Greg Graham needs to relax a little. According to him, everything about this place is bad. Down to the spelling mistakes. Greg, you must have heaps of time on you mate, to indulge in such descriptive reviews.
I've dined at The Razor's Edge a few times and it has always been great. The staff are friendly, the chef is great and the food is awesome. Greg must've gone in on a bad day. He didn't like anything! That's rare. With any place. The response from the management explains a lot. I wouldn't recommend using the word 'charity' though. Somethings you just don't do when in hospitality.
Corkage should never be a problem as you're bringing an outside product into someone's establishment and using their services for that (as long as it's not $10!).
All in all, Razor's is a good restaurant, by far the best in Enmore and a place where you can rely on the staff to make your day.
Thoroughly unusual and thoroughly enjoyable. After reading the reviews for months we kept saying we should go, and I'm so pleased we did. The confit of pork belly was beautifully set off by the nori, adding a sharp tang to an incredibly rich dish, while my husband was disgustingly enthusiastic about his pesto mussels provencale.
The braised lamb neck was simply gorgeous..rich and thick, and I'll admit to stealing a large whack of a certain someone's seafood pie. Dessert was impossible to contemplate, we are enormous pigs. All in all a wonderful experience, although having read a recent reply to an unfavourable review I am a little put off. That said, the right to reply is theirs and I'll be back regardless.
The highest review I've given on this site and more than happy to do so. My wife and I dined at RE last night for our first anniversary, and it was a great experience.
The menu is unique, and full of variety. I had the seafood hotpot, full of flavour ... and seafood. I also helped myself to a portion of my wife's fillet mignon, cooked perfectly. Full marks also to Wayne who made our first visit a pleasure.
Hello fellow eatability.com readers! I had dinner at the Razors Edge this evening with my beautiful friend Al. We are both full-time students so we took advantage of the Tuesday - Thursday Special (Any 3 courses + tea or coffee for $48). The food really was amazing. We both had the Souffle for entree; I had the Parpadelle for main and Al had the Spatchcock; for dessert I had the Creme Brulee and Al had the Mango and Coconut Cake.
The Tuesday - Thursday Special is really great because it allows people, like students or families, to experience fine dining at a very reasonable price. Al and I will definitely be coming back for another meal when our finances allow it!
Now, I've rambled a bit about the food and the price but the one thing that really made the night just perfect was our waiter, Wayne. It's such a comfort to be served by someone who is not only very skilled at his job, but actually a very down to earth person and capable of having a real conversation.
So all in all, Al and I thoroughly enjoyed our 'fine dining' experience! And a big thank you to Wayne who really made our night very, very special. Hope to be back soon!
Critics at the film review website rottentomatos.com give 8/10 to this restaurant's namesake, a film starring Tyrone Power and Gene Tierney, but regrettably I cannot be so generous in my score for this restaurant equivalent of that classic 1946 film.
I had high hopes given the many gushing reviews on eatability and to be fair the night did start well in that we scored a great parking spot nearby on a busy Saturday night, snared a great table in the front window alcove and had a charming waiter.
Unfortunately in our view the food did not match the eatability hype however and neither my wife nor I were at all impressed, especially given the rather extravagant prices being asked. I don't mind shelling out big bucks for food so long as it's great. I can even tolerate high prices with less than perfect service and surroundings so long as the foods up to scratch.
I must concede that my pea and ham soup entrée was flavoursome, hearty and of high quality but curiously didn't contain any peas that I could discern but rather black beans which not only meant it was muddy brown in appearance (it's meant to be green) but that it tasted like bean and ham soup, not pea and ham soup. Some may accuse me of being a bit picky but I had actually wanted pea and ham soup. At $12.50 the inclusion of a bread roll and butter (as is traditional) would have been nice but we were fast learning that sticking with tradition was the last thing on the kitchen staff's collective minds.
My wife dislikes spicy food so ordered the san choy bow entrée which is traditionally quite bland. Unfortunately we failed to appreciate that the sambal oelek mentioned in the description (a fiery paste of ground chillies) was employed so lavishly that it obliterated all other flavours and made it impossible for her to eat leaving me to do the honours which was fortunate as my soup serving was so niggardly there was plenty of spare space for extras. I love spicy food but this dish was hard going even for me. They really should warn diners that this dish was totally unlike the traditional bland san choy bow and only suitable for extreme chilli lovers.
My 'three sausage and black bean hot pot' main course (so that's where the beans in my soup came from!) was stodgy at best despite the many and varied ingredients allegedly used in it's making. For instance I could only discern one type of sausage and it didn't appear to be like any of the three apparently used, either in texture or taste. The overwhelming flavour was that of beans... hardly what you want to taste when paying $26.50. I did curiously receive two small bread rolls with this dish. Who knows; maybe they forgot to put them out with the soup and were playing catch-up.
My wife thought that her chicken thigh fillets wrapped in bacon were fairly taste free, not entirely fresh and rather small in size given the $26.80 price tag. She actually thought that the $3 chicken mignons we get from our local butcher and bake ourselves were far more impressive. The 'douphenious (sic) potatoes' base (it's actually dauphinois) were surprisingly bland given the rather flouncey reputation this potato dish has. The only thing flouncey about it was the name, and they even got that wrong! Apart from the potatoes there were no vegetables included which was a bit stingy given the price. You could always order these as a side dish...for $7.80 extra!
My wife's lime and lemon splice tartlet at $11.80 would have been OK if a little pricy were it not for the bizarre inclusion of chocolate sauce dribbled all over the tart which all but ruined it. What were they thinking? At the price I think it was rather ruthless to ask a further $1 to include a scoop of ice cream; it should have been automatically included for the base price and would have improved the dish a bit.
My coconut and mango pudding was the only saving grace for the evening but sadly it was too little too late and as with my wife's dessert should have included a scoop of ice cream for the price as it would have complimented it greatly.
The final act in this farce was to bring my wife a flat white instead of the cappuccino she'd ordered and when this was rectified they still blew it by failing to make it weak as she'd requested.
I hope this review serves as a sobering antidote to all the solemn hymns of praise being sung about this very ordinary and overpriced restaurant. Along with fixing up the food issues they should really do something about the cramming. To get from my table to the toilet out back people at other tables had to stand up so I could get past.
And another thing: the only tip I give a BYO restaurant that charges corkage (or screwage as it should more correctly be called these days as most bottles are screw top and easily opened by diners themselves) is not to charge it. In my view it's only licensed restaurants that are within their rights to charge corkage as they're simply trying to protect their own liquor business which is fair enough. This is not the case with BYO restaurants so the sooner they drop this unjustified gouge the better. As such the $94 bill was paid tip free and I didn't bother with my usual advice about BYO as I don't educate mugs as a rule and we won't be back in any case.
Response from Management:
In response to the review by Greg Graham as the song goes where do I begin, to start the "gushing" reviews and "hype" on Eatability are unsolicited views of the general public.
The word traditional does not appear in the description of our pea and ham soup which contrary to Mr Grahams belief does not contain black beans. We offer bread as a side dish if you chose to order it, your choice. Again the word traditional does not appear in the description of our version of san choy bow which can have any number of variations. He obviously new what sambal oelek is so why was this dish ordered if his wife dislikes spicy food? Again your choice. A little communication with your waiter would have helped in your decision. They are not there to lead you by the hand through every dish. The Razors Edge is known for not "sticking with tradition" as our many regulars have appreciated since 1989.
The three sausage and black bean hot pot has Italian, Weiswurst and chorizo sausages with actual ingredients as described, NOT "alleged" as he states, served with bread rolls as intended. Why would we deceive our loyal clientele?
We lease a narrow inner city shop with limited storage space and small menu to guarantee freshness to state otherwise is as offensive as his petty review. The chicken dish he mentions with dauphinois potatoes (sliced potato baked in cream and egg flavoured with nutmeg) sage and walnut stuffing, baby rocket and a port and cranberry sauce, flavourless??? And yes steamed vegetables are $7.80 should you choose to order them and he is right $3.00 (I doubt that price is correct) at your local butcher is a very good price for you to cook them at home. Perhaps he and his wife should do that instead of frequenting restaurants to find spelling mistakes.
Now to dessert.
Again if he and his wife had communicated with the waiters they could have had the lemon and lime tart without chocolate if they had asked, if the combination was so "bizarre" why order it at all?? Everything is stated plainly on the menu it is the customers choice to order ice cream or not (with the 3 courses for $45.00 plus tea or coffee the ice cream is complimentary) they didn't order it so I do not understand the issue. Ice cream costs us to provide, shall we give it away?? After all this is a business we are operating not a charity. Comparable restaurants charge above $14.00 for desserts not $11.80 or $12.80 with ice cream.
Now the error with the coffee.
Mistakes can happen on a busy night like we had when they dined with us, again I hope they are understanding this lesson if things are not to your liking let the wait staff know so it can be rectified or replaced!!!
If they recall the evening properly as they seem to think they do we had a long table of some quite large patrons dining with us who had every right to be here as they did, is it so hard to excuse yourself to get past? Was there size also an issue with this?
His "advise" about the concept of corkage in B.Y.O. restaurants is ill informed. You are bringing a product into an unlicensed establishment we do not sell, so therefore corkage is not to unscrew the cap of your wine bottle it is for the use of our utensils, service and environment or perhaps they would prefer to drink tap water all night and not spend the $2.00 each corkage or even lash out and purchase an orange juice or mineral water. Then perhaps they could drink they're wine out of the bottle at the bus stop outside. I don't think he bothered with his usual advise about B.Y.O. because he didn't have the courage to state his dissatisfaction about anything from the moment he and his wife tried the entrees he would rather sit in front of his computer screen to rant the drivel I have just read. Nothing can be fixed if we do not know of your dissatisfaction!
Oh and a little education from the "mugs" at The Razors Edge Restaurant. The word T.I.P actually stands for "To Insure Promptness" which "traditionally" would be paid before you sat down to dine.
I doubt this couple would find better value than offered for full choice of an a la carte menu for $45.00 plus tea or coffee.
One last thing if Mr Graham and His wife should ever consider returning The Razors Edge Restaurant I would seriously ask them to please, please reconsider.
Some dishes can be brilliant and some average; I have had duck that was melt in the mouth, delicious and a steak dish cooked perfectly but also had the ribs that were dry and tough, all said when they get it right, as on my last visit, the food is fantastic. The service is always friendly helpful and extremely professional. The ambience is great being a comfortable mix of fine dining but having a relaxed atmosphere.
This restaurant was a disappointment given the reviews found in this website. The quality of the food is marginal. The pork was extremely dry and so was the ribs. The sirloin we ordered was - again - dry (it was meant to be medium rare and ended up being medium). The only saving grace was the service.
I recently organised a surprise birthday dinner here for my partner, and 11 other friends. The service cannot be faulted! We had the upstairs room to ourselves, the waiter was fantastic all night, and the food was fabulous. I forgot candles for the cake, and they were more than happy not just to supply candles, but then to present the portions beautifully as dessert for the table. Thank you guys for a faultless and thoroughly enjoyable evening. I will definitely be returning.