WellingtonEat & Drink
The interior of Mean Doses Taproom, a Brewery and Fillery located at 66 Tory Street, Te Aro, Wellington, with two vintage pinball machines and a pink neon sign in the background. A person wearing a green jumper is playing the pinball machine in the foregr

Mean Doses Taproom

  • Location

    Level 1, 66 Tory Street, Te Aro, Wellington

  • Website

    Mean Doses

With great games, drinks, and food on hand, this Tory Street bar makes it hard to leave.

There’s no time to get bored at Mean Doses Taproom. There’s so much on offer. Arcade games, pinball, pool tables, and shuffleboard help you build up a thirst for the excellent brews and food on the menu. 

A person stands at the bar at Mean Doses Taproom, located in Te Aro, Wellington. A bartender wears a blue T shirt is working behind the counter. The space is dark with fuchsia-coloured neon lights.
A bartender is pouring a draft beer at Mean Doses, a bar in Te Aro, Wellington.

The expansive first-floor bar serves as a showcase for the brewery of the same name. The taproom and brewery lie 250 meters apart on Tory Street. This makes it easy for owner and head brewer Dean Moses to supply the bar with the latest brewery experiment. Bar manager Dave Wood says you can expect a rotating lineup of eight Mean Doses beers on tap. “There’s always a core group including an IPA, pilsner, hazy, and dark beer.“ The others will vary depending on what’s brewing up the road. “Dean is constantly playing with recipes and coming up with weird and wonderful ways to make the beers better.”. 

If you’re not one to froth with excitement over a cold beer, don’t fret. Mean Doses has an extensive list of spirits, including over 30 gins. Testing flights for both gin and beer are available. To accompany your drinks, the bar menu has grilled sandwiches, tater tots, and other filling bites. Downstairs restaurant Apachè offers a selection of Northern Vietnamese delicacies. Order at the bar, and the staff will hop downstairs when it’s ready and deliver it to your table. 

A smiling bartender in a blue teeshirt at Mean Doses stands behind the bar taking an order.

Neon pink, orange, and purple accent the space. Swathes of material in the same colours swoop over the bar like a circus tent. You’ll also find pink velvet curtains in the arcade area. The mix of neon against a black background is a “synthwave aesthetic”, according to Dave. It’s a colour scheme associated with 1980s sci-fi, and ties in with the bar’s extensive game selection. 

The entertainment aspect is a big drawcard and fills a gap in the local market. “When designing the space, Dean wanted a ‘bar-cade’ feel. It fulfilled a childhood dream to have a rec room”. Dean’s rec room is open for everyone to eat, drink, and relax.

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