Villa Moura Restaurant

3 Below Average

Food  3      Ambience  3      Service  3      Value  3     

Hubby and I Went to Villa Moura about a month ago. We usually like to give things a go and make our own decision from there. We were seated rather quickly, service was good but it went downhill from there. We were placed in the corner at the back of restaurant which was rather dark and also couldn't get out as other tables were jammed in too close, a definite fire hazard. We ordered the mixed breads to start with which were bit of hit and miss. They tasted like they could have been made by anyone.

I ordered a steak for my main and my hubbby ordered a beef skewer. His skewer was horrendously overcooked and my steak was drowned in a sauce it was almost unbearable. There definitely is not a chef cooking these meals as we could have easily done a much better job.

Service was also poor. It took 20 minutes for a soft drink to arrive and because we were seated in the dark corner we could not be seen. Food also didn't seem to come out in order as people who arrived after us had their meals come long before we got ours and there were only 2 of us. Unfortunately, we will never go back to this restaurant to give it one more try.

Apr 20, 2012 

5.5 Average

Food  6      Ambience  9      Service  1      Value  6     

My partner and I went to Villa Moura for Valentine's day, the layout of the restaurant was quite pretty and the food nice for the most part. The real letdown was the service, we made requests several times before being attended to. We waited 20 minutes for our entree which I thought was not too bad as the restaurant was full, but by the time we waited a further hour for our mains we were not impressed.

By this time the restaurant was mostly emptied. The food was nice enough but not worth such a long wait, and my partner's food was stone cold. He could not be bothered to ask for a new one as he did not want to wait a further hour. The side salads were devoid of dressing and did not look very appealing. We were so annoyed at the poor service we left without coffee and dessert.

I wouldn't recommend this place unless you have nothing to do afterwards because you will be wasting a lot of time just waiting for your food.

Feb 15, 2012 

8 Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  7      Service  10      Value  6     

Last night my father and I went out for dinner to a small restaurant in Rouse Hill called Villa Moura. I have to say I have never met friendlier staff! They were very efficient and always had a smile on their face. The food was also excellent. My father had the seafood paella and I ordered a prawn and calamari skewer, both of which were delicious and full of fresh ingredients. Hopefully I will be able to convince my co-workers from the Penrith Professionals to go there for our Christmas party!

Nov 08, 2011 

2 Not Recommended

Food  2      Ambience  2      Service  2      Value  2     

Went there last night with table of 4. Took waitstaff a total of 40 minutes (and two requests) to come and take our orders (I'm including in this the appetizers before entrees and main as well plus no offer of drink orders, included a bottle of water, within that time as well). Steak on reef was smothered in loads of gravy and little reef and plonked on the side (wallowing in the pool of gravy) was my "mediterranean" salad...consisting of two bits of tomato, two small olives and a handful, no exaggeration, of iceberg lettuce.

My friends meals were chicken camembert (once again the salad wallowing in the sauce on the plate), Barramundi with a handful of cold and undercooked vegetables and the seafood skewer (probably the only meal on the table that you could justify paying the $'s for.

On the plus side...the garlic bread was nice. People who arrived after us were served first. We had to ask twice to order. Not once did any staff member come to apologize for the delay in service or bothered to ask how our meals were upon collection of plates (by this time we were the only ones left in the restaurant.

A plus side to the story was that we were given our bowl of chips we ordered ($6) for freeeeeee!!!!....ta. At the end of the meal we were asked if we wanted to see a menu for desserts but declined and requested the bill....10 minutes later we decided to head to the counter and request it again. Giving constructive criticism on our night out the waitstaff were apologetic then and advised us that they were understaffed.

We did advise them that they should have at least came to our table to apologize for delay. We also advised them to look at putting the salad serving separate to the meal so as to not have it wallowing in sauce. This was our first (and last) visit to this restaurant. It was recommended to us by a couple of friends but our service and meals made us less than satisfied. Rant over, ps....we went to Maccas for coffee and dessert afterward!

Oct 09, 2011 

8.8 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  9      Value  9     

We were at this restaurant last night (a table of 13) and have been before and the second was as good as the first. Attentive waitresses, good food, very cheap! The only problem it was a bit noisy. The chef came to our table and introduced himself. Will definitely be returning. Highly recommended.

Oct 02, 2011 

1 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  1      Service  1      Value  1     

What an awful restaurant, went there recently after it been talked up by local friends and a group of 8 set out for the long trek to Rouse Hill. What a disappointment, the staff were unhelpful, unfriendly and did not offer us water or bread for the table. After waiting an eternity ordered entrees at $15 for the table only to get a small dish of maybe 6 prawns in sauce.

The mains of meat or seafood on skewers at $30+ were tasteless, dry and unseasoned. The total bill for the evening was around $480 and an absolute waste of time and money. Never again. Do not go there.

Jun 23, 2011 

5.8 Average

Food  7      Ambience  7      Service  4      Value  5     

Original Review (previous owners):

Villa Moura is one of our favourite places to eat in the world. Having travelled extensively as airline crew, I am able to compare it to many excellent restaurants. Villa Moura cannot be faulted: the service is always attentive and friendly, the restaurant and the open kitchen are impeccably clean, the prices are reasonable and most importantly the food is hearty and delicious. I have never had better steak in Sydney.

The skewers are the real trademark meals. I tend to order the same meal most of the time and I'd highly recommend it for anyone who enjoys excellent quality beef: the Pepper Steak with Chorizo Skewer. The steak is done to perfection every time and the chef's pepper sauce is spectacular. The chorizo sausage slices in between the slices of meat compliments the steak perfectly. Then the choice of two of the five available side dishes just makes the whole meal even better. I've never come away hungry.

Unfortunately, I've never tried the dessert, because I am always satisfied after my meal. As I write this, although I am still full from my meal my mouth is watering thinking about it. I'm looking forward to my next meal at Villa Moura. I'd highly recommend Villa Moura to anyone.

Updated Review (New owners):

We have just been for a meal at Villa Moura for the first time in quite a while and I was surprised and disappointed to discover that there are new owners. Teresa and Carlos were the heart of the restaurant and it was their attention to detail that made this place special.

Just briefly, I ordered my usual Chorizo Pepper Steak Skewer. The meat was still good, but the sauce was certainly NOT the same. It was bland and uninteresting. However, my main criticism is of the staff. There are too many young, inexperienced waiters, so the service is consequently inadequate and unattentive. I think it is good to hire young people to give them a go, but your entire workforce should not be dominated by them (just to save a few bucks?)

My review has gone from an original 10/10/10/10 to what you see now. I hope this place improves, because we used to really love it.

Feb 20, 2011 

7.3 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  7      Service  6      Value  8     

The food is very good, the service friendly but inexperienced and the ambience is nice (when ignoring the artificial plants). The new owner is obviously working very hard to build up regular clientèle and given the quality of food that was served to us, I am sure he will succeed.

Jan 29, 2011 

5 Average

Food  5      Ambience  5      Service  6      Value  4     

My partner and I had dinner here a few weeks ago on the recommendation of a friend, now I know why you shouldn't trust some friends. I ordered the prawns, they were oily and did not have a nice flavour. My husband ordered the skewer, it was Ok, but that is being nice. The food was overpriced for what you got. I wouldn't go again.

Dec 11, 2010 

6.8 Recommended

Food  6      Ambience  7      Service  7      Value  7     

We went for lunch, and had fettuccine amatriciana and also the fettuccine carbonara. The amatriciana sauce was loaded with chunks of red spanish onions (?) which I didn't enjoy so picked most of them out, but it was a plentiful serve and very filling. The carbonara was rich and creamy, and in our opinion was a better take than our other dish.

Both were served with a ghastly side salad bowl of iceberg lettuce combined with more chunks of spanish onions that tasted like it had been sitting in the fridge pre-prepped for the last three days. In summary, Carbonara 8/10. Amatriciana 7/10 and the salad 1/10.

Oct 31, 2010