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Story: Restaurants and food outlets

Orsini's restaurant, Wellington, 1988

Image
Couple being served wine at restaurant

For years the fine dining restaurant Orsini’s, in Wellington’s Cuba Street, kept their front door locked to slow down the entry of the police looking for diners drinking illicit alcohol with their meals. In 1966 it was one of the first restaurants to receive a liquor licence. Here the proprietor offers wine to a young couple.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, Dominion Post Collection (PA-Group-00685)

Reference: 1988/4458/2-EP

by Ray Pigney

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Perrin Rowland, Restaurants and food outlets – New dining experiences, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/2247/orsinis-restaurant-wellington-1988 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Perrin Rowland, published 15 January 2010.