You'll find 39 dog-friendly places to eat on Waiheke Island, from The Heke for a long Onetangi lunch to Charlie Farley's for a beachfront beer and Man O' War Vineyards for a day out.
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Pubs and bars · Onetangi · $$
★ 4.8 from 947 Google reviews
You can lose a whole afternoon on these four acres without moving far from your table, starting with lunch under the trees and finishing with a beer flight, a whisky tasting and a turn in one of the golf simulator bays.
Cafes · Oneroa · $
★ 4.8 from 944 Google reviews
The coffee hits you before you've picked a seat, and there's a seat for every mood: a small terrace out front on Ocean View Road, a bar top facing the street, and a few tables inside where the road noise drops away.
Seafood · Oneroa
★ 4.5 from 1,395 Google reviews
You'll be looking out over Oneroa Bay from the verandah, and on a good day a dolphin or two goes past while you work through oysters that were in the water off the Te Matuku farm that morning.
Winery restaurants · Eastern Waiheke
★ 4.5 from 1,379 Google reviews
You reach the far north-eastern end of Waiheke by a long, winding gravel road, by the Explore ferry straight into Man O' War Bay, or by boat onto the beach, and that journey is part of the day out.
Pubs and bars · Onetangi · $$
★ 4.2 from 2,107 Google reviews
With your feet still sandy from Onetangi Beach, you cross The Strand and settle in at a table that looks straight back out over the water, because that view is the whole reason this place has been part of the island since 1987.
Pubs and bars · Onetangi
★ 4.3 from 1,594 Google reviews
The driveway climbs off Onetangi Road between vines and olive trees, and it finishes on a hillside veranda looking across a valley where horses graze on the far slope.
Italian · Oneroa · $$
★ 4.5 from 1,020 Google reviews
Start your day with eggs benedict and a flat white on the terrace, then come back at night for a glass of Waiheke red beside the fire, because Fenice runs from 8.30 in the morning until late, seven days a week.
Rocky Bay · $$$
★ 4.4 from 1,184 Google reviews
You're 200 metres up on Waiheke Island, at the highest vineyard on the island, with a 360 degree sweep from the Hauraki Gulf across to Auckland and the Coromandel, and the whole point of a table here is to sit in that view for a long lunch.
Mediterranean · Onetangi · $$
★ 4.7 from 675 Google reviews
You climb the hill from Onetangi Beach, turn into Brown Road where it forks into the vineyard, and find a Spanish restaurant with Gaudi-style mosaics on the walls, looking over 4.2 hectares of vines to the village and the sea.
Onetangi · $$
★ 4.4 from 992 Google reviews
You step off the bus at Onetangi and there it is, a glass-walled dining room looking straight out over the sand and surf of Onetangi Beach, with the sea right in front of your table.
Pubs and bars · Onetangi
★ 4.6 from 703 Google reviews
The driveway off Onetangi Road climbs through vines into a courtyard where a Michelin-starred restaurant sits above Alibi Brewing Co., so you can move from a cellar door tasting to a long lunch without leaving the estate.
Onetangi · $
★ 4.6 from 621 Google reviews
You get off the bus at Onetangi, cross The Strand, and there's the beach in front of you and a white-clothed terrace between you and the sand.
Pubs and bars · Oneroa · $
★ 4.4 from 812 Google reviews
The deck looks straight over Oneroa Beach and the bay, close enough that you can watch the water change colour while you decide between a glass of Waiheke chardonnay and an Argentine malbec.
Winery restaurants · Onetangi
★ 4.7 from 489 Google reviews
You climb the drive off Onetangi Road and Waiheke falls away into vines and olive trees, with the original farm goatshed now the cellar door.
Cafes · Palm Beach · $$
★ 4.5 from 593 Google reviews
Arcadia is at the western end of Palm Beach, on Palm Road, a thirty-second walk from the sand.
Winery restaurants · Oneroa
★ 4.0 from 1,183 Google reviews
The ferry from Auckland takes about 35 minutes, and from Matiatia it's a two-minute drive or a 15 to 20 minute walk along the coastal track to a hilltop, where the restaurant's floor-to-ceiling windows look out over the Hauraki Gulf and the Auckland skyline across the water.
Pubs and bars · Onetangi
★ 4.4 from 611 Google reviews
The bus from the ferry drops you right at the gate, and before you've ordered a thing you're looking at vines, a playground and an archery range laid out across the lawn.
Cafes · Oneroa
★ 4.5 from 407 Google reviews
It's the cabinet that gets you first: 24 freshly churned flavours at any one time, twenty of them permanent classics and four new specials every week, all made from scratch in their own production kitchen with local milk and fruit picked in season.
Winery restaurants · Eastern Waiheke · $$$
★ 4.5 from 370 Google reviews
Drive to the quiet end of Waiheke, down a gravel road that feels like it leads nowhere, and you arrive in a valley that looks a lot like Tuscany: gardens, vines on the hills, ducks and geese on the lawn and a restaurant looking out over the whole thing.
French · Oneroa · $
★ 4.9 from 186 Google reviews
Doors open at 6.30 in the morning, which tells you plenty about how Oneroa treats Island Frenchie: it's a breakfast and lunch cafe first, and an early ferry or a day at the beach both start better with coffee and something baked here.
Cafes · Oneroa · $$
★ 4.0 from 591 Google reviews
The view hits you first: Oneroa Bay, the boats below and, on a clear day, Great Barrier Island on the horizon.
Seafood · Oneroa · $
★ 4.0 from 572 Google reviews
Down the stairs between the wine centre and the Four Square in Oneroa, The Local opens onto a deck looking straight across Oneroa Bay, and that view is half the reason to make the trip.
Takeaways · Oneroa · $
★ 4.9 from 162 Google reviews
You'll find this little takeaway stand up a side street behind Oneroa's main shops, with a few outdoor tables, a relaxed soundtrack and a resident cat who likes to wander past.
Cafes · Ostend · $
★ 4.6 from 212 Google reviews
The view from your table is a car park and the back of the PlaceMakers building, which tells you everything about what this place is: a cafe that puts its effort into the food rather than the scenery.
Pubs and bars · Eastern Waiheke
★ 4.6 from 196 Google reviews
You drive out past Onetangi, along Orapiu Road towards Stony Batter, and leave the hop-on hop-off crowds behind at a working vineyard with vines running down towards a view of Te Matuku Bay and the Hauraki Gulf beyond.
Pubs and bars · Eastern Waiheke · $
★ 4.7 from 170 Google reviews
You'll find it at the quiet eastern end of Waiheke, up a long drive along Cowes Bay Road, where a family distillery sits on the ridge above the bay with a spray-free garden that grows a good share of the botanicals in your glass.
Pizza · Oneroa · $
★ 4.4 from 236 Google reviews
From the outdoor tables you look down over Oneroa beach and out across the Hauraki Gulf towards the Coromandel, which is the kind of view that has you ordering a second flat white before you've finished the first.
Fish and chips · Ostend · $
★ 5.0 from 104 Google reviews
A walkway slips through beside the Woolworths in Ostend and comes out on Putiki Road, where a small kiosk has built a serious reputation for fish and chips, the best on the island and, for plenty of eaters, the best they've had anywhere from England to Melbourne.
Pubs and bars · Onetangi
★ 4.9 from 109 Google reviews
Rock'n'roll street art, waterfalls running through the gardens and a deck looking out over the vines: this Onetangi Road cellar door has never done the traditional tasting room thing.
Cafes · Ostend · $
★ 4.9 from 96 Google reviews
Follow the smell of freshly roasted beans down the side of True Blue and you'll find this little roastery and café tucked behind the shops in Ostend, a short walk from the Countdown car park and the Saturday market.
Cafes · Ostend · $
★ 5.0 from 67 Google reviews
Argentinian baking is what brings you down Putiki Road in Ostend, where a small food truck café turns out buttery croissants, cheesy scones, sugar-dusted palmeritas and facturas, all made by the two people serving them.
Chinese · Ostend · $
★ 5.0 from 62 Google reviews
The dumplings at this little Ostend counter are made by hand and steamed to order, which is why they arrive with soft skins and fillings that still taste fresh, and why there's a steady stream of people who've been told about the place by a friend.
Fish and chips · Onetangi · $
★ 4.3 from 80 Google reviews
Onetangi Beach has its own store a few steps back from the sand at the end of Fourth Avenue, and it's where a Waiheke day tends to start: coffee and something from the cabinet before your swim, fish and chips once you're out of the water.
Cafes · Surfdale · $
★ 4.9 from 37 Google reviews
There's a little cabin on Hamilton Road in Surfdale where the menu is short and clear: Island Coffee and toasties made on organic local sourdough.
Barbecue · Ostend · $
★ 4.8 from 27 Google reviews
The smell of smoke along Putiki Road is the first sign you've found this Ostend takeaway, and it's worth following if you're after proper low and slow barbecue on Waiheke Island without any fuss.
Burgers · Oneroa · $
★ 3.8 from 84 Google reviews
The view is the main draw, and it's a good one: from the outdoor tables on Ocean View Road you look out over the bay at Oneroa, with the village walkway behind you and the water out in front.
Takeaways · Ostend
★ 5.0 from 12 Google reviews
Smoked barbecue and Asian street food come out of the same small kitchen on Putiki Road in Ostend, which is the sort of pairing that makes you build a stop into your Waiheke day rather than grabbing whatever's closest.
Surfdale · $$
★ 4.1 from 21 Google reviews
Smoke and open flame are the whole idea at this Surfdale steakhouse, where the meat is cooked over a wood fire and arrives at your table simple and full of flavour.
Oneroa · $
★ 5.0 from 6 Google reviews
Wednesday to Sunday nights, the bowling club down Marama Avenue in Surfdale opens its doors, and the kitchen turns out food that's way better than you'd expect for the price.
You'll find dog-friendly tables all over the island, from Oneroa and Onetangi to Ostend, Palm Beach, Rocky Bay and the eastern end, so you can build a whole day around places where the dog can sit beside you. In Oneroa, The Oyster Inn has a sunny verandah looking across the bay for Te Matuku oysters and Fenice Cafe & Restaurant keeps a street-side terrace and a fire for winter, while Island Gelato Co. Waiheke is an easy stop for a cone on the way through the village.
Onetangi is where the dog-friendly day gets easiest, because Three Seven Two sits across from the beach, Casita Miro looks over the vines to the sea and Stonyridge Vineyard has lawns and a veranda for a slow lunch. Out east, Poderi Crisci and Passage Rock Wines & Restaurant make the longer drive worth it, and The Local covers a deck above Oneroa Bay for fish and chips with the dog at your feet.
Yes, there are several winery restaurants on the list that welcome dogs, including Casita Miro, Man O' War Vineyards and Batch Winery & Thomas Estate, plus Waiheke Distilling Co up on the ridge. Book ahead for a group, mention the dog when you book, and plan for outdoor seating at busy times.
Each place is listed as dog-friendly, and many of them also list outdoor seating, so it's safest to book a table outside and check the inside rules with the venue before you arrive. That goes double in winter, when you might want a fire and a covered spot rather than the deck.
