The croissants coming out of this Ostend oven are the sort people compare to a good French bakery, and more than one local will tell you they're the best on the island. Take a Bite sits at 28 Belgium Street, and the doors open at 7am Monday to Saturday (closed Sunday), so it works as an early stop before you head out for the day.
The cabinet is filled with handmade pastries, cakes and quiches baked in-store, and the kitchen turns out breakfast and light lunches built on seasonal, locally sourced ingredients, with barista coffee and a fresh juice range made to order. You can eat in, take away or have breakfast delivered to your bach, and there are picnics, grazing platters and bespoke catering for weddings and bigger groups, plus a coffee cart down at Kennedy Point Wharf.
It's small and cosy inside, the kind of place where you order a second coffee, and the online ordering is easy enough to sort the night before.
Written from 52 Google reviews, every one we could get, on 12 November 2026. Rated 5.0 from 52 Google reviews.
This is the cafe Waiheke locals point you to when you ask where to find a proper croissant, and the run of five star reviews backs them up. It's the kind of place that becomes a daily habit, with coffee and pastry worth getting up early for.
Order a croissant, because the almond and the ham and cheese versions are the ones people can't stop talking about, flaky and buttery and compared to the best of France. The twisted cinnamon bun and the breakfast calzone are the other two worth planning around, and the quiche, lemon tarte and almond cookies fill in the rest nicely.
The staff are warm and welcoming, and the couple running the place make you feel at home the moment you walk in. Online ordering is easy enough to place at 4.45pm and have hot pastries at your door by 7am the next morning, and deliveries arrive on time, even for a wedding morning.
The room is small and cosy, the kind of dainty spot where you duck in for a coffee and end up staying for a second. It's relaxed and unhurried, with a comfortable vibe that suits a slow island morning and big mason jar iced coffees on the table.
Prices are reasonable for food this fresh, and the portions are generous enough that a pastry and a coffee keeps you going well past lunch. The delivery boxes are packed full and the iced coffees arrive in big mason jars, so you're getting plenty for what you pay.
It's a breakfast and brunch spot first, whether that's a solo coffee and croissant or friends working through the cabinet together. The boxes suit a builders' breakfast or a bach full of guests, and the catering handles a wedding morning for twenty without a hitch.
Every fact on this page was checked on 8 November 2026 against Google, Take a Bite, Café & Pastries's own website and 52 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
Japanese and sushi · Ostend · $
★ 4.8 from 42 Google reviews
You pick your base, your protein and your sauce, and the Nami bowl comes back loaded with prawn, salmon, chicken or tofu alongside whatever vegetables and pickles are in the cabinet that day, which makes for a filling lunch that keeps you going all afternoon.
Bakeries · Ostend · $$
★ 4.6 from 65 Google reviews
At 30 Belgium Street in Ostend, this is the sort of bakery you build a Waiheke day around, with loaves, buns and pizza made from scratch and a cabinet full of sweet things.
Cafes · Ostend
★ 4.8 from 111 Google reviews
On Belgium Street in Ostend, a family-run concept store and cafe shares its space with a little yoga room upstairs, so your coffee stop can easily stretch into an hour of browsing.
Chinese · Ostend · $
★ 4.2 from 168 Google reviews
Fish and chips, burgers and a full Chinese menu all come out of the same small shopfront on Belgium Street in Ostend, which is exactly what you want after a swim or a long day out on the island.
Pubs and bars · Ostend · $
★ 4.4 from 155 Google reviews
Walking into the RSA on Belgium Street in Ostend feels less like a restaurant and more like a club that's been part of Waiheke since 1950, and the routine takes a minute to learn: if you're not a member, you sign in as a visitor at the bar, where they'll give you a free trial membership on the spot.
Markets · Ostend
★ 4.3 from 302 Google reviews
Come Saturday morning, the stalls spill out of the Waiheke War Memorial Hall and across Anzac Reserve on Ostend Road, and the smell of fried bread reaches you near the gate.
