Mister D — Restaurant in Napier

Cheesy Eggs for her and the Smoked Fish Hash for me were the orders of the day - chuck in some extra toast, a couple of flat whites and call it breakfast. The place was busy but we'd come at the brunching hour so no surprises. Our server was Sara ... she had quite a big section to get through but she was quick and friendly. We ordered coffee, chose food and enjoyed the noise. There were a few kids and babies and large groups of diners. A testament to the quality of their food and service. Our meals arrived and I immediately had food envy and wished I'd ordered cheesy eggs too. My hash was crispy on the outside and moist on the inside with the perfect balance of smoked fish to potato - poached eggs and brown butter hollandaise it was delicious! The cheesy eggs were ... cheesy, gooey and everything I knew it was going to be. Thick pieces of sourdough toast to mop up the sauce and it all smelt divine. The experience wasn't without issue. My wife found herself chewing on a fairly decent sized piece of cling wrap probably used to hold the egg as it cooked. You only have to look around to see that the probability of this happening is rarer then hens teeth. Everything we saw coming out of the kitchen was consistently beautiful. Everyone around us had beautifully plated food. So the 5 stars isn't for the food which is definitely a Napier 'must go' you won't regret it and like us, you'll drop by everytime you're in town. It is for the service. Sara and Deepak - you were both amazing and we appreciated the care and professionalism you showed. Thank you. EDIT: Another visit and we decided to try something different. Corn fritters for her and smoked fish hash for...

Very nice ambience. Visited Dec2020.

I had the grilled octopus which am was amazing 19$. This was my first time having octopus. Tasted very nice and not very chewy which is sometimes the case with seafood of over cooked.. certainly recommended.

For mains I had their special which was bone marrow ravioli 29$. I found this quite difficult. Even though I love bone marrow and have it regularly but this was quite heavy and oily. I couldn’t finish it . Would suggest to steer clear. Unless u r an Adventurer.. misfired for me :)

For dessert I had their peach and vanilla ice cream. This was very nice 18$.

Plus a drink so overall 82$... wil come again for something else..

Visited again in mar 2021.

This time had special drink 18$. Ora king salmon which was basically just fresh raw salmon. (24$) and roasted fish (35$) this was monk and was chewy. For that price I’d have expected a more delicate fish like snapper or Tarakihi.

On a whole expensive but definitely worth trying.

Mar 2021

Visited for breakkie

Had eggs (22$) 2 eggs with toast, mushroom n tomato. and fruits 16$ Expensive .. try other places for breakkie

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Nov 2021

Another visit. This time for a steak as have tried every other place. Had miso soaked salmon sashimi (26$) with steak (41$) potato side (12$) and caramel mouse (18$) with 2 (18/12$) drinks. Total bill 127$. Taste wise good but I’d definitely say it’s an expensive place and there r better steak...

Food was lovely. Service of the table wait staff fantastic. BUT there were a couple of issues. One of our party was in a wheelchair and access through the front door was not possible so we went down the alley to the side and found a lovely outdoor setting to use. We left our wheelchair bound party member at the table while we organised food. Our error was not realizing Mister D is no longer a cafe but is now a full restaurant. We explained our situation and where we were seated, and they insisted we 'wait to be seated'. This seemed a bit silly as we already had our table but as they insisted, I sent the rest of our party back to the table and took my place in the queue. Unfortunately we were made to feel like we were such an inconvenience by the 'front staff' as well as by the person who eventually took me to our table.

Our second issue: we had a voucher that had two days to redeme. Payment was made when it was realised the voucher hadn't been used. We approached the staff and were told they couldnt take it as we have already paid and that we would have to come back to use it. Again, silly. They could easily have issued a manual refund if the bank transaction was too hard.

We felt their attitude to be very insincere and definitely not a good public relations step. While their table wait staff were lovely and food delicious, I'm not sure I would recommend the venue as a friendly and easy...