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User Reviews on Book Kitchen, The
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 61 comments
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| Overall |
  
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Average |
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Food 9 |
Ambience 3 |
Service 1 |
Value 3 |
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My partner and I ate here yesterday, as I desperately wanted to try the food after walking past most wends en route to the Bourke Street bakery. We arrived around 12:30 noon and whilst there was a short line we were promptly seated. Our drinks order was taken, as was our food, and we waited. And waited...and waited. Waiting wouldn't have bothered me so much I guess if we were told there was going to be 45 minutes to 1 hour wait. But the place was packed and the noise over bearing. We ended up waiting over an hour before receiving our food. (Breakfast/brunch at quarter to 2pm???)
Regardless I was just finally happy to see our food, but as it was brought out, it was missing our sides! Before I even had a chance to ask the waitress where my avocado and bacon was, she had already picked the plates off the table turned around and left. (Without a word might I add?) She eventually returned with my sides, except my partners sides were still missing. When we queried her the response was - "What? You want TWO sides of bacon?!" Clearly yes if we had ordered it?
After grunting at me she then turning around to the kitchen to demand a side of bacon straight up it appeared and was slammed on our table!
Let me assure you I didn't bother to ask for the salt!
To make matters worse - half way through my meal another waitress walked past and began trying to clear out plates - whilst I was mid mouthful! This is one of my pet hates and had the food not been so tasty (or perhaps me so hungry) I would have walked out right there.
Food was superb, although the service left such a bad taste in my mouth (pardon the pun) that I won't be returning. After all when I am paying for breakfast on a Sunday - with a 10% surcharge the last thing I want is a snooty nosed waitress giving me attitude. Thanks but no thanks. Definitely not recommended.
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Al*Cuci -
See my reviews 1 , 18 August 2008
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| Overall |
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Highly Recommended |
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Food 9 |
Ambience 8 |
Service 8 |
Value 8 |
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Great menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The lamingtons were fantastic. Highly recommended.
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hackdaddy20 -
See my reviews 4, 02 August 2008
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| Overall |
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Recommended |
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Food 8 |
Ambience 8 |
Service 8 |
Value 7 |
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I don't think some of the reviews for this place are warranted. They put me off going to the Book Kitchen because I was so scared about what the service would be like. However, the service is nowhere near as bad as made out here.
I went here on WYD when the cafe was over-crowded for several hours with locals and pilgrims, and I must say that despite anxiety caused by bad reviews, I had a great time. We were attended to promptly, our coffees came quickly, the food was lovely and the space is ideal for whiling away a cold winter Sunday.
I note the most awful reviews here did not stay to eat ... I don't know if reviews of people who walk out of restaurants without eating are worth listening to, or fair for that matter.
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christinep -
See my reviews 8, 20 July 2008
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| Overall |
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Highly Recommended |
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Food 9 |
Ambience 9 |
Service 8 |
Value 8 |
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Very warm and cosy, nice intimate atmosphere. Every dish I’ve tried here has been divine.
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C-man -
See my reviews 16, 11 July 2008
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
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| Overall |
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Below Average |
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Food 5 |
Ambience 5 |
Service 1 |
Value 5 |
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I do not know what bobbybrown is smoking, but I concur absolutely with juzmoi's review.
When I went there on a Sunday afternoon, I saw that there was a decent queue waiting to be seated, so I decided to ask the waiter how long it would take to be seated. "Excuse me," said I, "I wonder how long ..." at this point, I was brushed off with a "just a moment, sir", and off he sashayed to do whatever he thought was only going to take a moment.
I proceeded to wait, to NO AVAIL, while he: Seated 3 other tables, printed two bills, walked over to a table he had previously seated to shake the hands of one of the customers. Have a discussion with another one of the wait staff. Throw his waiting list onto the bar top, and Pirouette 180 degrees away from me and walk in another direction.
Now, I certainly don't mind extremely rude service as long as it is EFFICIENT. But this was the antithesis of efficiency. If the waiter aspires to this level of pretentiousness, then he has to deliver service at a level that justifies him being so pretentious.
In this case, while he certainly may have spent his time smarming up to certain other people, I certainly had the feeling that he was making it a point to ignore me. I can't say how good the food is, or the value of the food, because I walked out in disgust at the Appalling way I felt I was being treated. It may be divine for all I know. What I do know is that unless your name is Bilsson for Tetsuya, I'm not going to put up with this level of service and I am NOT coming back.
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slaine -
See my reviews 2, 15 June 2008
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| Overall |
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Recommended |
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Food 8 |
Ambience 7 |
Service 6 |
Value 6 |
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I've been here twice now, once for dinner and once for breakfast and the food is excellent. For dinner the Angus beef and the zucchini flowers were fantastic. The breakfast menu is diverse and fresh and the poached eggs were perfectly cooked. The single origin coffee is also brewed to perfection.
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mja09 -
See my reviews 4, 31 May 2008
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| Overall |
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Recommended |
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Food 7 |
Ambience 7 |
Service 7 |
Value 7 |
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Ate here for the first time the other night with friends, what a delightful little place this is. The staff were both friendly and prompt and the Italian waiter was good fun!
Although we mostly dine out at the more exclusive restaurants around town, we were not to be disappointed when it come to the food. Uncomplecated, fresh and full of flavour! The two entree's of tuna sashimi and crab ravioli were great, as were the scallops and the angus beef. But the highlights were dessert, a lucious crisp and sticky banana tarte tatine and pear crumble, delicious!!! Will be back...
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indianajones -
See my reviews 1, 29 May 2008
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
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| Overall |
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Below Average |
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Food 2 |
Ambience 7 |
Service 2 |
Value 1 |
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My friends and I went to The Book Kitchen for dinner last week and left furious! The only positive thing I can say about the experience is that the room is gorgeous but it incites a sense of warmth that does not carry through to the staff or food - which were both extremely pretentious. To the bill...we were overcharged for our meals and corkage is a money grabbing $5 per person (although I had to unscrew and pour the wine myself).
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GR -
See my reviews 1, 28 May 2008
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| Overall |
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Highly Recommended |
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Food 8 |
Ambience 9 |
Service 9 |
Value 9 |
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The last review is a bit harsh, I have been to the Book Kitchen many times and the service is always friendly and the food is fantastic. I have never had a bad experience in the couple of years I have been dining there. I say give it a second chance as everyone can have a bad day no one is prefect. I love the Book Kitchen and I will be back many more times.
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bobbybrown -
See my reviews 1, 11 May 2008
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
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| Overall |
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Average |
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Food 7 |
Ambience 7 |
Service 1 |
Value 7 |
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I'm normally not too fussed on service as long as it's rather decent (see my other reviews) and if it ain't I'm normally very forgiving. "sigh". After reading all the other reviews and knowing they cater Single Origin's coffees on a Sunday, this place seemed like a great idea. Well, bad idea.
I got there at about 2:50 but I was expecting to get takeaway. No takeaway for food but dine in only. Ok, I could live with that so I quickly went off to get my work so I could do it as I ate. Also asked the waitress if she wanted my order first so they could start cooking and she said no "just get a table and I'll be there".
Waitress ran after me (to my car) to say "I just need you to know that the kitchen closes in 8 minutes just in case you're going to the atm or something". This should be a sign that they were not very keen but I'm forgiving and optimistic so I thought wow they're so nice to come and tell me. My car was parked one house away from the shop btw.
I came back in a flash and grabbed a table...and waited.....and waited....
during which time, two lots of customers came in and got their orders taken as soon as they walked in. After 10 minutes, I had decided I'll give them 5 more minutes (remember, kitchen should have been closed). I tried to catch their attention but staff was too busy providing the people who had come in after me, with cutlery. I gave them another extra 2 minutes and gave up and left.
I rarely leave a restaurant, if ever because even I feel guilty about doing so since I work in the industry. The Book Kitchen sounded fantastic until I actually decided to try it. Maybe their food really is good. Maybe their service can be great (the waitress was definitely extraordinarily polite to all customers to the point where in some cases, it felt sweetly sickening). But for a place this small, with such overstaffing, it shouldn't take them 8 minutes to set out cutlery for a family table of 3 adults and 4 children (yes I counted) especially when you're that close/past closing time and knowing the kitchen is closing, even if you're trying to be nice and talkative with the customers.
This review may seem harsh but honestly, I did not even receive the normal water for the table nor any menus let alone anything else. Otherwise, I would feel too guilty to leave.
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juzmoi -
See my reviews 6, 04 May 2008
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