The Occidental — Restaurant in Waitematā

Oct 2024 - Ok. It's open. The service and staff are excellent and the place is busy. The very nice Italian gentleman behind the bar saw me drop some mayo on my shirt. 'Whoopsie Daisy' was his response. Perfect. He quickly came back with soda water and napkins. What service and always with a smile.

The food? An utter disappointment. My mussels came in a broth. No celery or onions that you are supposed to eat with your fries. Staff came back from the kitchen with a cup of onions and celery chopped up fresh and thrown in broth. Awful. The Jupiler beer came in a crappy pint glass. I am Belgian. Belgian beer in a non branded glass.

The fries? Crispy but no taste. Bad fries would be the doom of any restaurant in Belgium.

They need to sort out their menu because it is no longer authentic. We have been going here since 1998 and it's been much better than this.

Need a Belgian in the kitchen.

One good thing, the mussels themselves were rather smallish green lipped, rather than huge. Perfect size. Very sweet and tasty.

Aug 2024 - Bummer. Drove up from Tauranga again and it's closed for renovations. Let us know when you'll be open again. We are due back in October to see Eric Idle.

Previous review - Still one of our favorites since we first moved to Auckland in 1999. We now live in Tauranga but whenever we come back the Occy is a must stop. We used to pay only $8 for a pot of mussels back then. Even though they are much more dear now they are still just as good. Don't forget to dip your 'frites' in the sauce. The beers, well they are the best and most varied in the world for the size of the Belgian population. Rodenbach Grand Cru is a beautiful starter. They also have Jupiler on tap, a change from the normal Stella if you like a nice pils. Also, the Krieck on tap...

I had a very disappointing experience today. This used to be my absolute favorite restaurant in Auckland—I always recommended it to friends and have had so many good memories here. But unfortunately, the service today completely ruined it for me.

One of the waitresses, especially the one wearing a tank top, was extremely rude from the start. She came to take our drink orders and spoke in a loud, unfriendly tone. I asked for a drink I’ve always ordered here, but she told me it wasn’t on the menu and treated me like I was making it up. I would have completely understood if the item was no longer available, but instead of explaining or suggesting alternatives, she just kept repeating that I must be wrong—without even listening to me properly.

When our food arrived, she dropped the menus on the table without saying a word—her body language and attitude were just shockingly rude. Worse, I could hear her speaking negatively about us to another staff member, even pointing at us while talking. (Just a reminder: if you’re going to speak ill of customers, maybe don’t do it so loudly in front of them!)

Another waitress, who was talking with the rude one, took away our plates while we were still eating. I told her we were still having our food, but she just took the plates anyway. I honestly don’t understand what was going on.

What made this worse was that I brought my friend here—it was her first day in New Zealand after flying all the way from overseas, and I wanted to share one of my favorite places with her. But instead, we were left feeling disappointed and upset.

Sadly, I don’t think I’ll be coming back anymore. This experience completely changed how I feel...

I'm not sure if this message will be seen, but I wanted to write this for all the wonderful staff and the manager at The Occidental, especially the Korean staff member who served us.

Let me briefly introduce myself — I’m a nurse working in Whangarei. I recently became a New Zealand resident, and I’ll be starting my postgraduate studies next month. To celebrate this special moment, my father took time out of his busy life in Korea and came all the way to visit me for a few days.

My father has issues with his knees, so I was looking for something special to support his health — that’s when I found out about the mussel dish at The Occidental. I made a last-minute booking on the day, and I was so grateful to be given a lovely table. The manager kindly arranged for us to be served by a Korean staff member, which made the ordering experience much more comfortable for my father.

The staff asked what we were celebrating, and I mentioned that it was my father’s 60th birthday and that he would be flying back to Korea the next day. After our meal, to our surprise, the staff brought out a small cake and sang happy birthday to my dad. It meant so much to me — I’ve always wanted to give him a special memory as a thank-you for all his sacrifices, and this truly made the moment unforgettable.

Thank you again to all the amazing staff for making such a meaningful memory for us. I’ll definitely visit again if I...