Sage Restaurant

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 more on my blog

Apr 22, 2012 

7.5 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  9      Service  8      Value  5     

A group of us had Saturday lunch here. It was a warm day, so the atmosphere was very pleasant. We liked the careful attention to detail in the meals, and appreciated some of the interesting flavours. However, some of the serves were certainly small. No, it's not cheap, it's quite expensive in fact (this depends on the number of course you have, 2, 3 or 4. No doubt Sage would justify this by the effort they put into preparing the food.

Perhaps, because we discussed the food with, and gave some feed-back to, the wait-staff, we got good attention, so no issues in this regard from us.

Mar 15, 2012 

8 Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  9      Value  6     

There are some pretty horrible reviews of Sage on this site and so I was a tad worried about my wife's decision to eat there recently. However, there was little to worry about. We arrived 10 minutes early but our table was ready.

Service from there on was prompt and efficient, though not overly friendly. We ate at Artisan recently and the food is on a par with the great food there (though we still prefer Courgette). Servings, like Artisan, are small: the very scimpy piece of scampi being the main offender. We both had the beef, just beautiful, tasty, cooked to perfection. The sides of Paris mash and peas were also delicious.

Desserts were lovely, the "bananarama" special was good although the coconut flavours evident didn't work. The peach and berri fruit dessert was delicious although I could find no evidence of the honeycomb it was supposed to come with. All in all I would recommend Sage as top class in the fine dining stakes.

Feb 12, 2012 

4.5 Below Average

Food  6      Ambience  5      Service  3      Value  4     

It wasn't bad, but this is the first time I have left food on the plate because it wasn't pleasant at a restaurant like this. The service was over enthusiastic and we felt we were 'processed' rather than served. When we asked for a variation on the set 1,2,3,4 course choice, they were not flexible enough to allow two choices from one set, it had to be one from each.

The tables were so close that you had to converse with your neighbour or you felt you were being rude. Overall, not actually bad but I can't see a reason why I would want to go there again, and definitely not as a special romantic occasion.

Feb 09, 2012 

2.5 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  7      Service  1      Value  1     

Only good thing I can say about this restaurant is their atmosphere, nothing else. The service was terrible and food was awful. I have no idea how they can charge customers such overly expensive price for but services and food. Surprise!

Dec 13, 2011 

6 Average

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  4      Value  4     

Food was very good, however our waiter was impatient and rude from the outset, and simply bad at his job (white whine glasses for a bottle of grange, minimal attention to refills). Other wait staff seemed much friendlier and more professional, but the experience got off to a bad start and never really recovered. Not worth it for the price, and won't go back in a hurry.

Oct 13, 2011 

7 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  5     

Good, certainly not great, and nowhere near as good as I expected it to be given recent press enthusiasm. I initially gave 9 for service but then remembered that our 8:30 table was not actually available until 8:50, unforgivable at these prices.

Oct 01, 2011 

5 Average

Food  2      Ambience  7      Service  3      Value  8     

This is a nice place to eat. Nice vibe, professional staff. It must have the been the cool climes of Canberra that steered me toward chefs promise of the heat of Spain, in the form of a seafood paella.

Entrees were fabulous - me truffled duck egg and parmesan soliders. Generous shards of perigord's best.

Well, then the waiter bought the paella. He oddly explained it as pan scrapings. It was obvious that chef had only served the socrato from the bottom of the pan. So instead of a hearty paella, with rich depth/levels of flavour and texture, i had Crispy rice and rubbery cuttlefish. The promised chorizo on the menu was also nowehere to be seen.

Then to add to it, the manager started conducting a noisy staff meeting right next to us. Desserts sounded good in theory, but we had had enough and left. To their credit having detailed the problem with the paella, our bill was nicely discounted. Still, I shall not be returning to Sage.

Sep 25, 2011 

3.8 Below Average

Food  3      Ambience  6      Service  4      Value  2     

A terrible experience! Four diners having the degustation menu. First two courses were lovely then the remainder went down hill. The rabbit was tasteless and dubiously undercooked. A request for the courses to be slowed down had us endure over an hour break between the third and fourth course, which when it arrived was dried out thanks to too long under the service lamps.

Beef course was dry and tough despite being wagyu. And the chocolate souffles were not cooked. To top it off the wait staff were arrogant, disinterested and provided no commentary on either the food or matched wine. Considering the bill was almost $700 we were bitterly disappointed.

Jun 15, 2011 

9.3 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  10     

Brilliant restaurant that has everything for the discerning diner - great service as well.

May 18, 2011