The Elephant Wrestler

We decided to head to Takapuna for a meal in the sunshine and discovered The Elephant Wrestler. We strolled in hoping to get a table, it was rather busy & buzzing.  It is a large place with a great bar, inside dining, comfy chair area, booth area and the wonderful outdoor area.   We found it hard to decide whether it is a pub with dining or a restaurant with bar.  I will settle on both.   We approached the waitress area and luckily saw a sign saying "Don't wait to be shown.. go find a table". (luckily or we may have stood there forever).  We chose to sit outside at a more private table around the edge of the outdoor area.   Superb setting, in the sun, looking in at the cute plantsy outdoor bit with coloured lights, sun loungers which I thought was a quirky touch & quaint lightshades  (or are they candle holders.. won't know unless I go back at night.)   We ordered a strawberry dacquirie which we were told was $10 today, and the blue cheese & mushroom risotto balls to start, along with a caramelised onion pizza bread.  This arrived and we were asked if we wanted cutlery (ahh... yes please) and did we want napkins? (um is this 20 questions).    The waitress reappeared and said the dacquiries were actually $14 and not on special till 5pm.. did we still want them?  Yes. The cutlery and napkins never arrived so we ate....as my Mother would say.. "fingers were made before forks"...    The risotto balls were nice enough, the pizza bread was excellent.  For mains we had a prosciutto & artichoke pizza (what was I thinking) and a beef and blue cheese burger.  The food was fantastic. The pizza was perfect (although I now know I don't really like artichokes)  and its hard to find pizzas with a thin & crispy base as Italian as you can get.  The burger was superb.  Very good food.  We had a glass of syrah and thoroughly enjoyed our meal.  We did get napkins and cutlery this time (different waitress) thankfully.    We ended with a cream brulee which was beautifully creamy  and accompanied by a  divine little Florentine ball... I really liked this.    Overall the service was pretty slack (for want of a better word) - both main and dessert courses were brought out while we had dirty plates still on our table, which is a shame as it brought the overall experience down but the atmosphere is wonderful especially the gorgeous outdoor area  and the food made up for it.   A menu to cater for most tastes.   Overall the setting here is perfect for a buzzy meal with friends or a great place to start at the bar and end having a great meal.   I will be back to try the steaks one day! 

A friend and I checked out Mac's Brewbar on Hurstmere Road after some sweet windsurfing on Lake Pupuke and ended up rolling on into the Elephant Wrestler because both places looked so inviting - we couldn't choose! Salt and Pepper Calamari, entree sized, was perfect with some sodas (we were due at work a few hours later, and had already enjoyed a cider at Hurstmere Road) for an afternoon bite, and the staff were super friendly and welcoming. The outside area is gorgeous and I really enjoyed watching the presentation of their pub fare on other people's tables - I'm definitely going to be back for more. It's a neat place and one of a kind: your "larger than life local" for sure!

This place rocks! Great staff and the wine list is pretty awesome too