Artespresso

5.8 Average

Food  6      Ambience  6      Service  6      Value  5     

More of cafe feel than a restaurant (no table clothes or cloth napkins). Restaurant was 2/3 full on Saturday night. Ordinary wine list. Only 2 waiters which was probably 1 less than needed as it was hard to get their attention. Tables are well spaced and the noise level is low. Good portion sizes.

My wife and I had an entree and a main each, and then shared a dessert. Entrees were mussels and pork belly. Mains were duo of duck and beef cheeks. The dessert was a combination of ice cream and cream in the caramelized cup. All of dishes were tasty and we had no problems finishing them. However, all of them felt somewhat crude and suffered from having too many items on the plate. The extra items tended not to contribute a lot either visually or to the tastefulness of dish.

In summary, you wouldn't leave hungry but neither will you have any special memories.

Jul 31, 2011 

5.5 Average

Food  7      Ambience  7      Service  6      Value  2     

The serving sizes have gone from modest to microscopic over the past couple of year. This applies to entree main and dessert.

Apr 19, 2011 

3 Below Average

Food  5      Ambience  4      Service  2      Value  1     

Big just ain't big!

Don't eat here, the food wasn't worth it for the price, the service was slack (and rude to the point where they wanted to give away our table after we were late 8 minutes!). Seriously, there are a number of other places in Kingston/Manuka that would suit your needs better.

To top it all off, when I mentioned a few of these things to the senior staff, I pretty much was greeted by defence and arrogance. Simple, just don't go! Especially if you're after a 'big' breakfast!

Apr 18, 2011 

7.5 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  7      Value  7     

A change of ownership at Artespresso has brought a more relaxed feel to this restaurant. The food, while still of a high quality, is no longer reaching for Chef's Hats and has a bold personality of its own.

For example, the delicious duck confit. Served two ways, maryland and pressed duck meat, it came with a lovely duck jus, sour plum compote, bok choy and wild rice. A great balance of flavours.

Service was efficient, but still felt a bit uptight and formal which shouldn't be the case. Perhaps, this is a result of dealing with the public servants/ politicians of Canberra for too long.

Mar 31, 2011 

2.3 Not Recommended

Food  4      Ambience  3      Service  1      Value  1     

This is probably the worst dining experience I've ever had in terms of service.

I went here for dinner with my family, 11 of us arriving at 7 pm. The wait staff were absolutely hopeless. They didn't take our drinks order until about half an hour in, and then took so long to bring the drinks out we had to ask for them. Then they didn't take our food order until about an hour in, even though we were all starving and would've been ready about 40 minutes ago.

The waitress we had was extremely rude and surly, standing at the very end of the table and yelling "do you wanna order?" to us instead of moving around the table (like it was my fault for not hearing her when she took my order from about 3 metres away!).

Our mains took so long to bring out that we had to ask where they were, and again, were treated very rudely. Many of us were looking forward to dessert and skipped entrees to make room, but we weren't even offered dessert menus until about 40 minutes after they'd cleared our mains, by which stage it was too late in the night.

The waitress didn't even care or offer any apology. When we complained to the head waiter he told us that it was our fault for ordering too late! I couldn't believe it! They didn't even come to take our order for the first hour!

There were other more minor things, the other waiter was very inexperienced, held our drinks by the rim of the glass (yuck!), reached over us to pick up/serve plates etc. The food was ok, but certainly not good enough to make up for the appalling treatment, and not even a memorable meal.

The previous time my partner went here and fell ill. Don't even bother going here.

Mar 29, 2011 

9.8 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  9      Service  10      Value  10     

Since the new change in ownership Artespresso is taking a new path and I can tell you it is great.

The staff are so friendly and willing to help in any way possible and the food is out of this world and very different to what we have seen. We often staff in the York apartments and have been here in the past and were not impressed but after seeing and hearing about the changes and new owners were very impressed.

Nov 22, 2010 

7.3 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  7      Service  9      Value  6     

Essentially, Artespresso is an upmarket cafe style restaurant. Food here is good enough, but nothing spectacular, although they do make some great coffee. Service is spot on. Recommended if you want a no nonsense meal in a nice spot of town.

Aug 18, 2010 

7.8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  6      Service  9      Value  8     

I have to say that this is one of my favorite places and yes there are some short falls which I now manage around. Never sit anywhere other than at the back of the restaurant in a corner with the cushioned seats. Anywhere else is really drafty and cold. Not much ambience near the window and it can be noisy. Make sure you get the nice young dark handsome waiter not the grumpy senior staff.

Not a place for intimate dining as it does have a cafe feel about it which is a pity.
At one stage during your visit try the Seafood Pie. It is a big serve but delicious.

Jul 11, 2010 

5.3 Average

Food  4      Ambience  6      Service  6      Value  5     

Ordering fish away from the coast is often a problem. You would think that after 50 years I would have learnt! Swordfish still cold and uncooked in the centre. Thawing is a good principle with frozen produce. However, it was always going to be a step-down from 'Ottoman' the previous evening.

Apr 03, 2010 

7.3 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  7      Service  7      Value  7     

We really enjoyed this restaurant, the food was really good and it had a nice feel to the place. Possibly a little on the expensive side, but that seems to be Canberra pricing. I would definitely go back again and would recommend it to friends visiting Canberra.

Sep 11, 2009