The brunch options go far beyond your normal eggs Benedict. The price is very good considering you can buy the same thing from your local cafe but Leuven offers more variety and also is very tasty. We also had dinner where everyone was extremely satisfied with their mussels. Would definitely recommend and also come back! Also remember to bring ID if alone/with company.
Character aplenty, great food and fantastic coffee. A word of warning though - only order the big breakfast if you are really hungry! Very generous plating of some very tasty morsels. The weekday breakfast special, while not as hearty, at $9 is very hard to beat.
Great main dishes. Mussels are delicious and love the fish !!! Good service and the staffs are nice . Really recommend the mussel and sure will come back again!!
I always love the food and beer here. The service is always warm and friendly. The brownie is so yum and I also loved the raspberry and apple pot pie! Can’t fault anything really
Caught up with a few colleagues at the Wellington branch, apparently Leuven Belgian Beer Cafe is a favoured spot due to its weekly breakfast special.
Had the croque madam myself, a little pricey for essentially a toasted sandwich with an egg on top however it was a filling breakfast.
My toaster was crunchy and the smoked gruyere did make it a little more exciting compared to your basic blt sandwich. Colleagues all loved the $8.50 weekly special and it’ll probably be my choice too in the future.
Showstopper: Weekly Breakfast special
Overall Grade: B+
Friendly service, and a pleasant shelter from a driving wet icy Wellington day. Caught up with friend over lunch. Relaxed atmosphere, plenty of private space, efficient service and good drinks and food.
Beware, even the small plates are quite substantial. Apart from my excellent chicken and duck vol au vent having succumbed to the wind on one side, all was interesting, and the venison burger with poached pear a hit.
I usually enjoy sitting outside in the sun, but yesterday was not the day for that.
The beers are of course fantastic, and the mussels equally so. Just be hungry!
I Had a lunch here with some work colleagues last week. A lovely venue, really nice interior and friendly staff.
I had the spring vegetable tart from the lunch menu. It was nice and tasty with a decent fresh salad on the side.
However, I found the prices on the very expensive side. Luckily I wasn't paying so not an issue for me, but while the food was delicious I will not be going back in a hurry if I'm footing the bill!
I pretty much only go here for the mussels as they are the best value in town. I send all my overseas visitors here to try them. Service is pretty good too.
Make sure I always pay this place a visit when I travel to Wellington. Great when your on your on your own. I love European beers and is always consistent. Love the atmosphere and the food. Couple of large Leffe blondes and some small plates and you are set for the night.
Highly recommend
The mussels were gigantic in size compared to the ones I had back home in Perth. I was in heaven as the mussels came with hot crunchy Frites. My Darling loved his burger too.
The only place I go for mussels. This place has a grate atmosphere good coffee and amazing mussels. The staff and lovely and prices and good. You feel as if you get what you pay for. Recommend to friends
Moules & Frites are the order of the day here (other choices too of course!).
I am NOT a fan of mussels but do enjoy the way they are served here. Excellent washed down with a Chimay or similar Belgian brew.
Leuven is also a good spot for breakfast in what is a pretty devoid part of town for choices.
Went with five friends for two for one mussel night on a Monday night recently and was impressed with the food and service. I don’t like mussels so my friends divided the 6th pot of mussels between them and I had the venison burger. My pals said the mussels were delicious and that the fries which accompanied them were fresh and tasty. My burger was delicious. My problem with the burger was that it hadn’t been constructed very well. At one end of the burger was the venison pattie and at the other end was half a poached pear. So I had to cut the both the pattie and pear in half and reconstruct it. It was quite fiddly and I’m not sure why they had made it this way. Nevertheless, it was really yummy. I brought a cake along as it was my friend’s birthday. They were really helpful about the cake and didn’t charge us a cake fee. The service was very friendly and attentive. I’d definitely come back here!
Regular breakfast spot
Love their potato cakes breakfast and the price at 7.90 (week days only) is great value
It's good food and I keep going back there
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Belgian cuisine is a mix of local regional dishes mixed with those from neighbouring France, Germany and the Netherlands. The plethora of Belgian beer bars in New Zealand and Australia capitalises on a brilliant range of Belgian beer coupled to reasonably hearty eclectic fare.
Leuven, like the others, is not high end gastronomy. However on a Saturday afternoon in winter after shopping in town it is nice to come here for a beer and snack before heading home.
The decor is ... well ... Belgian beer bar decor - a clever wood panelled space, usually with a few old oddments or tin signs that try to give a European feel. Once you've been into one you'll recognise the others.
The beer list is great but there are some gaps and it's my impression that it may be time for a few additions to keep up with craft beer fashion - geuze for example or higher end flavoured beers. Everything on the Belgian list is highly drinkable but watch the abv%.
Food - I try to go for something traditional (what's the point of doing anything else here) so my eyes usually rest on things like herring, stoemp, oxtail, Flemish beef stew. I also love meat loaf so I've had that a couple of times too.
The national dish of Belgium is mussels and fries moules-frite so you have to try them at least once. Although traditionally steamed with onion and celery - moules nature - exotic bases also have appeared such as coconut and lime.
Seating is wooden - pretty hard, but after a 9% beer your anatomy becomes less sensitive. The space is cosy and, when it's cold outside, the beer, frites and mussels can make the world seem a very pleasant place to be - for a little while anyway.
My husband and I had a quick lunch here and were really impressed with the pork belly salad - cooked to perfection. The fries and Mayo are in my opinion the best in wellington, and my chicken and leek crepes were also nicely flavoured. The only downside is it's always very noisy , but that's probably due to the architecture and can't be helped.
Lunch with my teenage daughter (she convinced me that I needed a beer at midday on a Sunday - to ease my conscience I combine with a meal). I had the venison and pear burger (light meal) matched with a Stella and my, soon to be a Uni student, daughter opted for the vegetarian crepe main with fries on the side (washed down with Coke). Both meals were served quickly and tasty on what appeared to be a busy Sunday lunch time.
Waitress was efficient, if not overly friendly, and I must confess to a soft spot for the fries and mayo (and needing a decent amount of will power not to have more than the one beer to wash them down).
A good place for a hearty serve of tasty food with excellent beer to boot.
Great atmosphere actually brought me the wrong meal still was great .
Worth checking out very busy Friday Saturday.
A real European feel wort a visit.
To keep it short, go on a 2-for-1 mussel day (either Sunday or Monday) a pretty good deal on the mussel pots and a decent variety of flavours. A diverse selection of Belgian beers (obviously).
It's a place that does what it does well and lives up to its purpose: Belgian beer cafe, with decent hearty food to go with it.
Nice place for lunch. Great service. Waitress v tolerant of us taking time with our orders. They are very well set up for quick business lunches. Herring salad was lovely. Lots of choice for lunch so that anyone could find something nice to eat. No pressure to get out. Would go back any time.
Always great food at Leuven so thought it was time I did a review. This is a favourite place for my mussel loving partner and he always has the grilled mussels with wilted spinach, bacon & cheese and rates this highly. Big portion as well!
I don't like mussels myself, but there is always something else good to choose from. The meat loaf is always great. This time I had the pork belly salad which was devine.
As some reviewers have said - and I agree - the service is a bit rushed, but to be fair, it was lunch time so they probably working on the assumption most people have less than an hour to eat and get back to work. Sure can't fault the food.
I had been really looking forward to dining at Leuven. I had had a look at the menu online, and thought it sounded amazing. I wasn't sure what I would pick! It was not very busy when we arrived and we were absolutely pounced on by the wait staff. There is an extensive drinks menu and we wanted to have a good look before we ordered, but I felt like we were rushed. We were seated close to the bar and our waitress stood at the bar the whole time we were there. I guess this is so they can see who needs anything, but we just felt like we were being watched. It was not comfortable and although we did enjoy our meals, we decided to move on to somewhere a little less intense. The food is good, and I can't really fault the service, but it would have been nice if we could have just had a little space on our date!
We had dinner there recently
The food was excellent
Service a bit of a mixture
But well worth a visit
Great food! Service could be better
The Leuven is one of my favourite places to eat. I've not had any problems with the service and yes, I think the chips are just about the best in Wellington. The food is served quickly, and vegetables accompany some of the dishes, as well as being a side. As a gluten free eater, I've eaten there without any difficulties - the lamb rump is a good choice and the fish while pan fried, is not floured. It's often difficult to get a seat around the end of the work day, so if you're wanting to eat there, you might need to book.
It had been a long time since I last dined at Leuven and I see reviews have been up and down for quite a while. We were in the area before a show last night and looking for a quick meal so decided to give it a try. Although the bar wasn't particularly busy (early evening), we informed our waitress of our time frame and were still impressed with how quickly our meals arrived. We each ordered a 'light' meal, which had more than adequate main sized portions. (The prices were very different to their online menu, though, so beware.) I had a lovely warm salad of sweet lamb fillets and my partner had the chicken and duck pie, served European style in a ceramic dish with a crust 'lid'. Very nice! Our service was really good; our waitress was smiling and friendly and even brought our bill to the table at the end - something we have not encountered for a long time.
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My friend and I came here for breakfast this morning. We were both feeling quite hungry and had trouble deciding on the menu. My friend is gluten and dairy intolerant and was able to find a number of items on the menu she could have - she was impressed. She decided on the potato hash with ham and eggs. It looked delicious and she said it was lovely. She also enjoyed a lemon and ginger drink - unfortunately Leuven appear to be one of the few Wellington cafes that don't have soy milk as an option. That was the only let down.
I had the poached eggs on herb toast the baked tomato and hollandaise, with a side of bacon. The bread was delicious, the poached eggs were perfect and there wasn't too much hollandaise. The wait staff even asked me how crispy I liked my bacon - good one. My mocha came with a block of dark chocolate on a stick which I stirred into the hot drink - bit of a novelty.
I will be back here, lots of variety on the menu and their weekday breakfast options are excellent value for money as well.
Great priced breakfast and lunches. With extra large beer glasses for lunch! Plus a great selection of beers
Excellent and yummy and good price....
Very nice!! Good service, great drinks and YUM food.
I come here all the time, breakfast, lunch and dinner - no matter what time you come here the food is always excellent.
Dined here this afternoon and sampled one of their mussel dishes. We will return again very soon !!!!
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2 Fridays, 2 vastly different breakfast venues. The superiority of the overall dining experience at Leuven makes Kip’s Café look like nothing short of dreadful.
Whilst we had not booked a table at this traditionally popular downtown breakfast venue, the warm, courteous and highly professional staff had no trouble finding us seating for 6. Upon taking our seats we were promptly asked if we would like to order drinks. After a short wait our coffees were brought out and were off a high standard. A well extracted espresso shot was coupled with milk stretched by someone who clearly knew what they were doing.
Our breakfasts were brought out roughly 15 minutes after ordering. Which considering the extremely busy state of the eatery this is a turnaround they can be proud off.
The meals themselves were not huge in size, but more than adequate when one considers the value for money. For a meagre $6.50 one would receive two Belgian style hash browns, an evenly cooked poached egg, 2 solid rashers of bacon atop a slice of crunchy herb bread with the essential sautéed tomato. I question whether a cheaper cooked breakfast can be found in the greater Wellington region.
In a nutshell, Leuven has set the bar for the cooked breakfast. It is hard to fault any aspect of this well organised, efficient, and professional outfit.
Food – 7.5 / 10
Atmosphere - 7 / 10
Service – 8.5 / 10
Coffee – 8.5 / 10
Overall - 8 / 10
Great breakfasts here! Our order came out once we'd finished our coffee's and we all enjoyed our meals.
My only gripe would be that we asked twice for water at our table and it never came....other than that, great place & great food.
Moules, frites et bière - the classic Belgian combination. And this is indeed the classic Belgian beer bar, no monks lurching around in roman sandals after imbibing a little too much of their own home brew, but otherwise the complete package. I ordered the moules au safran, a generous serving of green lipped mussels served with a cone of chips and perfectly washed down with a bottle of Duvel. If only every weekday lunch could be so civil... My colleagues all seemed to be enjoying their food as well, and weren't even able to finish everything which was frankly AMAZING as we have some decent appetites in the team. It IS quite noisy which is pretty much the norm for these bars - all that authentic looking wood also makes one heck of a good amplifier - so don't come here looking to whisper sweet nothings into your beloved's ear, you'd need to bring an ear horn with you which might spoil the romance a little :O
What a great way to spend a Saturday lunch.
The food was sensational, the service friendly and efficient and the prices reasonable as well.
We talked about the grilled mussel platter we had, long after we had left Leuven. Just delicious and the steamed mussels just as great.
Such an awesome experience. We will definitely be back.
Memories of home for me! Great Leuven style bar. Very authentic and with a decent selection of Belgian beers.
But it was disappointing to watch the manager dancing about with total disregard for the beers!
Attentive staff and an unmatched atmosphere.
I have come here monthly for a catch up over some ice-cold and delicious beer. The wide variety of beer and other beverages are unrivalled compared to other establishments and prices are fair for all of their offerings.
Love the beer selection! Great little spot to get a Belgian brew and a bite.
Excellent service, really good food and the best poached pear I've had in a long long time. A bit loud but that's a typical Friday night anywhere. Would recommend. Approx $25-$40 pp plus drinks.
Open in holidays. Nice atmosphere. Family suitable. Bit of sun and close to waterfront.
Went down well with different ages and groups. Mussels were delicious.
Island Bay sausages with mash. Very tasty sausages but the mash a little bit dry.
Food is nice. Great Waffle. Good choices of beer.
We have been to some amazing places for a meal over the years. And this one rates in our top 5. The food is simply amazing. From the starter of the pate to the main meal of lamb to the delicious desserts. Absolutely mind blowing.
Once again. Thank you for the amazing meal.⭐⭐
Didn’t indulge in enough to give a proper review, but there was a good selection of Belgian beers, and the bite-sized waffles with sausage was scrumptious. Would like to return sometime in the evening for an atmospheric dinner.
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