There are twenty-five places on Waiheke where you can eat with the sea right in front of you, and the standouts are The Oyster Inn on its Oneroa verandah, Three Seven Two across from Onetangi sand, and Man O' War Vineyards in the east.
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Winery restaurants · Oneroa · $$$
★ 4.5 from 1,532 Google reviews
The last stretch of Church Bay Road brings you out on a ridge above the Hauraki Gulf, with vines dropping away below and the Auckland skyline across the water, and it's the kind of view that stops you mid sentence.
Seafood · Oneroa
★ 4.5 from 1,395 Google reviews
You'll be looking out over Oneroa Bay from the verandah, and on a good day a dolphin or two goes past while you work through oysters that were in the water off the Te Matuku farm that morning.
Winery restaurants · Eastern Waiheke
★ 4.5 from 1,379 Google reviews
You reach the far north-eastern end of Waiheke by a long, winding gravel road, by the Explore ferry straight into Man O' War Bay, or by boat onto the beach, and that journey is part of the day out.
Pubs and bars · Onetangi · $$
★ 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.
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.
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.
Cafes · Palm Beach · $$
★ 4.5 from 593 Google reviews
Arcadia is at the western end of Palm Beach, on Palm Road, a thirty-second walk from the sand.
Winery restaurants · Oneroa
★ 4.0 from 1,183 Google reviews
The ferry from Auckland takes about 35 minutes, and from Matiatia it's a two-minute drive or a 15 to 20 minute walk along the coastal track to a hilltop, where the restaurant's floor-to-ceiling windows look out over the Hauraki Gulf and the Auckland skyline across the water.
Pubs and bars · Oneroa · $
★ 4.8 from 268 Google reviews
You'll spot the sandwich board on Ocean View Road in Oneroa before you find the bar itself, because Aperitivo sits down a flight of steps, around a corner at the back of the alley, with a balcony that looks straight out over the water.
Oneroa
★ 4.6 from 321 Google reviews
The walk up from the Matiatia ferry takes about half an hour, or five minutes in a cab, and at the top of Church Bay Road you find the Archive on the relaxed side of Mudbrick, with vines running downhill, the Hauraki Gulf spread out in front of you and Auckland's skyline across the water.
Palm Beach
★ 4.2 from 473 Google reviews
You come up the driveway off Bay Road and Palm Beach, Mawhitipana Bay and the Hauraki Gulf open out below you, so you can tell straight away this is a hillside place, not a beachfront one.
Japanese and sushi · Oneroa · $
★ 5.0 from 158 Google reviews
There's a little sushi counter in the middle of Oneroa village, a short walk from the beach, where you'll find some of Waiheke's freshest fish and a very easy lunch.
Cafes · Oneroa · $$
★ 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.
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.
Takeaways · Oneroa · $
★ 4.3 from 271 Google reviews
Just a minute's walk from the sand at Little Oneroa Beach, on Goodwin Avenue, this is the kind of takeaway you build a beach day around, with a menu that runs from snapper and chips to burgers, hot dogs and deep-fried Moro bars.
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.
Thai · Oneroa · $$
★ 4.0 from 351 Google reviews
Red Crab sits on Ocean View Road above Oneroa Bay, and it's the kind of Thai restaurant you'd build a whole Waiheke day around, with a deck looking out over the water and a menu that draws on Thailand's four regions.
Cafes · Oneroa · $
★ 4.6 from 125 Google reviews
The doors open at 6.30am on weekdays and 7am on the weekend, so this is where Oneroa wakes up, a small coffee shop on Ocean View Road in the middle of the village with Havana beans going through the machine and home-made sweet and savoury food at the counter.
Cafes · Surfdale
★ 4.9 from 70 Google reviews
You'll spot this little cafe floating at the Waiheke Marina on Donald Bruce Road in Surfdale, a short hop from the car ferry and a world away from a standard island pit stop.
Pizza · Oneroa · $
★ 4.8 from 53 Google reviews
Wood smoke, bare feet and a pizza box carried across the grass to the beach: that's lunch at Little Oneroa Reserve, where a food truck parks beside the playground and cooks wood fired street food from late morning.
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.
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.
In Onetangi, Charlie Farley's is a few steps off the sand and Ki Māha Restaurant Waiheke Island is across the road, while Batch Winery & Thomas Estate and The Archive Bar & Bistro sit up on a ridge above the gulf rather than at beach level.
Floating Cafe KOKO floats on the water at the Waiheke Marina and is entirely gluten free, Oneroa Sushi is a short walk from the sand, and Waiheke Distilling Co looks over Cowes Bay from its garden bar. Book ahead for vineyard tables at weekends and check the days each place opens, because several shut for a day or two every week, and the ferry from downtown Auckland takes 35 minutes to Matiatia with no traffic at the end of it.
For the vineyard rooms and the bigger names, yes, especially at weekends and for groups, because Batch Winery & Thomas Estate tells you to book and Passage Rock Wines & Restaurant fills fast over holidays. Counter places like Beach Store keep it casual, since you order at the counter, and Dragonfired waiheke lets you order at the van and carry a pizza to Little Oneroa.
Charlie Farley's sits a few steps off Onetangi sand and welcomes kids and dogs, The Local - Waiheke's Fish n Chips has a deck over Oneroa Bay where both are welcome, and Floating Cafe KOKO has a pontoon swim deck that keeps children busy while you eat gluten free.
