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. The room has high ceilings, big windows and a long bar down the middle, and there's a deck and a covered patio outside where you eat with the water in view.
The kitchen works with sustainably harvested seafood and ethically farmed meat, so you're ordering Te Matuku Bay oysters shucked to order, Haku kingfish sashimi, a crayfish and prawn roll, dry-aged duck, and a wagyu tomahawk that needs a good 40 minutes on the grill. Lunch starts at noon, a menu of oysters and shared plates runs from 3pm to 5pm, and dinner goes late, which means you can build a whole beach day around one table.
It's listed in the Michelin Guide, it opens every day at 11.30am, and the wine list runs to pages, so book ahead, especially in summer.
Written from 1,030 Google reviews, every one we could get, on 12 November 2026. Rated 4.4 from 992 Google reviews.
It's one of the best meals you'll have on Waiheke, and plenty of people plan a whole day around it. The seafood is very fresh and the room is gorgeous, though the kitchen and the floor can slow right down when the place fills up.
Start with the oysters, natural or with the seabuckthorn granita and champagne mignonette, because they're the thing you see on table after table. The scallops get ordered again and again, and the kingfish sashimi, tuna crudo, goat cheese fritters and wagyu skewers are all good picks, with the Agria potato brioche and olive flatbread for the middle of the table. The kawakawa brûlée is the dessert to finish on, and the dry-aged duck is just as good as the seafood.
Service is warm and genuinely welcoming, and it's the small gestures you remember, like blankets when the wind picks up or a dessert sent out for an anniversary. It slows down when the room is full, which you notice as long gaps between courses and drinks that take a while to arrive.
You're sitting right across from Onetangi Beach, with sea views from nearly every table and a deck that puts you almost on the sand. Inside it's high ceilings, big glass and a modern fit-out, and the covered patio is where you can bring the dog and settle in with the kids.
It's expensive and you feel it, with mains priced from about forty-nine to sixty-two dollars and sides extra, so a long lunch can cost a lot. Most of the time it's worth it for the view and the seafood, though portions are small for the money and some leave feeling they paid too much.
Birthdays, anniversaries and long summer lunches are what this place does best, and it handles big groups well. Parties of eight or more go on a set menu, and kids get a generous plate of their own.
The waits are the recurring letdown, with mains taking an hour or more when it's busy, so don't plan a ferry straight after. Dishes do sell out, portions are small for the price, and the public holiday surcharge and card fee catch people out at the till.
Every fact on this page was checked on 8 November 2026 against Google, Ki Māha Restaurant Waiheke Island's own website and 1,030 of its Google reviews. The photo is from the eatout library, not taken here, and no venue pays to be listed or ranked. Something out of date? Tell us
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.
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 · 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.
Fish and chips · Onetangi
★ 4.2 from 44 Google reviews
What this Onetangi Road counter does best is fish and chips wrapped in paper, and you can eat them a short walk from the beach.
Bakeries · Onetangi
★ 5.0 from 6 Google reviews
The sign says local, organic, handmade, and that's the whole story at this small bakery on Totara Road in Onetangi, where two bakers who grew up on this kind of bread turn out German-style sourdough loaves, pretzels, cheese sticks, cakes and pastries from the kitchen.
Japanese and sushi · Onetangi · $
★ 4.6 from 38 Google reviews
A panko-fried tube of rice, filled and rolled tight so you can eat it one-handed on the way to the sand: that's the hand roll, and it's what has you pulling over on Onetangi Road.
