Diorissi

4.8 Average

Food  7      Ambience  7      Service  2      Value  3     

Our first visit to the Mah Jong room was great. Pared back decor with worn, historical furniture. The won tons melted in my mouth and the broth was zesty and light. The duck servings were nouvelle cuisine size, but yummy. The waiter was a little on the cold side, but he was really busy with heaps to do. And we were enjoying the funky ambience.

More recently, as I booked again, I saw the eatability reviews which suggested that the service was problematic. We were prepared to try it again anyway and booked early in the day, noting that we were flexible with time but would have to be out by 9:30 pm. We were a little late (20 minutes) for our early booking, as it was hard to find a park in Darlo on a saturday night.

Our apologies were received with the coldly delivered news that the table was booked from 8 pm so we would have to be out by then. We were out a little sooner than that, we found excellent food nearby.

May 23, 2010

4.3 Below Average

Food  1      Ambience  8      Service  5      Value  3     

This restaurant keeps it simple, make 'em wait. In the slow food tradition that is in tune with the 'slow city' movement in Italy, this restaurant wants you to take your time and enjoy. It has a magnificent setting, absolute beach front views out the curved corner window. It isn't BYO. The hostess on our night served our wine without allowing us to taste it, cavalierly saying that it 'couldn't be corked since there was no cork'.

Not a good start given how many other things might be wrong with an expensive bottle of wine. We were early in (at 7:30) and were still waiting for our main at 10 pm. By then we were too hungry to complain that the 'drunk deer' mains were so tiny it really looked as though one portion had been split between two of us, or that the vegetable stack was somewhat stale and actually only luke warm. The steaks were delicious, however, and the small portion of bread was warm and fresh.

The prices are right up there, $30 a main and you wouldn't grumble at all if the quality matched the pretense. We may have hit them on an off-night, but the 5 of us were very unimpressed. We certainly waited, but were too hungry to enjoy. Overpriced and poor quality, bar the excellent local steaks. Try them on your own barbie on the beach perhaps?

Mar 12, 2010

4.8 Average

Food  7      Ambience  7      Service  2      Value  3     

Our first visit to the Mah Jong room was great. Pared back decor with worn, historical furniture. The won tons melted in my mouth and the broth was zesty and light. The duck servings were nouvelle cuisine size, but yummy. The waiter was a little on the cold side, but he was really busy with heaps to do. And we were enjoying the funky ambience.

More recently, as I booked again, I saw the eatability reviews which suggested that the service was problematic. We were prepared to try it again anyway and booked early in the day, noting that we were flexible with time but would have to be out by 9:30 pm. We were a little late (20 minutes) for our early booking, as it was hard to find a park in Darlo on a saturday night.

Our apologies were received with the coldly delivered news that the table was booked from 8 pm so we would have to be out by then. We were out a little sooner than that, we found excellent food nearby.

May 23, 2010

4.3 Below Average

Food  1      Ambience  8      Service  5      Value  3     

This restaurant keeps it simple, make 'em wait. In the slow food tradition that is in tune with the 'slow city' movement in Italy, this restaurant wants you to take your time and enjoy. It has a magnificent setting, absolute beach front views out the curved corner window. It isn't BYO. The hostess on our night served our wine without allowing us to taste it, cavalierly saying that it 'couldn't be corked since there was no cork'.

Not a good start given how many other things might be wrong with an expensive bottle of wine. We were early in (at 7:30) and were still waiting for our main at 10 pm. By then we were too hungry to complain that the 'drunk deer' mains were so tiny it really looked as though one portion had been split between two of us, or that the vegetable stack was somewhat stale and actually only luke warm. The steaks were delicious, however, and the small portion of bread was warm and fresh.

The prices are right up there, $30 a main and you wouldn't grumble at all if the quality matched the pretense. We may have hit them on an off-night, but the 5 of us were very unimpressed. We certainly waited, but were too hungry to enjoy. Overpriced and poor quality, bar the excellent local steaks. Try them on your own barbie on the beach perhaps?

Mar 12, 2010