Start at Akito Eatery in Oneroa, where the Turkish eggs, shakshuka and spicy scramble roti make it the best brunch on Waiheke before you work through the island's other 24 cafes.
Last updated
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.
Cafes · Palm Beach · $$
★ 4.5 from 593 Google reviews
Arcadia is at the western end of Palm Beach, on Palm Road, a thirty-second walk from the sand.
Cafes · Oneroa
★ 4.5 from 407 Google reviews
It's the cabinet that gets you first: 24 freshly churned flavours at any one time, twenty of them permanent classics and four new specials every week, all made from scratch in their own production kitchen with local milk and fruit picked in season.
Cafes · Oneroa
★ 4.8 from 200 Google reviews
Follow the smell of hot batter down Ocean View Road in Oneroa and you'll find a silver vintage caravan with a small crowd waiting at the window, which is exactly what a crepe stand should look like.
Cafes · Oneroa · $$
★ 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.
Cafes · Ostend · $
★ 4.6 from 212 Google reviews
The view from your table is a car park and the back of the PlaceMakers building, which tells you everything about what this place is: a cafe that puts its effort into the food rather than the scenery.
Cafes · Ostend
★ 4.9 from 149 Google reviews
Ostend's Turkish deli sits on Belgium Street, a few steps from the bus stop and with parking round the back, and it's the kind of place you spot from the road and then keep thinking about.
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.
Cafes · Surfdale
★ 4.7 from 147 Google reviews
Bisou sits on Miami Avenue in Surfdale, a short drive from the car ferry and about half an hour's walk from Oneroa, and it's the sort of small French-leaning cafe you build a morning around.
Cafes · Ostend
★ 5.0 from 102 Google reviews
Follow Tahi Road past the Ostend industrial units and you come to a little room that feels less like a cafe and more like a friend's living room, with plants crowding the shelves, locally made furniture, a wall of books and board games, and a CD player you're welcome to choose the music on.
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.
Cafes · Ostend · $
★ 4.9 from 96 Google reviews
Follow the smell of freshly roasted beans down the side of True Blue and you'll find this little roastery and café tucked behind the shops in Ostend, a short walk from the Countdown car park and the Saturday market.
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 · 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.
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.
Fish and chips · Surfdale · $
★ 4.2 from 140 Google reviews
On Miami Avenue in Surfdale, a couple of minutes' walk up from the beach, this bakery opens at six on weekday mornings and seven on weekends, and shuts by mid-afternoon, so it's made for breakfast, smoko and lunch rather than dinner.
Cafes · Ostend
★ 5.0 from 52 Google reviews
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.
Cafes · Oneroa · $
★ 4.6 from 72 Google reviews
Half past six on a weekday morning and the doors on Ocean View Road are already open, with Oneroa's locals queuing for a flat white before work, which tells you a lot about how the coffee is made here.
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.
Cafes · Surfdale · $
★ 4.9 from 37 Google reviews
There's a little cabin on Hamilton Road in Surfdale where the menu is short and clear: Island Coffee and toasties made on organic local sourdough.
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.
Cafes · Ostend · $
★ 4.5 from 33 Google reviews
Six thirty in the morning is when the first shots get pulled, which tells you plenty about who Hotshot Espresso is for: anyone on Waiheke who wants a proper coffee before the day gets going, whether that's a ferry to catch or a job to get to.
Cafes · Ostend · $
★ 4.0 from 31 Google reviews
Six in the morning is when the doors open on weekdays at 2 Tahi Road in Ostend, so you can have a warm pie in hand well before most of Waiheke has thought about breakfast, and the cabinet keeps going until 3.30pm, with a later 8am start on Sunday.
Cafes · Ostend · $
★ 5.0 from 9 Google reviews
Hours not listed
The pies are worth the trip here, flaky and crunchy with proper meat inside instead of a sad pool of gravy, and they've built a name as the best on the island.
Cafes · Oneroa
★ 2.3 from 3 Google reviews
Hours not listed
A small espresso stop on Ocean View Road in Oneroa, the sort of place you wander into on your way between the ferry and the beach for a flat white before you get on with your day on Waiheke.
Oneroa has the biggest cluster, with Wai Kitchen for eggs Benedict and a bay view, Doubleshot Espresso for a Havana flat white and a blueberry almond scone, and Island Gelato Co. Waiheke when the morning turns into a cone on Ocean View Road. Ostend is the early riser's end of the island, where The Loft opens at 7.30am for a cheese scone and Carpark Cafe & Bar Waiheke has pies going from seven on weekdays.
Surfdale has Bisou Cafe for French crepes and pastries, I Love Crepes for a smoked salmon galette from a silver caravan, and Floating Cafe KOKO on the marina for rice bagels in a fully gluten-free kitchen. At Onetangi, Beach Store is steps from the sand for a fish burger or a cheese scone, while Island Coffee in Ostend roasts its own beans and pairs them with Little Tart Bakery treats.
Start with Akito Eatery in Oneroa, about a five minute bus ride from the ferry terminal. Order the Turkish eggs or the shakshuka, and add the spicy scramble roti if you want the dish that surprises people. It opens before 8am, takes bookings, and most plates can be made vegan or gluten free, so it suits a mixed table.
Yes, and the standout is Floating Cafe KOKO at the Waiheke Marina, where the whole cabinet is gluten free and the rice bagels and bread are baked on site. Akito Eatery can make most dishes gluten free, and The Loft has a gluten-free cheese scone with its own fans. The gluten-free options page lists 23 places across the island.
