Navigator Brasserie

4.3 Below Average

Food  6      Ambience  5      Service  1      Value  5     

My wife and I went here before a movie on saturday night. I had read the below reviews but why not give it a chance. Firstly I have to see that the mains we ate were quite tasty but thats about all the positives.

Staff were attentive enough and our order was taken quickly. We ordered one of the veal dishes and a steak for main and a trio of dips as the entree. First problem, the mains arrived but no entree. After asking where our entrées were they said the waiter had thought we wanted it to all come out at once, interested. We told them to forget about the entrées and we'll just eat the mains.

Have to say the manager came over and apologised and offered the entree for free. We declined as we had our mains now.

Dessert time came round and my wife ordered the lemon slice with ice cream but without the whipped creams. Being pregnant she can't eat the cream. I ordered a slice of apple crumble without anything.

The problem was my wifes slice came out with cream and mine came out with both cream and ice cream. I honestly don't know how hard it can be when we specifically told them what we wanted. We asked to have the cream removed and replaced with ice cream on my wifes dish. I would have expected it to be replated with ice cream. The waiter took the dish, scraped the cream of and stuck the ice cream on top of where the cream was. Very bad. The idea is to not have any cream on the plate at all. Same story with my dessert.

On top of that my steak although tasty and soft was not medium as I asked and I would have struggled to find the apple in the apple crumble.

If the service was good it would have been quite enjoyable. Might have had the same waitress described in one of the reviews below as she had an accent and she was rude and just terrible.

The manager was apologetic and we did get the coffees for free but we won't be back.

May 28, 2012 

3.5 Below Average

Food  1      Ambience  4      Service  5      Value  4     

This place reminds me of my sister's cooking. Except without the salt, without the pepper and without the smile. We ordered the chicken and avocado melt, as well as the penne with eggplant and mushrooms. The chicken was lukewarm and had never seen a grain of salt. The cheese on top was quite tasty, but the bread was completely untoasted, so it just dissolved. What can I say about the penne?

Seriously, I could cook better pasta if I had the flu. Again, there was a total lack of salt. There was also a strong burnt taste, as if the mushrooms or the garlic had caught fire. This was disguised under huge amounts of chilli and more garlic. After four spoonfuls I gave up. I decided to be polite, so I waited until the senior staff gave us the bill (about 40 dollars).

When I handed him the money, I told him that I could not finish the penne, because there was too much garlic and chilli. He just shrugged his shoulders, said "oh" and walked away. If you are brave enough to eat here, be safe and try the pizza.

Mar 05, 2012 

10 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  10      Service  10      Value  10     

You want the best food or hot drinks? Good you are in the best place, just can't reflect the good time we spent there with varieties of food and drinks, specially with the new creative menu and Pizza? Yummm...

Mar 01, 2012 

7.5 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  6      Value  8     

The food is delicious and well presented, the service staff were efficient and friendly. The only thing that was a let down was the cashier at the end, a guy with bad manners, arrogant. Very disappointed with an otherwise enjoyable outing.

Jan 12, 2012 

4.3 Below Average

Food  5      Ambience  4      Service  4      Value  4     

Well my partner and I used to love Sunday breakfast. The menu was good and water was brought immediately to the table. Today was the first time we had been since I moved in July and there is a new menu which is not as good as the prior menu. No vegie delight and the prior Eggs Florentine was much better. Also even with asking our bottled water was not brought to the table and my partner helped himself.

Will no longer be going to the Navigator Brasserie for breakfast and will instead go to the Topiary Cafe in Epping. Seems like such a poor decision to alter the menu to make it inferior and the attempt and humour would have worked better at a down market pub.

Dec 18, 2011 

3.3 Below Average

Food  2      Ambience  4      Service  4      Value  3     

I was very disappointed with the whole experience. The staff while friendly were not very efficient. Entree proscutto wrapped asparagus and pumpkin, pumpkin was barely warm and not cooked, proscutto was thick and the asparagus was thin. Not good value
Scollopine Fungi - I saw not one mushroom on the plate and couldn't taste it in the sauce. The sauce had been poured over the salad, not a good taste. When I complained they said they would make sure it didn't happen next time. There will not be a next time!

Jun 06, 2011 

1.8 Not Recommended

Food  2      Ambience  3      Service  1      Value  1     

The restaurant is very convenient being inside Rhodes and the outdoor seating is nice but that's it. The prosciutto wrapped asparagus was average and was wrapped in bacon instead of prosciutto. Even if they ran out they could have just gone downstairs to Coles.

The first waitress wasn't sure what the special of the day was and had to check with the board outside. We had to then also remind the second waitress who took our order what the special was.

The lamb shank was undercooked and cold. I have had better in a rsl buffet. First time I have had to use a fork and knife to cut into a lamb shank, meat should just fall of the bones.

The cashier who appeared to be the senior staff was just like the other reviews said, rude and uncaring. When told that the lamb shank was cold, she basically brushed it off. I work in customer service and would have at least given a basic apology.

Overall expensive, below average food, and poor service.

Apr 09, 2011 

1 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  1      Value  1     

Incident 1: The waitress brought out an extra dish we didn't order. When we said we didn't order it she brought the supervisor/owner (a short woman with black hair in her 40s, speaking with accent). This woman insisted we ordered it and only took it back with much reluctance. Afterwards she was rude every time she came to serve us.

Incident 2: We asked for 2 takeaway boxes. One was dirty & greasy, obviously been used before and not washed. We put our food into the clean one. The same woman comes to our table and says we're not allowed to pile food on the takeaway box like that. When we say the other one is dirty she insists it's clean. She grabs our food with her hands and transfers half of it onto the other takeaway box. While she is doing this she mutters "it doesn't look nice when you do it like that, you shouldn't put it all in one box". She was on the cashier a moment ago handling money with that hand so we're too put off to eat it. If she has no problem handling food with bare hands in front of customers, I don't even want to imagine what the food hygine standards are like in the kitchen.

Incident 3: The same woman again! We order an apple crumble. On the menu it says it comes with ice cream and cream. We ask why those didn't come and the woman says angrily "you have to ask for it." My husband says "well it says the apple crumble is served with ice cream and cream on the menu, I didn't know you have to ask for it." The woman lectures us first about how we need to request it specially, then makes a face and says, still in her angry tone, "so you want ice cream?" She takes the plate back then comes back with a scoop of ice cream, which she slaps on the table without saying anything. The apple crumble is cold and half frozen. My husband decides it's not worth the trouble of asking to be heated up because we seem to get an angry lecture quite often at this restaurant.

So basically, we won't be going there again. Over priced and completely rude service by this one particular woman. If she's an employee, she really needs to be fired. If she's the owner, all the more reason not to go back to her restaurant.

Mar 05, 2011 

8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  7      Value  9     

I visited this cafe for the first time just recently and I must say I was surprised with the standard of service and quality of food they provide, as good as any top restaurants I have been too. Well done.

Jan 21, 2011 

10 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  10      Service  10      Value  10     

I am a regular customer at this restaurant and will continue to be for a very long time. Every single time I have been here, I have become more impressed with the level of customer service as the staff there are a very friendly and always attentive as to when you are in need of service. The food is superb especially the pizzas! I recommend having the Mars bar cheese cake as that is one of the main reasons why I am always eating at navigator. I rate this restaurant to be one of the best that iv been to, and I highly recommend it to those who are thinking of going. Every restaurant needs some sort of criticism, because that's the only way of identifying the faults and improving the service but overall I think they have done an amazing job so far.

Dec 08, 2010