Fresh User Reviews in Manuka

6 Average

Food  6      Ambience  6      Service  6      Value  6     

After reading all the reviews we were expecting something really good but we were disappointed. We ordered the banquet. The food and service were well timed, however, the food was average except for the entree mushrooms which were divine. The bread served with the dips was bland commercial lebanese bread and we found the amount of food for a banquet not enough.

May 06, 2012

3.5 Below Average

Food  5      Ambience  6      Service  1      Value  2     

What can I say, this was The Worst dining experience I have ever had. The service was horrific.

Staff were incompetent and generally unhelpful (when we asked for a bottle of water, 2 staff told us they 'would need to get someone else to do that'). We had originally brought our own wine (no BYO allowed) but the restaurant's wine list is mostly made up of cheap wines at 200-300% markup.

To be fair, the food wasn't too bad (although my order was wrong and the food was cold by the time I got all of it). Definitely not worth what they charge for the food either. We didn't even bother with dessert and coffee the whole experience was so appalling.

Don't waste your money.

Apr 29, 2012

3.5 Below Average

Food  2      Ambience  6      Service  4      Value  2     

I paid $19 for a beef burger with chips. It was very disappointing. Small burger which didn't make up for it with quality. The beef patty was dry and tasteless. Not a great quantity of chips either. Won't be visiting again.

Mar 29, 2012

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  6      Service  10      Value  9     

We thoroughly enjoyed not only the delightful food, but the utterly charming service at Bambusa. The waitress could not have been more helpful and guided our group with our choices. By the way, the wine list has a good variety to choose from. Can't wait to go back with the family.

Mar 29, 2012

3.8 Below Average

Food  5      Ambience  6      Service  2      Value  2     

I too joined in order to review Mecca Bah. What a disappointment to celebrate my husband's birthday. 6 of us arrived with happy faces to be met by a surly, tired looking waitress. Showed us to a table outside in grubby surrounds. The food was below expectations except for 1 item, fudge brownie chosen by my sister. Slow service, tired ambience, less than tasty, pricey food. Oh, and the coffee was Dreadful. Never again.

Mar 29, 2012

6.5 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  6      Service  7      Value  6     

Made a reservation, however, no table available for 20 minutes. Staff busy, but helpful and friendly. Noisy when we were there 8pm, not the place for a quiet dinner for 2, great for larger groups, but Do book for weekend.

Mar 14, 2012

7.5 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  7      Service  7      Value  8     

It's tucked inside a shopping arcade but they did put a sign out on the street. It's set up in an open air setting in the arcade which I liked as a change. The food was Marvellous, probably the tastiest Mexicans we've had! Service as expected. Good selection of dishes. We had the beef fajitas & chicken enchiladas; both were cooked to perfection, nicely balanced flavours & the spices were terrific. Not like most Mexican places in oz where they simply smother everything in cheese & jar salsa.
Highly recommended.

Feb 18, 2012

9 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  10      Service  9      Value  8     

I have eaten at Legends Restaurant many times over the years but have never written a review. We booked there for Valentine's Day this year and enjoyed the night so much that I thought it was time to say how good it was.

The menu for the night was the Tapas Degustation, which was excellent, plenty of choice of tapas available. We had a great time and the food was great. I hadn't realised pre booking that they had moved back upstairs. The restaurant is re-furbed and looks really nice. The only disappointment on the night was the weather as it meant the new terrace was not open, this meant that those tables needed to be seated inside but the staff managed this well.

It was a really busy night but the staff were as friendly and professional as ever. Fabulous night and I am now looking forward to going back for a Wednesday Ribs night.

Feb 16, 2012

9.3 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  10      Value  9     

I was really surprised to see some of the comments and felt the need to post my own review. I recently had my 30th birthday at Legends and it was fantastic. We had the banquet (we choose our tapas without any issue) and had so much food we couldn't eat it all. Everyone in our group of 20 thought the food was fantastic and the Sangria went down a treat and was the perfect compliment.

The desserts were amazing, I haven't had better Flan or Churros in Australia!
The ambience was also amazing, I think they have moved since the end of last year and new upstairs venue is very festive. On top of everything the service was fast and attentive.

All in all it was a great evening and would happily go back.

Feb 15, 2012

7 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  6      Service  7      Value  7     

I've been to Francisco's several times now and have always had a good experience. I wonder if some of the poor reviews below are due to the hospitality problem of high turnover of staff, I've seen a few different people cooking in the kitchen.

Anyway, while the ambience isn't great, I really like the food, and the staff have always been pleasant enough (better than a lot of trendy Canberra eateries). Most of the dishes aren't incredibly hot, so like when you go to any Thai, Indian, etc restaurant, reassure them that you can take the heat and they don't need to give you the whitey version. I usually get extra Colorado sauce for more flavoursome heat. Friends from the USA have declared the food here a lot less salty than the tex-mex you get over there.

Jan 21, 2012

2.5 Not Recommended

Food  3      Ambience  3      Service  3      Value  1     

The only great thing about this place was the pizza - really thin crust and plenty of topping. The service was pretty bad - we didn't get everything we ordered and the food took much longer than it should have (why can't waiters just write things down?). The special (zarzuela) featured some great seafood, but was smothered in bland (and probably canned) crushed tomatoes. The side salad an awful concoction of unpleasant vegetables coated with a greasy, flavour-free dressing. Very overpriced for such low-quality fare.

Jan 17, 2012

2.5 Not Recommended

Food  4      Ambience  4      Service  1      Value  1     

I went to Belluci’s with some interstate guests on Saturday night. We made a booking for 8:30pm so as to come a little after the main dinner rush. We were aware that the food here was a bit pricey but my guests had come from interstate so we wanted to impress.

I was unlucky enough to find a hair in my dinner (I had the duck). I’m not the kind of person to kick up a fuss about anything at a restaurant because I have worked in the industry myself but everyone on the table saw it and insisted I ask for some help.

The one thing I hate is when one person does not have their meal and the rest of the table is eating or vice verca. So I just asked that I get something as a replacement that would be the quickest as to not make my guests wait. The owner of the restaurant said it would be 7 to 8 minutes. That was fine. 25 minutes of waiting later I had received nothing, no service, no updates everyone on my table looking at me and feeling sorry and finished their meals. I was so embarrassed.

At that point I asked the waiter and he still didn’t know and I had no choice but to say don’t worry about it. We paid the bill and there was no apology or discount. Everyone on our table was disgusted and annoyed and just wanted to get out of there. I ended up having a sandwich at home for dinner.

I will never go back to Belluci’s because a normal friendly person who just wanted a nice meal with some interstate guests was treated badly with no apology or compensation for a ruined night and left me very embarrassed for my restaurant choice.

Jan 09, 2012

6.5 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  6      Service  8      Value  5     

Relaxing place with above average food for a bar.

Food: The meals are way tooooooo big. Though I guess some people like this, I just felt wasteful. The food tastes pretty good.

Ambience: Relaxed and easy going.

Service: Staff are friendly and always there when you need them.

Value: Little on the pricey side for what it is.

Jan 03, 2012

1.3 Not Recommended

Food  2      Ambience  1      Service  1      Value  1     

Overview: First time I think I have really had bad Thai. Go around the corner and avoid Thai Cornar

Food: Packet Thai food would taste better. Actually I would not be surprised if it was packet food.

The world's worse Laksa (basically noodles with water and chilli powder). Little chicken and the weirdest tofu ever. Served in a soup blow not your normal Laksa blow. Really greasy, out of a packet curry puffs. Green curry tasted like dish-washing liquid.

The garlic prawns were okay, though mainly because of the sea of soy sauce used.
We ate the minimum to satisfy our hunger till we could eat at home. Tip: if less than a 1/4 of the food is eaten your food is very poor.

Ambience: A shopping centre food court has better ambience. It is basically a room with some chairs and tables, barely cleaned. It is loud, smelly and hot. The cutlery is completely muddled up. The crockery is cheap, chipped and old.

Service: I think they were going for the poorest possible service award. They told us to put the tables together ourselves. Took 30 minutes to be served after 3 times going to the counter to ask for someone to take our order. Entrees took 45 minutes to come out (seriously they are curry puffs, not that hard to prepare!)

The staff stood around talking to each other, then walking mindlessly around ignoring the customers. Another 45 minutes later the most horrible food came out and was just pile on the table, putting the blow of Laksa in front of a three year old.

Tip: three year olds, Laksa, spoons and chop sticks are not a good combination.

Value: Expensive. The prices are up there with the top Thai places in Sydney.

Conclusion: If you want to be completely ripped off, have really bad food, be ignored by the wait staff and have an experience akin to visiting the tip this is the prefect place.

Jan 03, 2012

2.5 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  3      Service  5      Value  1     

Having tried this restaurant a few months a go and enjoying the pizzas I thought I would try again for dinner. What a disappointment.

Wines were priced from $48.00 plus and these weren't great wines, average price in the bottle shops would have been under $18.00. We grudgingly chose a chardonnay for $32.00 (half bottle!) and ordered a Margherita pizza ($23) as well as warmed olives ($7) and Zucchini flowers($13).

The olives were delicious but it went downhill from there. 3 tiny Zucchini flowers arrived done in tempura batter but with an unpleasant salty flavour on the tips. Oh well we thought, lets see how the pizza goes....No roma tomatoes only 4 cherry tomatoes tossed on the top of a floppy cheese pizza, with a few small basil leaves tossed on the top.

Poor taste and not what we ordered. Complaints meant we didn't pay for the meal but we won't be returning and neither should you!

Jan 02, 2012

7 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  7      Service  8      Value  6     

Westernised food with prices to match. Pleasant enough taste-wise but portions are on the small side and overpriced. Two small rotis with no curry dip for $7.5 is quite a rip-off. Service is efficient and friendly.

Dec 21, 2011

3.5 Below Average

Food  5      Ambience  4      Service  1      Value  4     

The service at this place was appalling! Seven people wait 50 minutes for a Bruschetta! One hour forty minutes for two pizzas! Rewarded with an apology and two bits of herb bread. Never again.

Dec 20, 2011

2 Not Recommended

Food  2      Ambience  3      Service  2      Value  1     

I paid $30 for a steak that took 40 minutes to arrive, was dry, tough and overcooked (well done not medium rare) and served with what seemed like half a cauliflower and a couple of pieces of broccoli, all almost raw. For a place that markets itself on its food it was woeful. I've had better $10 steaks. The service was slow and grumpy.

Dec 14, 2011