You'll find 21 places on Waiheke with vegan options, and the standouts are Akito Eatery in Oneroa for plant-forward brunch and tibs food shack near the village shops, where the whole menu is vegetarian with vegan plates sorted.
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Winery restaurants · Oneroa · $$$
★ 4.5 from 1,532 Google reviews
The last stretch of Church Bay Road brings you out on a ridge above the Hauraki Gulf, with vines dropping away below and the Auckland skyline across the water, and it's the kind of view that stops you mid sentence.
Pubs and bars · Onetangi · $$
★ 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.
Burgers · Oneroa · $
★ 4.8 from 808 Google reviews
You'll find this little burger shop down an alley off Ocean View Road in Oneroa, a short walk from the beach and an easy stop on a Waiheke day trip.
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.
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.
Ostend · $
★ 4.6 from 327 Google reviews
You'll find it in the small run of shops on Belgium Street in Ostend, a takeaway counter turning out pizza, kebabs and fried rice for pickup or delivery right across Waiheke Island.
Burgers · Ostend · $
★ 4.9 from 223 Google reviews
A little burger caravan sits on Putiki Road in Ostend, right beside the RAW market, with outdoor tables and a menu that runs from smash burgers to tacos, chips and thick shakes.
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 · Surfdale
★ 4.3 from 290 Google reviews
This family-run spot on Hamilton Road in Surfdale does thin-crust pizzas and slow-cooked curries, and that combo is exactly why you'll want to stop in on your way through.
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.
Takeaways · Oneroa · $
★ 5.0 from 73 Google reviews
Around the corner from Oneroa's main shops, tucked behind them on Ocean View Road, there's a small food cart doing what may well be the best lunch on Waiheke.
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.
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.
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.
Breakfast is the easy part: Akito Eatery pickles, preserves and ferments its way through a menu where most dishes can be made vegan, and Mily's in Ostend bakes vegan medialunas beside the buttery Argentine pastries. Lunch is just as simple: Dragonfired is parked in Little Oneroa Reserve, TOO FAT BUNS builds a vegan patty from beetroot, mushroom and black bean, and Ostend Pizzeria makes any vegetarian pizza vegan and keeps the oven going seven days.
Dinner splits between the wineries and the beach, and both have you covered, since Casita Miro runs a vegan version of its four-wave Fiesta tapas menu, Batch Winery finishes lunch with a chocolate cake you wouldn't pick as vegan, and Mudbrick lists vegan options alongside the estate wine and the gulf view. Down on the sand, Three Seven Two and Ki Māha sit across the road from Onetangi Beach, Vino Vino looks over Oneroa Bay from its deck, and Arcadia is a short walk from the sand at Palm Beach.
Yes, several. Casita Miro runs a vegan version of its Fiesta tapas menu, Batch Winery serves a chocolate cake you wouldn't pick as vegan, and Mudbrick lists vegan options alongside its à la carte and tasting menus. Book ahead for lunch, especially in summer, and say you're vegan when you book so the kitchen can plan.
tibs food shack, Dragonfired, TOO FAT BUNS, Ostend Pizzeria, Mint As and Wai Kai Kitchen are all walk-up or takeaway spots, and Mily's is a food truck café where you can grab a coffee and a vegan medialuna. Akito takes bookings and opens early, so an early start helps if you want the plant-forward brunch.
