I have dined at the cafe on and off, however, of late I have been drawn back again. The food as ever is great and I have never had a bad meal. The service is where I am seeing a great improvement. Staff are extremely attentive and this has meant the experience has been really good.
Last week I took a local client there for lunch and we started with the tasting plate and ended with the steaks. The atmosphere was good and you can talk easily. My client was happy, so was I. I'll be back.
Have to say just moved into the area, tried the tasting plate with a girlfriend and found it to be really delicious great service, comfy settings all around I'll be back.
I have had a few enjoyable experiences at Parlo but the one I had on the weekend was pretty bad. I ordered the King Prawn and Scallop Linguine, I had ordered this before, months and months earlier and it was great (however, this was riding off the back of the Chopping Block airing). When it came out this time, it was a grey, oily tasteless mound of pasta with a few prawns and several scallops.
What really got me though was that on the menu it was described as being served with cherry tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and baby spinach. They completely overdid the oil (there was a pool in the bottom of the bowl), there were no tomatoes or spinach whatsoever, but some chopped up capsicum and parsley. If I were a stronger person I would have complained but instead I just waited to do it online, such is life!
What bothers me most is that they treated me like an idiot, do I not know the difference between tomato/capsicum and spinach/parsley?
I went there for lunch on the weekend, the place has a really good vibe. All of the waitstaff seem really happy to be there and they are very quick and attentive. Coffee was great and nice and hot! We ordered the Seafood Chowder, Sicilian Risotto, Steak Sandwich and Chicken Breast, they came out extremely quickly even though they were very busy and all of the meals were delicious.
For dessert we had homemade mud cake (compliments to the chef!) and sticky date pudding, which were to die for. Owners are lovely. All round great place to go and excellent value for money!
What a disgrace! I came away feeling completely ripped off!! I ordered my steak medium - rare; came out well done, and tough as a boot. Accompanying greens seemed to have lost their life. Coffee - I ordered "nice and hot". It took ages to come out and naturally, was warm and easy to throw back.
Well what can I say, the Cafe looks good from the outside but once you sit down the mood changes. The wait staff were rude, the food was SO AVERAGE for the money. My friend ordered the squid & out came 2 tiny little squid samples for around $19 bucks WHAT A RIP OFF!
My partner and I had lunch here the other day and the food was to die for!!! I had the vegi grill s/w (best one I have ever had since coming to Australia 2 years ago) and my partner had the chicken parm!!!! We were both happy with our meals. You could tell that the owner must buy good quality ingredients. Our meals cost about $15-$17 and it was really worth it. You might go to another cafe and save $2 but the food is crap!
I would go there again because they have a great menu and there is something for everyone (even me the picky vego). And really I don't think it is pricey at all. The meals are generous so trust me you won't be leaving hungry!!! As for service it was ok, we had to wait a bit for our drinks but the staff were friendly so it was not the end of the world.
Food was nice cafe style food. Although a little pricey for what you get. Steaks get thinner and thinner each time I go there. Owner is absolutely lovely. However for all the good work he does, the rest of his crew mess it all up when he is not there. As he is happy they are grumpy. Will return but only if he is working!