Gorilla Kitchen - 100% Vegan Plant Based Eatery & Brewtique - Symonds Street — Restaurant in Waitematā

Great food unfortunately let down by a few annoyances - we arrived at 1445 on a Sunday, google says they close at 1600 on a Sunday so this should have been fine but we were told they actually close at 1500 but we could order as take away. Not ideal, but we’d come out of our way to eat here so we went ahead. We let the lady at the counter know that google says they close at 1600 and she said she knows but hasn’t got around to changing it, that ‘not really fussed’ attitude is not great when people have gone out of their way to visit thinking they’ll have over an hour. While we sat waiting for our now takeaway food, to our surprise they actually let more people in to order food, now with less than 10 minutes until they close. We got our food and went outside to eat it on the public bench outside, which after paying $77 for 2 meals, 2 drinks and a slice of cake is a bit of a downer to be eating out of a paper bag on the side of the road next to a bin. After eating we got up to leave and on looking into the window, the people who arrived after us are all sat at their table eating from takeaway containers, but indoors, not really acceptable that it was one rule for us and another for them. Quite a shame as the food was very nice. Unfortunately because of this it’s unlikely we’d come out of our way to...

So dining with a vegan, I was surprised to find a lot more plant based eateries up and cooking in Auckland City, great news! We were wanting an early lunch and decided upon Gorilla Kitchen.

Upper Symonds st, slowly coming back to life , we parked in St Benedict's St, lucked out with finding easy park straight away, with a short walk around to Gorilla Kitchen.

Symonds St is one hell of a wind tunnel! Once inside all good, modern, polished concrete floors, tiled walls, nice open space.

First there, greeted immediately, had our choice of tables.

Good service, gave us time, but still attentive .

We each had a Burger, and a craft beer. Burgers came with choice of chips or salad.

Wasn't disappointed, tasty and filling.

The place started to fill up , nice atmosphere, hipsters and students, a youthful crowd.

We left content, and walked the block checking out the ever evolving upper Queen Street,...

Disappointing Experience at Gorilla Kitchen...

While the service upon arrival was prompt and friendly, our recent dining experience at Gorilla Kitchen was unfortunately marred by a less-than-ideal meal. The Bruschetta with tempeh was served quickly, but the tempeh itself had a burnt taste that detracted from the otherwise fresh salad. When we brought this issue to the attention of a staff member, their response was dismissive, insisting that the flavour was due to the soy sauce used in cooking. While we appreciate the 10% discount offered as a gesture of goodwill, the lack of genuine concern for our feedback and the insistence that our perception was incorrect left us feeling undervalued as customers. It's disappointing to see a decline in food quality, as our previous experiences at Gorilla Kitchen have been positive. We hope that future visits will be more aligned with the high standards we've...