Tonnino Pizzeria — Restaurant in Ōrākei

Tonninos is a hidden gem that has been blessing Auckland with authentic Italian food since the 80s.

Takeaway or eat in they serve up unique and incredible pizza, delicious pasta, and classic Italian fare. And if you can fit it in after all the carbs, yes they do gelato too.

Takeaway is a great option as Mission Bay beach is a 1min walk away and the takeaway menu has noticeably sharper prices. Eating in can also be cheap if you BYO and the space has a charming Italian feel.

We’ve been eating here since the 90s and our favourite pizzas are the Quattro, Cappricciosa, Calabria, Aubergine, Parmese and Special.

All the pasta is bomb but the blue cheese gnocci is standout. It is super rich and a lot to get through by yourself but order it with an Aubergine pizza (takeaway or eat-in) and you have the perfect meal for two and can dip the pizza into the blue cheese sauce....

Two grumpy Italians who, when asked "why are you so unfriendly?", reply that we didn't order enough. We had ordered two different vegetarian pizzas. One of them came with chicken. There could not have been a mix-up as we were the only guests. (Perhaps that should have been a warning sign). Apart from the fact that we didn't enjoy our meal and only shared one pizza, the only friendly face we got was when we pointed out the decimal point error when paying the EFTPOS. Even if the food was ok, the unfriendly, aggressive treatment of guests is a reason not to visit this restaurant again. I have friends in Italy and have spent several vacations there, mostly off the tourist track. The grumpiness seems to be united at Tonnino. Which is good, because it makes it easier to decide where to go when we want to have pizza, pasta etc. It can only be better...

Real flavoursome food. I got a house special, volcano pizza. Nothing bad to say about the food it was excellent. The olives caught me (and another customer) off guard though as they came still cooked in the pips so watch out for that! Maybe it gives it more saltiness or something idk but it wasn’t a problem. Only gripe might be the customer service? It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t spectacular either. They seemed a little preoccupied and tired. But it was the end of the day. Honestly I probably caught them on an off day or something.

Would be keen to go back and try out the rest of the menu. Tried some of my wife’s Tortellini and it was tasty too. If you want a safe bet I’d recommend the pizza. My one was nice and crisp whilst also having a decent ratio of bread and toppings. Nothing I hate more than getting a pizza with barely any...