Fresh User Reviews for Modern Australian in Canberra

7.3 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  7      Service  8      Value  7     

Booked a table for Mother's Day breakfast and it was wonderful. Food was lovely, location is fantastic. Make a booking and you won't be disappointed. The price is quite high but you do get an amazing view of the lake in Canberra and the food quality and portion size makes it worthwhile. Definitely will go again.

May 25, 2012

9.5 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  8      Service  10      Value  10     

We enjoyed a birthday dinner at one of the few restaurants open on Monday nights. I know hospitality has to close some nights but does every restaurant in Canberra have to be closed on Mondays. Our meal was fabulous and the service was great. We were the only ones in the restaurant so we were really looked after.

I would recommend The Artisan. It was expensive but when you have fine dining that they serve you must expect to pay. Very nice night and will be back.

May 22, 2012

2.8 Not Recommended

Food  3      Ambience  4      Service  3      Value  1     

So far as I can tell, and my partner says the same thing, the meat at this place is chemically aged. It certainly tastes that way. I can only guess at the maturation method, but chemical aging seems the most obvious. The place isn't really different from Hog's Breath except the crowd is quieter.

The service was on the line of 'don't bother me, do it yourself.' I know that these guys spent a lot of money on the decor. It would be better spent on the food and getting a decent staff.

May 19, 2012

3 Below Average

Food  4      Ambience  5      Service  2      Value  1     

This was a business lunch. Sad food, no service. I don't know why they don't switch over to a fast food franchise. Not Recommended.

May 19, 2012

1.8 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  4      Service  1      Value  1     

Worst place ever! Do not go there. Waitress recommended a cake to us. It tasted unpleasant. She took it back to the kitchen but still charged us the full price ($16+ for a slice of cake)！

May 18, 2012

6.3 Average

Food  6      Ambience  9      Service  6      Value  4     

Just recently we had been to the Deck for Mothers Day breakfast. It was full at 10am. We had our table of 4 near the door and somewhat very close to the window. The Manager greeted us at the door. That was nice, never happened that before at the Deck.

Once we were seated a staff member took our coffee order and juice within 10 minutes. After that we ordered our food, which took 45 minutes to arrive. We understand its busy but waiting for food uptill 45 minutes not done. Our breakfast arrived at 11.50. During this time my husband called the Manager and spoke to him and asked him whats going, he was then explained that what was happening in kitchen.

We were a little angry but the Manager - Deepak offered us free coffee and juice and spoke to us politely and understood our frustration. He assured us that we will be served shortly. We did get our meals within half an hour. STill not acceptable but the staff were under pressure and wanted everyone to have a nice time.

The food service was bad but the front team made a difference and did the best. My husband and I will go back to the Deck but will re-think on special occasions. We were also greeted with thank you and sorry once we were all leaving. Thank you but Deck needs a lot of improvement in food and service.

May 17, 2012

6.3 Average

Food  7      Ambience  6      Service  6      Value  6     

A nice night out but it didn't quite hit the gourmet mark they are aiming for. We had 3 steaks ordered at the table, all medium rare. Three completely different, one well done because it was thinner, one medium and only one actually medium rare. Service fine but fairly casual in contrast to the prices.

May 14, 2012

9 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  10      Value  8     

Wonderful mains! We loved the idea of the entree sized meals, basically a do-it-yourself degustation. Very finely balanced flavours in all the dishes we tried, just a delight for every plate.

Service was impeccable, best we've had so far in Canberrra. Friendly but unobtrusive, and amazingly prompt. We never had to wait for more wine, bread, anything. Only downside to the meal was the dessert, which was nothing special after the fabulous mains. We will definitely be back (though next time I'll have the cheese plate for dessert).

May 14, 2012

2.5 Not Recommended

Food  2      Ambience  3      Service  1      Value  4     

Given how many staff they have you'd think someone would be interested in the customers. That's pure statistics. We ended up helping ourselves to menus pinched from another table.

When everything tastes of salt, coriander and chilli you wonder what they are covering up? Lack of skills or frozen ingredients?

May 14, 2012

10 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  10      Service  10      Value  10     

Ate there last night and have to say, great value for $. Food and service were spot on! Have been to some great places before but really impressed with this one! Highly recommended.

May 13, 2012

4.8 Average

Drinks  6      Ambience  6      Service  2      Value  5     

We went for dinner, not going to a show so happy for a long dinner and dessert. The food was good but the service was atrocious. They must have wanted to get home as we were rushed. Pushed to order the wine when only halfway through our opening drink, next thing it was on the table, opened!

The food came out one course straight after the other. When we said we would wait to order dessert, they were back in 2 minutes, we said give it ten, so they were back 3 minutes later and the desserts followed a couple after.

We left and went for coffee elsewhere. My suggestion, dine elsewhere, Canberra has plenty of choice with good service, don't waste an evening at the Hermitage.

May 11, 2012

4.3 Below Average

Food  3      Ambience  6      Service  4      Value  4     

We had a group booking so only had available a limited menu. We found one entree didn't come out at all and when questioned afterwards told "we ran out of those" and on the mains some of the vegies were missing. Service was bad, slow and inaccurate and when we pointed out the problems were told "sorry about that" and No effort was made to make up for their mistakes and No cost reduction was given. We will never go there again!

May 10, 2012

9 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  10      Service  8      Value  8     

I took my wife there for her birthday, we both had a great time.

Fantastic atmosphere, love the fire place! It is definately for people that like their restaurants to have character and this [place had buckets of it. Staff are friendly and the food was fantastic.

The only down side is it was a little hard to find but definitely worth the search.

May 01, 2012

6.8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  7      Service  8      Value  4     

Lovely food but very small portions. Friendly and helpful service. Great location for us but we won't be going again unless they increase their portion sizes.

Apr 28, 2012

4 Below Average

Food  5      Ambience  5      Service  3      Value  3     

A Sunday breakfast with family, made unpleasant by uninterested staff who seem as if you're being done a favour. We actually asked for butter and there was eye rolling!
Portions are small on small plates - value lacking. I was also unimpressed with the spinach side that was not only expensive, but completely saturated in oil. The fit out is good, and we were warm and comfortable, but good service really is an unknown concept here.

Apr 23, 2012

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  8     

The Good

A fabulous meal featuring excellent ingredients and presentation. While some of the dishes were creatively presented, I never felt that creativity came at the expense of taste, something which cannot be said of a number of other restaurants I have visited.

The menu changed in the days before our arrival, which unfortunately denied me a dish that I had been anticipating when I made the reservation. However, the dishes on the new menu did not leave me wanting at the end of the meal. The lemon sole and veal tenderloin, which featured a small addictive sweetbread, were particular standouts. I cannot fault any of the dishes, although perhaps the beetroot and carrot dishes lacked the punch of the protein courses.

Our server was friendly and helpful throughout the night. From the moment we sat down, he offered help us add additional courses to the autumn omnivore tasting menu should we desire. We did so desire after reviewing the a la carte menu and after a quick trip to the kitchens our server confirmed there would be no issues incorporating two extra courses (the pork and duck courses).

As for the venue, it is within walking distance from the centre of the city and thus conveniently located. The room is very nice with tasteful, modern furnishings.

While not an inexpensive restaurant, I regarded the meal as providing exceptional value for money in Canberra.

The Bad

There were four occasions during the nearly four hours we were dining that we had to wait more than is usual for our glasses to be refilled or for our next course. However, the issue was usually resolved before we began to get really irritated by the issue. In the case of the timing of the courses, this may have been the result of our adding courses to the tasting menu, which may have placed the kitchen out of synch, so I will not hold it against them.

The tables against the walls are probably too close ot each other for my comfort, but at least the music was at a low enough level that the restaurant never felt too crowded and one did not spend the entire night listening to his neighbour’s conversations.

Even though it is technically still Autumn, it got very cold in the restaurant each time someone opened the front and back doors to the restaurant.

Read the full review on my blog

Apr 22, 2012

2 Not Recommended

Food  2      Ambience  2      Service  3      Value  1     

We went to the Ginger Room as a treat for a 50th birthday. Unfortunately, we were very disappointed. Really overpriced and not brilliant dishes. I guess this isn't the place to come if you're vegetarian but they did have a few dishes on the menu that looked a bit different.

The lentils were just piled on a lump of goats cheese with asparagus on top, the basil dumplings were so smokey, I couldn't eat the last one and that is saying something cause they were only the size of 50c coin. Both dishes were really quite sickly. My partner had the prawns and the Pork, he said both were fine but not outstanding.

We were intending on having 3 courses but after the first 2 decided not to go for the 3rd. That worked out to be $30 for each course, we won't be back.

Apr 22, 2012

7.2 Recommended

Food  7      Drinks  8      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  5     

My partner and I go to Siren for lunch on weekends. We love spending time on their outside area reading newspaper, whilst having some white wine. We love their lunch menu as well. This place is highly recommended!

Apr 21, 2012

10 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  10      Service  10      Value  10     

I took my wife here for our 8th wedding anniversary last week. My wife ordered the soufflé and the pork belly, while I had the buffalo mozzarella and a medium rare steak, All meals were cooked to perfection and the steak was cooked amazingly. The atmosphere was great with the view really setting the mood. My wife and I had a great time.

Apr 17, 2012

5.5 Average

Food  5      Ambience  6      Service  6      Value  5     

This was the second "seafood" place that I visited in the last two weeks. It was at the behest of my good friend, and I went along quietly despite my preference for about any kind of food other than seafood.

We started with garlic bread. It was covered with a drool of buttery garlic mess. We did not finish it, despite being hungry. My friend had a fishy entre and I skipped. I voted for steak as my main course. Wherever they buy their meat, they should try a new supplier. The steak was tough, veiny, and clearly cow meat. It was, however, cooked to order and nicely placed on the plate.

The overall effect of the restaurant was that it was a commercial venture without any soul. The prices were too high for the class of food and service. I would not want to repeat my visit in the near future.

Apr 16, 2012