Auckland power outage: Cocktails by candlelight after Karangahape Rd plunged into darkness

Restaurants turned the atmosphere romantic as they switched to candles and pressed on with the service. Photo / Supplied

Covid-hit Auckland bars and eateries were dealt another blow last night after a power outage on K Rd left customers dining in the dark.

Photos show bars had to resort to candles on tables to keep operating after the outage struck around 9pm.

The outage added to an already tough period for the restaurants, which have only just returned to having diners in their premises under the level 2.5 restrictions.

Patrons at the Eagle Bar ensure the beers keep flowing despite the outage. Photo / Supplied

They also still face limits of allowing no more than 10 people to be in groups in the restaurants.

The team at popular eatery Uncle Man's Mayalsian Restaurant and Takeaway had to close once the power outage hit about 8.45pm.

This was especially because the kitchen extractor fans lost power and smoke from the kitchen started wafting into the restaurant.

That meant the team had to close the restaurant and send customers home.

Fortunately, they were only 10 minutes from closing time so didn't lose a big portion of their Friday night sales.

Power supplier Vector said a fault in the K Rd area's underground network caused the outage.

"We recognise the inconvenience to customers, especially during Covid-19 alert levels, and can assure customers that our crews worked as quickly as they could to restore power, while maintaining Covid-19 and other safety protocol," a spokeswoman said.

"Our control centre also redirected power flows to customers, meaning customers were restored progressively through the evening."

The company said full power was restored to the final eight customers within three hours.

The outage plunged K Rd into darkness.