La Zeppa

This is one of the many pub in Victoria park market… This restaurant is very spacious. They also have private space for bigger group or parties. Food we had are tapas as shown on photo. It’s okay but not fatanstic. I guess it more about the vibe and variety of drinks this place offer.

La Zeppa’s deck is hard to beat on a balmy summer’s evening. Decorated liberally w laterns, it’s got a pretty sweet view over Victoria Park and down towards Halsey Wharf.
To be honest, I’ve never been for the food. For me, it’s more of a drinks/​late night location. That deck is just so good!
My only qualm is the service can be über slow on busy nights. We went on the Thursday before Good Friday and they only had two bartenders working… Craaaaazy in a popular bar the night before a long weekend!

I do not dispute that this is a beautiful building, full of beautiful people, with a beautiful deck and pretty lights. But that doesn’t make it a great place to go, there are lots of other factors that I consider when choosing a favourite place to drink.
The service is slow and the queue at the bar when I visited was so large I started considering going back half way through a drink so I wouldn’t be left empty handed for long. I appreciate it was a busy Friday night, but for the size of the building and the number of patrons the staff numbers were sparse. Drink prices are also quite expensive. 4 Corona for 25 dollars doesn’t really cut it as a special offer, particularly when you run out of bottles.
Considering the popularity of La Zeppa it must tick all the boxes for some people, but only a few for me.

A frequent spot amongst my mates, the deck is an ideal place for a large group get together.
There is plenty of space to congregate, with an outdoor bar open if it is really busy. La Zeppa offers great versatility with restaurant and bar well-​separated, and relatively well-​combined simultaneously, depending on how you want your night to pan out.
The one drawback is the bar which I hate to say but it must have some of the slowest service in Auckland. On busy nights, the line can sometimes be a potential 20 minute wait for a drink.
The crowd is always a lively one, an unusual mix of people but interesting nonetheless, as most seem to be content in the large groups are mingling amongst.

La Zeppa was cool about five years ago, and has managed to maintain a bit of that aura even with all the new competition from Britomart, Wynyard Quarter etc. It has struggled to maintain it’s mid-​week crowd, and for an extremely busy bar, it can be pretty awkward being one of only a dozen patrons in a place that could hold 200+.
Case in point I’ve been in a few times recently, once on a Monday after work (dead), a Wednesday after work (dead), a Friday after work (busy), a Saturday night (busy) and a Sunday night (average).
The new deck area, and the Dj sessions on the weekend seem the best time to come here. Quite a young crowd at those times though.

Have wanted to go here for sooooo long and finally last night I went for the first time! It was incredible, just amazing I really can see why everyone goes there. We sat outside on their roof /​deck area and I loved every minute of it. They have large outdoor sofas that all of us squished onto, their house white wine was delicious (so good that I had to ask the bartender what it was so I could write it down) but the best part? Their coloured lanterns and outdoor fairy lights looked so pretty! I felt like I wasn’t in Auckland while I was there, maybe New York but not Auckland. I can’t wait to go again but for lunch this time and try their set tasting menu which looks incredible.

On a sunny, summer evening you can’t really beat a drink on the roof at La Zappa.
Yes, it can be a little banker-​y at times, but I only ever go here with a group of friends so I tend not to notice the other clientele around me and focus on good catch-​ups, good wine and good food. They sell food in little tapa-​style dishes, and although it sometimes takes a while to come out (go and have a grumble and you’ll either get some extra free platters or, if you grumble hard enough, a free bottle of wine) and they’re great for sharing.
Sangria jugs and Pimms are on offer too if that’s your style.

La Zeppa is vast and noisy with a circular bar in the middle of the room and an open kitchen by the door. More recently added is the gorgeous lantern-​festooned deck with outdoor booth seating which really is a lovely spot to spend an evening when Auckland’s weather is behaving. The bar out here opens in the afternoon so you don’t have to trek back inside for your beverages which is a neat plan.
There’s a few things to note: while the New York loft design looks great, it really does sound awful. It’s strangely improved when the place is full but if you have any hearing issues, don’t come here. The other thing is that this is one of the first places in Auckland to do tapas and while they’ve got better with time, not everything is great.
I do love their Platters concept though, particularly the fact that there’s a Vegetarian one. Lastly, be aware La Zeppa «goes off» on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, turning into something of a pick-​up joint complete with DJ. Although less so since the competition kicked things up.
Maybe the solution is to do a bit of a crawl through all the new Freemans Bay bars and sample a little bit of something at each one. So much fun to be had, so little time!