114 - 116 Ponsonby Road,
Ponsonby
Auckland,
(09) 378 8431
The ViewAuckland Review
Brunch at Santos on a Sunday is like brunch on Sunday at most cafes - relaxed, carefree and pleasantly enjoyable. For me what made the experience even more enjoyable was finding a car park smack bang out the front of the cafe, a real and rare treat along the fashionable precinct of Ponsonby.
It was an ordinary Sunday when my partner and I went to Santos and we joined other Aucklanders there for a coffee and cooked breakfast. Santos is small and a little pokey inside, but takes advantage of an adjoining outdoor area that is larger with more room between tables to move about without knocking your hip on another table. Unfortunately, it was a little fresh for me outside so we opted for a small and pokey table right by the pay/ ordering counter. I sat on the wooden bench seat with cushions so I had the ideal “people-watching” view.
A father and his toddler kept us company inside, while outside were early morning cyclists enjoying their mandatory coffee, more young couples and another family including the dog. More people came and went picking up take-away coffees to compliment the Sunday newspapers tucked under their arms.
Santos does not have an extensive brunch menu. There are eggs, toast, bagels and that’s about it. Consequently my partner and I ordered the same thing, eggs Benedict ($14) – his with ham, mine with bacon – and a hot chocolate ($4) each.
We had just settled into conversation when our brunch arrived. There was nothing extraordinary about the eggs benedict, it was as you would expect from any cafe serving eggs and hot drinks. Ours came with two thick slices of toast piled on top of each other with the eggs on top of that, which meant you got more bread than anything else on your fork. I managed to slide the bread apart without breaking the eggs which made a difference.
In all the service was pretty good at Santos; friendly and efficient, but the layout inside the small cafe space made us feel we were somewhat in the way, the menu was limited and for a cafe occupying space on Auckland’s prime Ponsonby Road it was decidedly average. There was not much about Santos that made it different or a standout, the food itself was presented and like so much I have had before.
If I could give half stars I would rate Santos at 2.5 out of five, but since the .5 is not an option I will leave it as a three star experience. There was nothing ‘wrong’ with Santos to offer a below average 2 stars, but nothing ‘right’ to really warrant a three.
Santos Cafe has been reviewed by 2 users