Hauraki Social Club is a family friendly restaurant and bar that opened in 2024 in the heart of Hauraki, on Auckland's North Shore. Its welcome is simple — sit down, settle in, enjoy yourself — and the room is built for exactly that: catching up with mates over a drink, bringing the family in for dinner, or sharing a table with a neighbour, all with what the team proudly calls the best view in the neighbourhood.
The drinks list leans proudly local. A love of local beers sits alongside New Zealand wines and a proper cocktail list, and from Tuesday to Thursday a generous happy hour runs from 3pm to 7pm across tap beers, house wines and spirits — self-billed, with a wink, as the longest happy hour on the Shore.
The week has its own rhythm here. Tuesdays bring free-entry Quiz Night from 6.30pm, with a bar tab for the winning team; Wednesdays are One Dollar Wednesdays, when kids pizzas are $1 with any adult drink over $10; Thursdays close with live music from a rotating roster of artists from 6pm. The venue also hosts private functions — generally on Saturdays — with free venue hire, and gift cards from $30 make an easy present for the discerning Hauraki local. Open Tuesday to Sunday from 3pm and closed Mondays, with the kitchen closing at 9pm and walk-ins always welcome alongside bookings.
There are bars you visit and bars you belong to, and Hauraki Social Club is firmly aiming for the second kind. Opened in 2024 on Lake Road in the heart of Hauraki, this family friendly restaurant and bar has set itself up as the neighbourhood's living room — a place to enjoy a drink with mates, bring the family in for dinner, or catch up with a neighbour, all with what the team proudly calls the best view in the neighbourhood.
The name says social club, and the team means it. The welcome is simple — sit down, settle in, enjoy yourself — and the whole place is pitched at anyone and everyone rather than one crowd. It is less a slick city bar than a friendly local, the sort of room where the week's plans tend to form on their own.
The drinks list leans proudly local. A love of local beers sits alongside New Zealand wines and a proper cocktail list, making it as easy to settle in for a pint as it is to linger over a glass of something from home soil. Whether you are ending the workday, winding down a weekend or herding the kids through a Wednesday, the tone stays the same: relaxed, welcoming and built around the people who live nearby.
Hauraki Social Club gives its week a rhythm worth planning around. Tuesday to Thursday brings the Winter Happy Hour from 3pm to 7pm — billed, with a wink, as the longest happy hour on the Shore ('we think, maybe') — covering tap beers, house wines and spirits at $11.
Tuesday is Quiz Night from 6.30pm, free to enter, with a clever twist: book a table for extra points, and the winning team takes home a bar tab. Wednesday is One Dollar Wednesdays, a family affair from 3pm where kids pizzas are $1 with any adult drink purchase over $10 — bring the whole family. Thursday belongs to live music, with a rotating roster of artists playing from 6pm each week.
The venue also opens its doors for private functions, and does so generously: venue hire is free. Functions are generally limited to Saturdays and require a minimum spend paid in advance as a deposit; the team asks you to get in touch by email to discuss your event, and they will come back with a quote. For gifting, there are social club gift cards in any amount from $30, collected at your leisure or sent out on request — pitched fittingly as the perfect present for the discerning Hauraki local or the hard-working volunteer team coach.
Visiting is straightforward. The club opens Tuesday to Sunday from 3pm and closes Mondays. The kitchen shuts at 9pm, most nights wind down at 9pm or 10pm, and Fridays run late. Bookings are recommended Thursday to Saturday, though walk-ins are always welcome, and tables can be reserved online or by email request. To keep across new menus and upcoming events — the odd Friday surprise included — there is an occasional newsletter, plus Instagram, Facebook and TikTok for the social set.
In a suburb with plenty of reasons to stay home, Hauraki Social Club makes a strong case for heading out: good drinks, a family-welcoming dining room, weekly rituals worth planning around and a view worth settling into. It is early days for this 2024 arrival, but the formula is a familiar one — be friendly, be local, be for everyone — and the club wears it well.