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User Reviews on Balmain's Canteen
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 22 comments
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| Overall |
 
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Average |
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Food 6 |
Ambience 6 |
Service 6 |
Value 6 |
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Pretty decent joint without the major attractions, I love the outdoor seating and the hassle and bustle of busy Darling St and the local urban feel Balmain poses. I've never eaten there so no comment. Depending on the day you might be treated with great respect one day and like a hobo on the next.
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Coffe deluxe -
See my reviews 20 , 08 August 2008
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| Overall |
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Not Recommended |
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Food 1 |
Ambience 3 |
Service 1 |
Value 1 |
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I had ordered the scambled eggs, they were terrible. Rubbery and over cooked. Its not the most complicated dish to cook. The pricings are very fair, though no one should have to pay or consume what I had received.
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indulge -
See my reviews 3, 26 May 2008
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| Overall |
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Recommended |
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Food 7 |
Ambience 7 |
Service 9 |
Value 7 |
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We have visited Canteen several times over the busy Christmas period and the service has always been friendly and efficient. Occasionally there was a wait but we were always warned when this was the case.
The food is generally of a good standard too, especially the bacon and avocado baguette!
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greedyboy -
See my reviews 2, 03 January 2008
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
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| Overall |
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Not Recommended |
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Food 1 |
Ambience 3 |
Service 1 |
Value 1 |
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Was a Canteen regular (note that I use was). The service has gone so far downhill that is unbelievable and we will not be going back. After waiting approximately 15 minutes to get our order taken (they now have take orders at your table) we then waited another 20 minutes before we could get a waitress' attention to find out where our drinks were. She said that she would find out (how she could find out by going outside rather than talking to the Barista I'll never work out).
My wife then asked the manager where our drinks and also our meals were (by this point it had been approximately 40 minutes since our orders were taken and nearly an hour since arriving). The manager assured us that our meals would be here shortly (we still hadn't received our coffees by this point and at least 4 take away orders and several table who arrived after us had been given theirs). At the 45 minutes mark we still had not received our meals or drinks and got up and left. Hence the scores of 1 for food (didn't get any), Service (incompetent).
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tiger73 -
See my reviews 1, 27 December 2007
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
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| Overall |
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Average |
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Food 6 |
Ambience 6 |
Service 5 |
Value 7 |
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I understand some places have good days and bad days. This may have been a bad day but not bad enough to turn me right off, but not good enough I wuld try it again over another or new place.
Went there for lunch, I ordered Meditteranean vegie stack, my friend ordered the pumpkin risotto special and my partner had the caeser salad, we all had milkshakes of various flavours (chocolate, banana and mango). I placed my order at the counter, clearly, the waitress appeared to have taken it all in and she could speak English, she was even an Australian! (I have no problem with international waitresses, I find it interesting people love to pick up on the fact the person couldn't not understand, not that they should try a bit harder to be understood. after all, the restaurant wouldnt hire people who couldn't do the work).
Anyway, rant over. So our milkshakes are delivered, all vanilla. When I said to one of the staff "we ordered so and so" she said 'are you sure?' No, I just felt like changing my mind and giving you a hard time. Of course I am sure. But fine with that. My and my partner's dish came out fine. My friend's pumpkin risotto however, was just plain and white, not at all orange or with any of the proscuitto, spinach and other ingredients the specials board promised.
Again, I said to the waitress, "We ordered the pumpkin risotto". She said "that is the risotto". I said "yes it is A risotto, but not the pumpkin risotto I ordered." To which she replied "well that's the only risotto we have". And I pointed to the specials board and said "well, you have pumpkin risotto on your menu, this is not pumpkin." She said "that's the only risotto we have". To which I then said, "Can you please ask your chef. If you have run out of pumpkin ingredients, then fine, we should have been told and ordered something else. But this is not what we ordered." So she went to the chef and it turned out they did have pumpkin risotto, the waitress just wrote 'risotto' on the order and he assumed it meant just plain. I didn't like arguing with the staff over something they should have known (ie what was on their menu).
Overall, the food is tasty and the value is good. The service however, not so good. Most places in Balmain have good food, and usually personality and good service is what makes you choose one place over another. The waitresses were young and perhaps a little inexperienced but I think arguing over your lunch is something I would like to do without.
One redeeming factor though were their "Cookie Couture" biscuits. YUM! Gingerbread biscuits with the silvery balls (cahous I think theyre called) beautiful icing, shaped in teapots, my little ponies, hearts, guitars, elephants. Loved them! $4 each but well worth it as they are pretty big.
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ken_w -
See my reviews 52, 05 November 2007
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
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| Overall |
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Recommended |
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Food 6 |
Ambience 7 |
Service 9 |
Value 6 |
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Well well I've lived in Balmain for ten years and have seen the ups and downs of Canteen over this period. After returning from London on a work contract went there recently with friends for breakfast and had an enjoyable experience.
Firstly I was greeted at the counter by a lovely lady with a great smile & charming accent which I curiously could not pick. I ordered my usual cappucino & scrambled eggs with bacon & toast. The price seemed reasonable for Balmain, it took an understandable 15mins since the place was quite busy as usual and it tasted fine, In summary it was nice to see the friendly staff back at Canteen and a good coffee being served again.
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theswan -
See my reviews 2, 13 October 2007
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
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| Overall |
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Not Recommended |
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Food 2 |
Ambience 1 |
Service 1 |
Value 2 |
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Gone are the days of walking into Canteen to find a friendly Steve Bisley smiling back at me to take my order, have a laugh and friendly chat, then looked after by his attractive friendly and attentive staff. I recently returned to Canteen after a 6 month break due to a mediocre performance by the Canteen team. Seeing the renovations finished and yet another new management, I thought I would give canteen another chance. Firstly I was greeted by a friendly enough, but almost non- English speaking, Spanish woman.
After my third attempt at ordering a Fruit toast special on the black board menu, and a latte, I gave up and opted for scrambled eggs, bacon and avocado with spelt toast, as I have a gluten intolerance. Long story short, Scrambled eggs overcooked, rubbery and with brown bits throughout, toast was not spelt as I ordered, but a cold pre-cooked mass production baguette, which I couldn't eat anyway bacon was oily, sloppy and undercooked, and the missing avocado, which I am paying $3.50 for a small quater of an avocado, turned up towards the end of my meal and yes, that too had the seemingly regulation brown spots in it too.
Then came the Soy flat white that I ordered??? But wait.! Didn't I order a... Nevermind. The Canteen team is in dire need of a strong team leader and an equally strong kitchen team to get this ball rolling. Unfortunately, for them, they have neither.
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Balmain Foody -
See my reviews 1, 25 September 2007
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| Overall |
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Average |
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Food 6 |
Ambience 4 |
Service 4 |
Value 5 |
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Can't say I've ever had anything particularly bad to eat here. The experience has just not ever been that great - it's a bit like, well, a canteen really. Outside seats catching the morning sun is one redeeming feature.
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papa & pram -
See my reviews 37, 06 August 2007
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| Overall |
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Highly Recommended |
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Food 9 |
Ambience 9 |
Service 8 |
Value 9 |
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I am surprised to hear some of the comments. I have been coming to Canteen for over 8 years and have seen the little changes that have occurred with new management/ owners.
The coffee is still good (Toby's Estate), so are the breakfasts. The service is cheerful, and welcoming and the value for money is fine. They do awesome scrambled eggs, not over cooked. The juices are freshly squeezed, and the food fresh. Not sure what place some of the reviewers are referring to.
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Kanjv -
See my reviews 7, 19 May 2007
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
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| Overall |
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Not Recommended |
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Food 1 |
Ambience 4 |
Service 1 |
Value 1 |
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Recently had lunch with a friend here and was hugely disappointed. Granted, we were ordering after 3pm (kitchen closes at 4) but that should not excuse extremely poor service and food that should have been put in the bin, rather than served.
I had a salmon nicoise salad. The green beans had been cut and gone black at both ends, at least 1cm each end. Some of them even had fungus growing out. Not wanting to make a fuss as I was with a friend I pushed them to one side, only to discover a few hairs at the bottom of the salad plate.
I tried to get someone's attention, but they were too busy cleaning and packing up the place. I took my 1/4 eaten salad up to the counter and quietly explained the problem. The waiter shrugged his shoulders, took the plate from me and that was it. No apology, no refund. Avoid this place at all costs!
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TasteOz -
See my reviews 4, 13 May 2007
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