My wife and I visited NZ this summer and were surprised by the high quality of food and coffee. We are foodies and were expecting more of what we have encountered in UK and OZ.
Great fresh local eateries, awesome Lattes. Not sure where the food basher folks were eating, maybe they had there nose stuck in an outdated lonely planet.
We have lived in SF Seattle DC and spent time in other good food locales such as NYC Paris etc.
You better be ready for some good coffee in Wellington. It is known as a coffee snob town as there are cafe's everywhere and they don't survive long unless they make 'great' coffee. Starbucks struggles here cause the US version of sweet, weak, burnt coffee just doesn't go down well.
As far as food - Wellington has one of the most varied selection of restaurants anywhere in the world. Outside of the central city the choice is more limited, mainly cause New Zealander's actually cook their own meals and eat at home more than they eat out.