Siana Valley Restaurant Fortitude Valley, Brisbane

User Reviews of Siana Valley Restaurant, Fortitude Valley

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2.3 Not Recommended

Food 3 Ambience 3 Service 2 Value 1

We'd read mixed reviews regarding Siana in the City but as they had opened another venue in Fortitude Valley to much fanfare, decided to give it a try one weekday lunchtime. Limited but free (my favourite 'f' word!) parking was available under the tower where the restaurant is located, however the 'open' plan of the bar/restaurant means conversation is difficult and air quality questionable being on a corner of major aterial road Wickham Street (opposite the Valley Police Station).

The 'restaurant' (or rather 'communal dining area) is up one level and we were seated at a long table which was rather too wide to facilitate any sort of normal volume conversation due to the incessant traffic noise. I didn't fancy sharing my entire conversation with the other diners parked right next to us either (and the waiter would have seated them right next to me if I hadn't placed my handbag on the next barstool).

That's right, the communal table is of bar height (or higher actually), meaning you have to clamber up onto very high bar stools as well. At only 5' 3" I wished I'd taken that climbing course years ago at Kangaroo Point Cliffs, as I found getting on & off the stool precarious to say the least (and I was sober throughout the visit). My 5' 8" partner also found them quite high so you have to ask yourself why restaurant 'designers' create these non user-friendly venues?

Open plan kitchen to our right, which looked clean enough, however staff moved slowly and this was reflected in the temperature of the food served to us. To the menu then. My dining partner of the day prefers small portions and variety so we decided on one of Siana's 'platters' to share - and chose their 'Platinum' Platter - the most expensive at $35 pp (minimum 2 persons).

So for $70 the offering was: Chicken Togarashi, Duck Rice Paper Roll, Wonton Prawns, Vegetarian Samosa (v), Prawn Dumpling, Peking Duck Wraps, Keema Lamb Naan, Tuna & Almond Roll, California Roll, BBQ Pork Bun and steamed Edamame Beans. Sounds good?

A huge(and cold) platter was delivered to us after an overly-lengthy wait when considering the small number of other diners, and neither of us could say it was visually impressive. There were 2 small skewers of Chicken Togarashi which were lukewaram and the chicken itself dry and unappetising, 2 x Duck Rice Paper Roll (again dry enough to make swallowing difficult with only a sliver of duck meat in each one), 2 x Wonton Prawns (again nearly cold), 2 x Vegetarian Samosa(probably the tastiest offering but unfortunately for Siana I have cooked far better myself at home), 2 x Peking Duck Wraps (too much hoisin and only 1 tiny naton of cucumber in each), 'Keema Lamb' Naan (a small piece to share with virtually no filling so could not discern any flavour profile whatsoever).

The 2 small pieces of Tuna & Almond Roll and same of California Roll were possibly the worst examples of sushi roll we've had the misfortune to taste with dry, crumbly and undercooked sushi rice - they fell apart when you picked them up and the California Roll was completely tasteless. Small steamer baskets (the top one without a lid so everything started to cool very quickly) were deposited alongside containing 2 x Prawn Dumpling (OK), a couple of handfuls of highly salted steamed endamame beans and 2 x BBQ Pork Buns which hadn't even had the paper peeled off the bottoms (as I was to discover when taking a bite- yuk!).

For $70 we believe anyone would feel totally ripped off. There was no 'service' or ambience to make you consider the experience was worth the over-inflated pricetag. Infact of the 2 staff members (one of who admitted to us it was her first day & she didn't have a clue what anything tasted or looked like) and the senior staffer who never came near us to ask if we were enjoying our meal and focussed onselling the maximum amount of alcohol to the other male diners on our table we could have been invisible.

Thank goodness we had our 'Entertainment' Card to use that day, although even at half price, the 'value' of the platter was questionable - we have certainly eaten far better for under $40 at many other 'Pan-Asian' venues in Bris-Vegas.