Flare Contemporary Grill (Closed)

9.3 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  10      Service  10      Value  8     

I have been to this place twice now.. The first time I was drawn in by the price of the steaks $22.50 for a 400g Porterhouse with sides of course! once I entered we were greeted warmly and shown to a table and throughout the entirety of the meal we were attended to by Jenny and staff with such friendly personable service. The decor and ambience of the restaurant is appealing in that it is almost a warehouse type conversion with exposed/purposely built brick walls and gorgeous light fittings and candles. The open kitchen allows you to see the action and how precise/ timely and professional the kitchen staff are(complete opposite to Hells kitchen made famous by ramsay) I would describe this kitchen much like watching a harmonious symphony. I was so impressed that I had a friend from Perth fly over for his birthday and we got together 15 people to Flare.

The service again was top notch and everyone was so impressed with the food, cooked to perfection and of such a high fresh quality. The menu is really simple not too many choices (which if you're like me, makes it really easy to choose rather than humming and ahhing). Ash and his crew managed all 15 of us along with the other diners systematically but uniquely personal too! They also met our request of surprising our Birthday Boy with an individual triple chocolate browny (btw heaven) with special candles we had bought in. Thank you Flare every visitor I have from now on will have the pleasure of your restaurant/staff and scrumptious food as twice in a row you have delivered consistently as I am sure you will again in the future!

Jan 23, 2012 

2.5 Not Recommended

Food  2      Ambience  4      Service  2      Value  2     

Had dinner here a month ago with some of my friends who love a good steak, so we all headed of to Flare after one of my friends showed me flares Utube Skit. Sounded quite a place with all the right tones which was proudly advertised both on Utube and web site. I mean with such a background heading a kitchen and co owners being renowned butchers it must be good right?!.

Well it did not do any justice for our liking at all, as the chef Chris wade/co owner of the Flare stated that it is a fine dining restaurant? It was not even close to what we experienced. Anyway, here we go I started of with the pork belly twice cooked and dry as my shoe soul very disappointing, which the waiter said was to die for!? Oh which I waited for twenty minutes for.

The next I opted for the 1kg rib eye which I shared with my co diner, which we both agreed to have it cooked med/rare the cut of meat was way too over cooked and had a cut on the side which clearly indicated that who ever cooked the thing had no idea what medium rare means or it was given to the wrong table?. I questioned the waiter if he took our order correctly and to our surprise he said "medium right sir" we just looked at each other and thought no and spotted that he made a mistake with our order and he's wife order which was medium scotch fillete which she told him mine is medium rare.

He apologised and asked if she would like it cooked more, forgetting that ours was over cooked. We just laughed and said no we weren't prepared to wait for her steak to be put back on the fire to further cook it.

Honestly chef Wade wake up and go back to basics if it's bums on seats you want then step back and have a good look at what your doing or go dine at some of the other steak houses in Melbourne or even Sydney and see what your doing wrong or stick to your seafood which was fantastic at seagrass,total mess what you are doing now.

Pretty sad that the quality and standard of service under the recommended tag/hype so to speak. Go back and do seafood and don't call it fine dining steak restaurant when it clearly is not. A good example would be the chop house in Sydney if you want to create a reputation for great steak Restaurant. Simple and well thought after even what it states you get value for money.

Nov 11, 2011 

1.3 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  2      Service  1      Value  1     

I am very disappointed with them. I purchased the vouchers after reading the reviews below, but unfortunately I did not receive the same services nor great food they had.

1. We were served ok in the beginning to our table.

2. We sorta waited awhile and thought they will come over and ask us which meal we want to have from the vouchers, after 15 - 20mins we decided to ask one of the waiters to come over and start making the orders as we started to feel hungry. The waiter pretty much ignored us and we have to wave again to make it even more obviously to him that we need to speak to him. He came over and said he will need to get someone else to serve us, so I guess it is one of the restaurants where you get served by a particular staff.

3. After the food came, we were surprised with the portion of it but I guess we can't really blame as we are using vouchers?

4. Our vouchers contains rip eye streak and another one which I can't remember anymore. They came together and the waiter did not tell us which is which and the size and everything else on the dish look exactly the same. To us we think the 4 dishes are the same. We then query about it and the waiter didn't even look and pointed out which 2 are rip eye and the other 2 are something else, but come one, it looked exactly the same? even the size of the steaks? one was meant to be 400g and the other one is 200g?

5. The other 2 had chicken for the mains, the chicken were uncooked, we asked the waiter about it and it shows clearly the mean is red? he said to us it is normal and it has been slowly cooked for over 12hrs, it is cooked but its still show the redish bit? We said to them we feel uncomfortable about it being it still red? the manager came over and said you guys can google it then you will be able to see that by cooking this method the chicken still show red? he was so rude!

I guess as a restaurant having agreed to do a cheap deal promotion should at least maintain their own professional services? I always thought that these restaurant is actually letting people to try out their restaurant? some sort of advertising? getting more customers? but i guess they don't have the intention to do so and is looking to close down their business instead!
We have 7 in total to dine at the restaurant, so 1 of us actually purchased a normal meal there and we still received this kind of services. If I can give a zero I would to be honest!

Aug 11, 2011 

3.3 Below Average

Food  2      Ambience  5      Service  5      Value  1     

Worst steak I've ever had, was cooked well but the charcoal was So overdone it completely ruined and overpowered the taste of the steak. The calamari was absolutely disgusting, the worst I've ever had as well. Coating and dipping sauce were lovely but the calamari was cooked poorly and was like slimy rubber. When I told the waitress, all she did was tell the chef and they did nothing to correct the issue despite me only eating 1 bite of it the tiny 3 pieces they plated up. Not impressed at all!

The dessert of sticky date pudding was the highlight and yet was about 6 centimeters in diameter on a gigantic plate, not nearly enough.

The service overall was decent, it did take a long time in between courses but the wait staff was attentive. I definitely would never go back again though, the food was not good overall and the lack of concern over a poorly cooked entree was frustrating.

Jun 03, 2011 

9 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  9     

Went to the Great Chefs @ Angliss Lunch where owner operator of Flare Contemporary Grill Chris Wade was invited to Cook up a 3 course lunch. The food was absolutely amazing, seriously will be visiting Fitzroy St to dine here soon.

May 11, 2011 

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  7     

Highly recommend for service food and Ambience, however not so much value, we went with a Spreets deal and had to buy extra because the deal would not have been enough as a meal on it's own (The meat came with only one onion, so you had to buy side dishes, maybe this is normal?)

Mar 04, 2011 

9 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  9     

What a pleasant surprise to find you can take a punt based on reviews and come up with a winner. The food and service were both spot on, and combined with the relaxed atmosphere made for a very comfortable meal. Both my friends and I will definately be back.

Feb 28, 2011 

9 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  9      Value  10     

Like the other review here, we did a Scoupon and it was outrageously good value for money. Scoopon has it $150 value for $60. In value for money stakes, it was about 27 out of 10! Even if we paid $150 for what we had it was well worth it. They do a great steak and everything else was excellent. Yes, wrong side of street and the frontage is not quite prominent enough which means it might not stay as busy as it deserves.

Feb 09, 2011 

9 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  9     

Bought a Voucher off Scoopon for a 3 course dinner. The food was absolutely amazing. The place looks great on the inside, shame it's on the wrong side of Fitzroy street so many people may miss it. This place will be do very well. Highly recommend.

Feb 02, 2011