Reviews for Jetty Cafe

by Janet P.
15th May 2012

Seven friends and I met for a special lunch last Saturday, (we had not met for a year). All of us really enjoyed the Jetty. The menu was varied, and included some lighter choices, which meant that most of us had room for dessert. Everyone enjoyed their meals, and especially the desserts, the sticky date pudding and the banana dish were definite favourites. We will be back again.

by Addie P.
12th May 2012

Amazing view, it seems central Wellington scenery and Lower Hutt cafe style have been smashed together and I like the results.

Great food from both the kitchen and cabinet. The coffees weren’t the best but this is a Petone family restaurant so you can’t expect all the luxuries, however they were definitely drinkable.

The staff are friendly and attentive. The environment is welcoming and comfortable, once you get up the stairs its magic, especially at sunset.

by Les A.
15th April 2012

Last night I had the most fantastic Saturday evening at The Jetty – a Titanic night commemoration, and it was a titanic night in every sense of the word! The food was divine (based on part of the actual first class menu on the night of the sinking) and the atmosphere superb, with most people wonderfully dressed for the occasion. Many, many thanks to the owners and staff for the huge amount of work they had to do, and for making the evening one I will vividly and fondly remember for the next hundred years!

Les Appleton

by Katie M.
23rd January 2012

Awesome place to sit & enjoy a meal on a summer’s evening.
The steak is FANTASTIC & should def be tried.
We also hired the whole venue for our 10th Wedding Anniversary. The service before & during our party was fantastic & we had no complaints.
Worth a trip!

by Louise
19th January 2012

We have eaten at the Jetty Cafe on quite a few occasions now, we have always found the staff very friendly. I have tried something different off the menu everytime we have dined there and cannot complain about the standard of food we have had.

I feel that maybe people shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover go on up stairs and enjoy the lovely sea views!!!

by Woody
15th January 2012

Great family restaurant I love it and so do the kids! Fine Dining No….. Family Dining Yes!!! Great wine list and they serve Tuatara beer YUM!

by hil C.
22nd October 2011

I couldn’t even review the food as the customer service was soooo bad that we left in the first 5 mins.We walked in as a family of 4 for dinner, there were 2 other tables that were occupied. We asked if we could join two 2 seat er tables so we could be in the evening sun but apparently it cant be done. Now I would totally understand this if it was crazy busy but not the case, the place was sooooo quiet. Not only that, the woman was abrupt about it and and got the hump like a pre menstrual teenager. I was embarrassed at her attitude and needless to say we left with in 5 mins of arriving. Its a shame she has not learnt how to look after her paying customers. Needless to say we will never go back!

Comment from Sue J. of Jetty Cafe 25/10/2011    Hide »

This may be your first review of the Jetty Café but you have…    More »

This may be your first review of the Jetty Café but you have eaten here before. Jetty is fully booked most Saturday nights and we have celebrations, where with a minimum spend, you can have exclusive use. On these occasions you can change our window tables to suit yourself. On our other evenings we like to have our three tables which abut the windows overlooking Wellington harbour stay where they are. We are into our 5th year so somehow this table arrangement works. All our other tables are moveable and also afford great views. Thank-you for highlighting that we are open with full meal service throughout the day and early evening which is when you visited us. We served 58 happy customers after you left and you missed a spectacular sunset. I did offer to pull one of the tables out from the window so you could all sit there but we reached an impasse so I walked away. I am in my menopausal years rather than pre-menstrual but thanks for the teenage reference. It made my day. I genuinely wish you every success in your own Hutt Valley business. Cheers

by CathySimpson
25th September 2011

Fantastic location with great views but I will only be going in for a drink on a summers night next time. We went for lunch, my partner had the seafood chowder…was gluggy and bland. For someone who will eat anything, he struggled his way through it. I had the fish and chips, wish I had got a takeaway! Overpriced, the fish was completely tasteless…chips not worth mentioning and for the price I expected salad with it. We were very dissapointed.

Comment from Sue J. of Jetty Cafe 13/10/2011    Hide »

Hi Cathy, it’s Sue, the owner of Jetty Cafe. Thanks for your…    More »

Hi Cathy, it’s Sue, the owner of Jetty Cafe. Thanks for your feedback and I am so sorry you had gluggy chowder. We stand by our food 100% and we are especially proud of our chowder so we would love to offer you a free bowl – it really is the best and we sell so much of it. Our fish is always fresh and you had the butterfish which, I know, some would say is tasteless. If you come back ask for blue warehou – we are always happy to do half salad, half fries – just ask. We hope to see you again. Cheers Sue

by Russell B.
28th May 2011

If you’re looking for a really great dining experience this weekend try the lamb shanks at the Jetty Cafe. The Chef has obviously tried a new recipe as those served to my table yesterday had the succulent lamb really tender and tasting just right -separating from the bone as soon as touched by my knife and fork. Have tried Lamb Shanks at this really pleasant cafe on the Petone Esplanade previously and haven’t really felt motivated to wax lyrical about it. My experience with this dish was easily as good as with my favourite North african genre restaurants in Auckland. The fish dishes also looked enticing with the fish flesh looking moist like freshly caught and delivered fish should do.

by Chris
1st September 2010

Had a lovely lunch here, the menu was great so much so that it was hard to make our selection – great prices to I must add for the beautifully presented food with great flavours! I had risotto and Mum had the corn & cheese fritters. We were welcomed by a lovely young lady on our arrival, who cleared a table near the window for us, Drinks were offered as we sat and delivered promptly – we didn’t feel rushed and really enjoyed our lunch. I’d recommend for a casual lunch or coffee anytime.

by Monica
15th August 2010

A group of us went (12 in total) and had a meal at Jetty to celebrate a friends birthday – thought it would be a nice spot to view the fireworks too for Petone’s winter carnival.
Frankly the meal was crap. Seven of us ordered Coq au vin….four of us got it delivered in bowls without a pastry top. I mean what the ??? It was like chicken slop in a porridge bowl??The waiting staff said the pastry top was on it’s way so half of us waited but the rest didn’t as they were hungry – they needed to spoon it up like soup. What a joke. Like we would eat a pastry top on it’s own??? The side of so called roasted stir fried vegetable were on the side all right, piled on top of a red serviette that turned an unrecognisable vegetable red.
In one word – yuk

Comment from Sue J. of Jetty Cafe 25/10/2011    Hide »

This was fireworks night on Petone Beach and we were overwhelmed….    More »

This was fireworks night on Petone Beach and we were overwhelmed. We took on board your comments and this year, provided a lovely buffet. Much better and we even got to see the fireworks ourselves – absolutely spectacular!

by Victoria
14th May 2010

I took my mum here for brunch and we were both really disappointed. While the views were beautiful, the manager (or owner?) was really rude to us and very dismissive. We both ordered the pancakes with pears and chocolate sauce. The pancakes were very dry, we got four pear halves each which were just like canned pears, and a tiny drizzle of very cheap chocolate sauce. Nobody checked to see how our meals were. The pancakes were so dry, I had to ask for some maple syrup. They gave me some but it was very cold – just out of the fridge and very thick. Not nice. The bill at the end was expensive ($40 for two coffees and two pancakes), especially for what it was. I felt extremely ripped off. The restaurant was nearly empty but we were seated right next to a noisy and full table and then we were rushed by the owner. Very disappointed. Avoid this place.

by Renee
14th July 2009

Many of these reviews seem to be disappointed with the fact the place has cafe food on display in a cabinet if you want a fine dining restaurant go into Wellington…this is a fantastic place with great friendly staff who can’t do enough to make your experience enjoyable…great location especially in the summer on the deck…have always had great service, fantastic food and will continue to go back.

by Lynda
14th June 2009

Agree with Fred the broke glass on the downstairs door is still broken and not fixed. The whole place could do with a good clean ….it looks tired and neglected. Agree that the serve over counter which displays food is not the ideal position for the till. Think the owners should read these comments and taken them on board.

by Lorraine
6th June 2009

The first time we went to the Jetty for a meal it was really nice but last Friday night the meal was not up to standard for a Licence Resturant. Fancy having McDonald fries with beautiful steak/pork/fish dishes and a very small helping of salad then the plate covered with fries shoe string size ugh.Sorry guys will not go back again

Comment from Sue J. of Jetty Cafe 7/06/2009    Hide »

Our yummy steak has always been served with fries and any salad is…    More »

Our yummy steak has always been served with fries and any salad is just a garnish – check out our menu for what accompanies each meal. There are sides of potatoes, seasonal vegetables and salad which can be purchased additionally for $4 or you can swap them if you want – Cheers

by Leslie Meyrick Appleton
11th May 2009

I disagree very strongly with Fred’s recent review. I agree the building does need some maintenance, but nothing major. I am not familiar with 1960′s brothels so am unable to comment in that regard.

I have dined at Jetty on numerous occasions (most recently last night) and the food has always been very good or excellent. The service has also always been very good – friendly, prompt and relaxed. This is not intended to be a fine dining restaurant, but a cafe/restaurant, which one would expect to be less formal.

The atmosphere is not “dead”, merely quiet and laid back when there are not many diners. The background music is usually quite tasteful. A perfect opportunity to savour the great food and wonderful views in a tranquil environment.

I can not recommend this establishment highly enough!

by Fred
2nd May 2009

Having passed this place 100′s of times and never been, we booked for a Sat evening.
What an entire disappointment! The broken glass door at street level was an early warning, the mirrors above the entrance/stairs were reminiscent of 1960′s brothels, the reception was so casual as to be sloppy(at what seemed to be a cafe food cabinet bar.) Food – average, atmosphere – dead, service – poor. Decor – desperately needed updating. A big barn suitable for factory staff outings. Overpriced for very ordinary menu. Crying out for upgrading (or even some basic repairs!), could make far better use of location.

by Motiv 8.
1st February 2009

I’ve never been particularly keen to eat at Jetty because it looks so, well, rundown is kind of an understatement. I remember the place many years ago when one it had a distinct island flavour due to its owners way back when, but hadn’t been back since – until recently.

Its definitely a nice place to eat if you love to have views galore, and whilst not extensive, the menu does look appealing on first glance.

It seems to get a steady stream of patronage, and the staff are all incredibly friendly – it almost felt like somehow all the patrons were related or good friends just based on how friendly they were with staff, and they might well have been too. Personally I thought it was unnerving

To the mains, it was hard to go past the stuffed steak because it sounded so good and it was … for the most part. It was well cooked, and a reasonable size. I did however find that part of the steak was incredibly salty. Not just a bit too much, but like someone had mistakenly dropped a bag of salt on a corner of the steak. Unfortunately this made what was otherwise a good feed, somewhat inedible.

Dessert was tempting because of a couple of things on offer – firstly Churros. Something like a donut but long and absolutely coated in sugar. Was nice, but I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, so I didn’t last long eating it.

I did find it surprising that a place by the sea, with great sea views had very little in the way of seafood on the menu. But thats just me. I thought it would make sense to have more seafood on hand.

In saying that, it was overall, an enjoyable place to eat unfortunately let down by the salty steak – but I would probably still go back.

by Café Chick ..
11th January 2009

Jetty has steadily improved in the last year. The new menu is wonderful, with a good range supplementing the counter food. Service is warm and friendly and the view is spectacular. We enjoyed brunch here this morning; a huge improvement on our experience last time. I can highly recommend the pear pancakes. It is great to see patronage growing.

by Frances
15th October 2008

Ok where to start….I’ve eaten at the Jetty loads of times…just can’t get enough of the place, being a local its very hard sometimes to choose where to dine. Whether its Breafast, lunch or dinner I’m sure you will find something yummy…they even have foxton fizz!

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