and lacking in character. It was not delicious. <br/>Puttanesca Sauce: Three people of four liked it, I found it a little unpleasant. Thus I am in the minority and almost certainly wrong.<br/><br/>Tea: One tea bag of Twinings EBT in a small pot. Cup was warm, but I was not asked about milk preference. It was a dull fawn grey when poured after 5 minutes. Uninspiring, characterless.<br/><br/>So for the tea:<br/><br/>1. Specialist tea offerings (the variety of unflavoured teas): 1/5<br/>2. Brew temperature (the likelihood that the tea was brewed with boiling water): 5/5<br/>3. Cup temperature (how much of a heat sink was the cup – a thick, cold pottery cup scores 0, a warm thin china cup scores 5): 2/5<br/>4. Milk requirements (was I asked about milk and what type of milk): 0/5<br/>5. Strength (too weak or strong =0, just right = 5): 1/5<br/>6. Taste (bad=0, excellent=5): 1/5<br/><br/>Bon Gusto’s Total 10/30<br/><br/>Scoreboard:<br/>Soho Brown : 8/30 (Harney’s – sachet)<br/>Sweet Bakery and Cakery : 9/30 (Harney’s – sachet)<br/>Bon Gusto : 10/30 (Twinings – tea bag)<br/>Bellagio : 11/30 (Twinings – tea bag)<br/>K and S Cafe : 11/30 (Harney’s – Satchet)<br/>Astoria : 11/30 (Enzo – loose leaf)<br/>Rosina’s : 11/30 (Bell - tea bag)<br/>Hey George 16/30 (Stash – tea bag)<br/>The Little Tea Shop : 18/30 (Tea-Total - loose leaf)<br/>Louis Sargeant : 19/30 (?Harney’s – loose leaf in large sachet)

I was lucky enough to be invited to a Zomato meet up for a complimentary experience at Bongusto. <br/><br/>Having not been to one of these before I wasn't quite sure what to expect. My expectation was to meet a few people and eat some nice food. And that's what happened, although it was much more than that.<br/><br/>The owner introduced himself and his crew and promised us we would not go home hungry - a good start.<br/><br/>First up was some foccassia with salt and rosemary as an appetizer. Warm and light but I didn't eat too much as I wanted to leave room for the entrees.<br/><br/>Entrees<br/>*Pizza Margherita (tomato base, mozzarella and fresh basil)<br/>* Pizza Capricciosa (tomato base, prosciutto cotto, mozzarella, artichokes, mushrooms and olives)<br/>* Suppli (mozzarella stuffed risotto balls) <br/><br/>Wow, these were special. Light, thin and crisp bases. Fresh tasting toppings. Simplicity executed perfectly. So good.<br/><br/>I didn't think I would like the Suppli as usually something like this is stodgy, but this again was light and fresh and thoroughly enjoyable. Each element was identifiable.<br/><br/>Before the mains we heard how the business was conceived and the history and experience behind Bongusto. <br/><br/>We were then given a tour of the kitchen where we learned just how fresh the food is. All natural ingredients, no added preservatives. I looked around the kitchen during the presentation and noted that apart from fresh veg in the fridge there wasn't a tin or jar of sauce anywhere, except olive oil.<br/><br/>The pasta is simply semolina, flour and egg and we were given a demonstration of how they make it. It was a great insight into how everything was made and what goes into it - and what doesn't!<br/><br/>Back at the table, for main I chose the Meat Ravioli (70% Beef, 30% Pork) alla carretiera (rustic tomato base sauce with garlic and parsley). Another great dish, aldenti pasta with rich yet light and fresh flavours in the tomato sauce. <br/><br/>Last dish was a dessert platter comprising of Tiramisu, Honey & Vanilla Pannacotta and Linda Wong’s Chocolate Mousse.<br/><br/>These were decadent, beautifully presented, rich, yet clean. <br/><br/>Great end to the meal.<br/><br/>Now, this was a complimentary experience, which, if I was reading this review I may be slightly skeptical as to it's impartiality. Believe me, if there was anything that wasn't as good as I have explained I would have been honest and mentioned it.<br/><br/>We had a fantastic, casual night enjoying some excellent food which is made with years of experience and care using quality, minimal ingredients. We left very full (as promised) but not bloated as the food was so clean.<br/><br/>If I hadn't been given the opportunity to dine here I wouldn't have know about it or visited. I'm so glad I did as I will definitely be a return customer.

What a fantastic place! This unassuming shop in Miramar is a hidden treasure. They have passion and a great food philosophy which is evident in what they create and a bonus considering how delicious it all is. We had their focaccia, suppli, and a couple of Roman pizzas to start with which was followed by perfectly al dente ravioli and then a combo of desserts - without a doubt the best panna cotta I've had! We were also lucky enough to have a tour of the kitchen and check out the cool pasta extruder. It's definitely worth making the trip out to Miramar for. Grazie!

I first found out about this little treasure as part of Wellington on a Plate foodie walk.  The salmon pizza has to be one of the best pizzas I have ever had. I am gutted I live in Auckland.. actually it's probably a good thing or I would be poor and fat!  Roberto was so welcoming. Very talented. I wish you and your business well.. until I return again :-)

Roberto Giorgioni, the owner of Bongusto, is a well known Wellingtonian having owned restaurants in the city over the years as well as the Wairarapa. <br/><br/>Bungusto is pure home cooked Italian food. They supply a lot of the restaurants in Wellington and you can get your pasta from there directly as well. <br/><br/>Well worth it. Fantastic pasta.

Came in last week with my son. The pizza, service and other food we tries were amazing. Friendly staff, glad to have you in the local area.

This is a hidden gem in Miramar. I can park the dog outside, order a coffee and croissant and relax and read the paper. Today I took home one of their lasagnes and heated for an easy dinner and it was really good.<br/>I tend to go here now rather than other cafes as the wait isn't as long and the staff are friendly.

Always made welcome . Food & coffee excellent with a bonus of hearing Italian being spoken ! <br/>Sally Carman