Panama Dining Room

3.8 Below Average

Food  3      Ambience  7      Service  3      Value  2     

Last visited the Panama about 4 years ago, great experience great venue! Was terribly disappointed on this visit. Wine selection (white) was very limited, expensive, poor quality, and poorly selected. Tried all 3 Sauvignon Blancs, none were worthy of the label, and one was closer to a Chardonnay, and way over priced.

Starters and main course arrived together, then only to have the main course served later but cold. Out of 6 guests, only one was pleased with their meal. Service was poor, little sincerity. Was surprised to see both the bar and restaurant half empty on a Saturday night, but understand now from friends that this venue has been heading south for the past three years, which is a great pity as it has the potential to be a great venue. Let's hope they get new management in and restore it to its former glory.

Apr 09, 2012 

9 Highly Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  9      Service  10      Value  9     

The food was really good, we degusted on seven different entrees to try and get a feel for the food quality. Lots of cheeses, some a bit strong for me, but good quality and cheese lovers would probably love it.

Service was fantastic, waitress really friendly and had memorized all the specials perfectly. The restaurant space is to the side of the bar area, so if the bar is busy, the restaurant area might get a little noisy, although nothing worse than loud chatter.

The whole space has a special vibe, there are views out through the big windows which keep you connected to the outside world, from a much warmer and higher perspective than you might otherwise have along Smith St. Would be a great place for a function.

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Jul 18, 2011 

5.5 Average

Food  4      Ambience  6      Service  5      Value  7     

Our first time dining at Panama will be our last. My partner and I had a meal here 2 weeks ago and we left feeling disappointed. The room is beautiful, I love the bar area, pool tables is a bit weird and a waste of space, but the room is huge and the windows do the view justice. We were seated quickly as we had a booking, but it was odd that on the phone they had said they were nearly fully booked and we'd have to sit at the communal table, then we arrived and there were several empty tables all night. Uh, yeah, fully booked.

I was pleasantly surprised that nothing on the menu was over $30, but we found out why. The style of food is modern with a strong Middle Eastern slant. For entree we had the quail cigar with goats cheese and the duck terrine. Terrine was ok, but flavourless. Quail cigar was weird, poor use of produce and odd flavour combination. It tasted like McDonalds cheeseburger!

For mains, we had the rabbit 3 ways and the venison with beetroot. The rabbit was pleasant, juicy and flavoursome but umremarkable. Fair value for $26 though. The venison just wasn't done justice, overdone, dry and overwhelmed by the beetroot.

We used the entertainment card, so the meal and a half carafe of red came to $95, which was fine, but nothing special. I wouldn't come back for a meal, and wouldn't recommend anyone to dine here, but the space is so lovely I'd bring people for a drink before eating somewhere else.

Overall, totally average and a disappointing use of a great space.

May 07, 2011 

7.8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  9      Service  8      Value  6     

Great dining experience.

Aug 09, 2010 

4.8 Average

Food  6      Ambience  8      Service  2      Value  3     

Panama dining room offers a very special atmosphere and an overall satisfying take on modern, French-influenced, European cuisine. The service on the other hand, well that's just an absolute joke.

We live in the area and actually like the whole idea of the place so once the previous experience wears off, we find ourselves back there again. But the number of times I've sat there shaking my head at the pettiness and lack of hospitality in one or two of the waitresses there, I wonder why we do it.

So after too long being silent, I'd like to make a few points on behalf of the dining public. Firstly, it's good to be proud of your establishment but to impose your own fantasy of self-importance on your guests only shows them that you are easy to impress and don't know what you're doing. No discerning diner is either impressed nor remotely interested in your view of yourself. We come out and pay good money to eat well and have an enjoyable experience. It's funny, I've eaten at many great restaurants around the world and the staff almost never give you the feeling that you should feel lucky to be there. On the contrary, the very best ones have a natural knack of making you feel like an honoured guest.

Secondly, a good restaurant should be a place of hospitality and good cheer. Being petulant and completely inflexible about unimportant things such as whether customers are sitting in the 'right' position, again just shows an amateurish lack of hospitality sense. And all the big deal, scratching around in your little book, every time, before giving anyone a table,. well I wonder how all the other restaurants manage it?

Thirdly, if a diner is making a genuine effort to get your attention, at least just acknowledge them so they can get back to their conversation rather than floating by them like a zombie. Finally, if you served someone regularly, it's pretty well normal human behaviour to acknowledge them rather than act like you've never seen them before.

I want to stress, these criticisms don't apply to all the waiting staff there. Even though I must confess there is a strange 'off with the pixies' air about the service in general, as long as they are not unpleasant, then they should be free to smoke whatever they like.

The thing is that word is getting round. Great place, beautiful windows and views, idiots running it. Half of our friends simply won't go there any more. To sum it up, if you want to act cool, you better be great at what you do first. If you're just mediocre, then at least be nice. Expecting customers to put up with arrogance on top of mediocrity and to pay for it to boot, well that's just called 'taking the pi**'.

Aug 23, 2009 

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  9      Service  8      Value  9     

Night started badly with our booking not being registered (even though I called on the wednesday - booking for 6 people). That being said, everything from that moment was great. The guy in charge (mauris I think) was brilliant. He was extremely accommodating and apologetic, setting us up a table at the high tables almost immediatly.

Service was great and as they were apologetic they gave us dessert and dessert wines on the house. Food was not mind blowing but was very very good for the price. Wine list was great and staff were super helpful with choosing the right wine.

Atmosphere is brilliant and the windows and loft feel are awesome. We had a great night at Panama and will definitely go back.

Aug 19, 2009 

4.8 Average

Food  8      Ambience  7      Service  1      Value  3     

Great food severely let down by awful service. It took an hour and a half to get our mains from the time we ordered.

Mar 17, 2009 

7.3 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  9      Service  6      Value  6     

This is a really unique restaurant space. I love the loft feel, the soft lights, the decor. I must admit I was blown away by it all when I walked in for the first time.
The food was overall delicious and I have to say I had the best yellowfin tuna I've had in my life and $10 cheaper than some fine dining places. For some reason, I went through a yellowfin tuna steak phase and have tried it at many places including Bistro Guillame, The Brasserie, Cafe La and this place won hands down.

The thing about Panama that didn't thrill me was the service, it was really slow. It took ages (like 1/1/2 hours) between courses. They also broke my friend's vegetarian option (the pastry broke or something, so they say) so she was served something as an alternative but it looked a little dismal.

Overall though, the experience was good with the awesome yellowfin main (when it finally arrived) pulling it over the line.

Jan 09, 2009 

4.8 Average

Food  2      Ambience  7      Service  5      Value  5     

Although I am not a vegetarian, I ordered the vegetarian option. Big mistake. Bland, tasteless and uninspired and totally overpriced for what it was. I notice other reviewers also comment on that the vegetarian meals are not up to scratch. Shame as it is such a great space.

Dec 03, 2008 

3 Below Average

Food  3      Ambience  6      Service  1      Value  2     

I cannot even begin to relate the nightmare that was the Panama Dining Room. We had been recommended this place and arranged for a group of ten of us to go. I ordered the only vegetarian option on the menu which looked like a tin of canned tomatoes dumped on the plate with a blob of goat’s cheese the size of a five cent piece. Goat's cheese bake???

The wait staff were extraordinarily arrogant but without any polished professionalism to get away with it. My partner and one of our friends had the lamb shank which when they finished, I asked if I could take the 2 bones home for my dogs. The waiter told me he would have to ask the kitchen. Now I realise that around Melbourne, attitudes to doggy bags has changed dramatically with Hygiene and OHS Laws. But seriously, I was asking for these bones for my dogs!

I went and spoke to the kitchen myself. They were adamant that I could not take the bones home as my dogs could get food poisoning. I commented "You're telling me that your food can make dogs sick when we all have just eaten here. How are your hygiene standards?? Have you seen what dogs will eat?"

Never will I go to this place again and advise all against it for their bad attitude, appalling service, small meals and expensive prices and the fact that they wouldn’t feed their own food to a dog!

Mar 12, 2008