Bestie Cafe
Bestie cafe in St Kevins Arcade is ideally located, sunlit and overlooking Myers Park in the central city of Auckland. There’s a great buzz from the creative and alternative souls in the ‘hood and it kinda feels like the perfect place to grab a homegrown beetroot juice and write a screenplay! We were full of anticipation on arrival but sadly, our expectations were not to be satisfied – in writing this review, a Husky was overheard saying, “Awww, it used to be good.”
Eeek. Harsh?
The service was underwhelming both on arrival and beyond – this could be down to the busy lunch rush but the feeble warmth from the front of house was well eclipsed by the stifling warmth from the sun. The big windows create a space akin to a glass house without air conditioning so we imagine it’s a challenging environment to work in.
The food was served in small portions and not very inspiring. The pickled vegetable sides which accompanied all of our dishes, though pretty and colourful, overpowered all of the dishes with vinegar.
Hopefully next time we visit things will have improved as it is a lovely space, we figure even our besties have off days, right?
Sarah had the chilli butter fried eggs on sourdough. She said “Typically St Kevins Arcade delivers, today the atmosphere was there, as it is an amazing space, but everything else was a bit lacking. From the service to the menu and the food things were just ok. The eggs and sourdough were what you would expect, no amazing flavours apart from the side of pickled vegetables which we all agreed were overwhelming.”
Louise had the Sardines on toast w/ soft boiled egg and drank the tumeric & ginger soda. She said “Really enjoyed the rich colours on the plate and the wide airy spaciousness of the cafe, but that’s about it. The sardines turned up still in the tin, though this clearly demonstrated they were legit sardines (perhaps the deconstructed thing is cool?), I was underwhelmed; the GF bread was small and over toasted to break-a-tooth vibes and the fermented side garnishes were larger than my main. What. Not sure what happened but this B ain’t my FF any longer.”
Sam had the Seasonal Bowl and drank a mocha. He said “First Lunch of the Year and K Road is always good for people watching. I had high hopes for this spot but it didn’t deliver. The idea of a seasonal bowl was yum but it was very overpowered by vinegar, so was everything else. I liked the spot and location in the sun with a good little view – I would like to go back and try something different another time.”
