Food EE

6 Average

Food  8      Ambience  5      Service  3      Value  8     

This place is all about simply yummy sambos, but that's about it. Most of the tables are very low and uncomfortable, and I loathe sitting on stools. However, the real disappointment was the coffee. The first time I went I tried the standard coffee and it was so weak I thought I was drinking a cup of warm milk. So the second time I went I ordered the single origin coffee and result was the same.

And as for service, well it's a case of "what service?". You order at the counter, and some sullen chick comes over to plonk your food on the table, no napkins given, so I had to get up and grab my own. When asked if I could have some water, an arm just pointed over to a table where there was a couple of jugs of help yourself room temperature water.

May 26, 2012

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  8      Value  8     

Excellent food, way above most other Thai restaurants. I can highly recommend all the specialist mentioned as well as the massaman beef, which would have to be the best I've ever tasted. Whilst the service was very good, like a lot of restaurants they tended to forget about you at the end, leaving us with a food splattered table.

Had to flag them down to clean it, flag them down again for a dessert menu, again for the bill and finally gave up on trying to get their attention to take our money, just took it up to the counter, which is something I only expect to do in a cafe. That said, can't wait to go back!

Apr 21, 2012

7.3 Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  6      Service  4      Value  10     

The food is simple but excellent, and the value at just $16 for a huge and fabulous pasta is 2nd to none. Only complaint would be the irritating radio playing in the background, which had more talking than music, and the service which started out friendly and efficient, but then we were left for a while with empty plates on the table. The plates were then whisked away, but no "how was your meal" or "can I get you anything else".

So we had no choice but to flag down someone for the bill. Which was just plonked on the table without comment. Now bear in mind this was a quiet Sunday lunch with just us and one other table. When we left they were busy cleaning behind the bar and didn't even thank us for coming, not one word. That said, yes I'd definitely go back.

Apr 14, 2012

5.8 Average

Food  7      Ambience  8      Service  1      Value  7     

I have to agree with all those comments below about the bad service. In fact wish I'd read them before going, as I loathe bad service. We arrived on a quiet Monday lunch and were told to "sit anywhere" without any eye contact, merely a wave of the hand directing us into the cafe. A waiter arrived and just plonked down 2 menus, no hello, no eye contact, nada.

After about 15 minutes we had to wave him down for him to take our order which he did again with no eye contact at all. I'd have to say the food wasn't bad, the fish cakes pretty good, and the corn fritters quite yummy. After that we sat with dirty plates on our table, no one bother to take them away, no offer of coffee or dessert, despite a couple of waiters walking past us.

Finally, I flagged down a waitress I hadn't seen before and I must say she was lovely, asked if everything had been ok and took the plates away, but then again no one came near us to see if we wanted coffee or dessert, which we did. So after another 10 minutes of me trying to make eye contact, I just went up to the counter to get the bill and we left, walking up to Bronte for coffee and dessert, oh and lovely warm service. A lesson learnt.

Feb 21, 2012

6.8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  6      Value  5     

I've always been a big fan of Efendy, but am not a big fan of their new weekend Bar-B-Que menu. Its quite pricey (most dishes close to $30 each) and quite limiting. So we went with some of their beautiful meze dishes, but were shocked when our dips arrived with no bread. I mean what were we supposed to eat it with. So then we had to order bread separately which cost the 4 of us $10!

The other sting in the tail is with the BYO at $5 pp. This came to an extra $20 which was bit steep as we only had 2 bottles of wine and one of the party only had 1/2 a glass. Hence, why I've marked it down for value, as the $30 for a bit of bread and BYO was a bit rich.

Feb 14, 2012

6 Average

Food  8      Ambience  5      Service  3      Value  8     

This place is all about simply yummy sambos, but that's about it. Most of the tables are very low and uncomfortable, and I loathe sitting on stools. However, the real disappointment was the coffee. The first time I went I tried the standard coffee and it was so weak I thought I was drinking a cup of warm milk. So the second time I went I ordered the single origin coffee and result was the same.

And as for service, well it's a case of "what service?". You order at the counter, and some sullen chick comes over to plonk your food on the table, no napkins given, so I had to get up and grab my own. When asked if I could have some water, an arm just pointed over to a table where there was a couple of jugs of help yourself room temperature water.

May 26, 2012

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  8      Value  8     

Excellent food, way above most other Thai restaurants. I can highly recommend all the specialist mentioned as well as the massaman beef, which would have to be the best I've ever tasted. Whilst the service was very good, like a lot of restaurants they tended to forget about you at the end, leaving us with a food splattered table.

Had to flag them down to clean it, flag them down again for a dessert menu, again for the bill and finally gave up on trying to get their attention to take our money, just took it up to the counter, which is something I only expect to do in a cafe. That said, can't wait to go back!

Apr 21, 2012

7.3 Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  6      Service  4      Value  10     

The food is simple but excellent, and the value at just $16 for a huge and fabulous pasta is 2nd to none. Only complaint would be the irritating radio playing in the background, which had more talking than music, and the service which started out friendly and efficient, but then we were left for a while with empty plates on the table. The plates were then whisked away, but no "how was your meal" or "can I get you anything else".

So we had no choice but to flag down someone for the bill. Which was just plonked on the table without comment. Now bear in mind this was a quiet Sunday lunch with just us and one other table. When we left they were busy cleaning behind the bar and didn't even thank us for coming, not one word. That said, yes I'd definitely go back.

Apr 14, 2012

5.8 Average

Food  7      Ambience  8      Service  1      Value  7     

I have to agree with all those comments below about the bad service. In fact wish I'd read them before going, as I loathe bad service. We arrived on a quiet Monday lunch and were told to "sit anywhere" without any eye contact, merely a wave of the hand directing us into the cafe. A waiter arrived and just plonked down 2 menus, no hello, no eye contact, nada.

After about 15 minutes we had to wave him down for him to take our order which he did again with no eye contact at all. I'd have to say the food wasn't bad, the fish cakes pretty good, and the corn fritters quite yummy. After that we sat with dirty plates on our table, no one bother to take them away, no offer of coffee or dessert, despite a couple of waiters walking past us.

Finally, I flagged down a waitress I hadn't seen before and I must say she was lovely, asked if everything had been ok and took the plates away, but then again no one came near us to see if we wanted coffee or dessert, which we did. So after another 10 minutes of me trying to make eye contact, I just went up to the counter to get the bill and we left, walking up to Bronte for coffee and dessert, oh and lovely warm service. A lesson learnt.

Feb 21, 2012

6.8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  6      Value  5     

I've always been a big fan of Efendy, but am not a big fan of their new weekend Bar-B-Que menu. Its quite pricey (most dishes close to $30 each) and quite limiting. So we went with some of their beautiful meze dishes, but were shocked when our dips arrived with no bread. I mean what were we supposed to eat it with. So then we had to order bread separately which cost the 4 of us $10!

The other sting in the tail is with the BYO at $5 pp. This came to an extra $20 which was bit steep as we only had 2 bottles of wine and one of the party only had 1/2 a glass. Hence, why I've marked it down for value, as the $30 for a bit of bread and BYO was a bit rich.

Feb 14, 2012

8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  8     

Amazing food, beautiful yummy cakes and tarts, now if only they could learn to make coffee.

Jan 23, 2012

6.8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  9      Service  5      Value  5     

I've been to this restaurant many times over the past few years, and whilst it's still a beautiful spot with lovely food, it's becoming more and more expensive, with the portion sizes shrinking more and more. For example a crab risotto for $34 which looked like an entree size. And if that's not enough a bottle of wine that sells for $30 in the winery is then sold for $75 in the restaurant! Their reason for this is that they're separate businesses. But that still doesn't really explain why they'd charge more than 100% markup to move it from one room to the next!

Dec 02, 2011

4.5 Below Average

Food  6      Ambience  6      Service  3      Value  3     

I'd have to agree with most of the reviews below (hmmm should have read them first). I went with a few friends on Sunday for lunch with great expectations and we were very disappointed.

First of all, not allowing BYO is just plain stupid. Especially when other great restaurants (ie Blue Ginger do). The food was very average and came out so quickly it was obviously all pre-prepared and then just quickly heated up. Most of the food tasted ok, but was very dry. Service was very average too, hate to keep flagging them down for more water etc even though the place was nearly empty. I thought we'd never get the bill, felt like leaving without paying! Just nowhere near as good as Blue Ginger.

Oct 10, 2011

5.3 Average

Food  4      Ambience  7      Service  5     

Do yourself a favour when staying at the Anchorage, and dine out! For a start I couldn't believe the size of the entree, smallest ever, I had the quail and was expecting a whole quail as they're pretty damn small, but it must have been 1/4! The main size wasn't too bad but the quality was lacking... very mediocre. Service started well, but we were left with dirty plates on our table for well over 1/2 an hour. Won't be back!

Oct 07, 2011

2.8 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  1      Service  8      Value  1     

OMG, I never thought I'd have ever have a bad meal in the Hunter, but that was before I came to this place. I'm not sure where they got the young kid who was cooking on the night, (open kitchen and he had about as much enthusiasm as I do going to work on a Monday morning). We started with the spicy lamb koftas which tasted like dry flavourless rubber balls. We then had the sirloin steaks for our mains and I'd have to say I've never had such tough steaks, needed a hacksaw to cut, the chips tasted like they'd been cooked in oil that hadn't been changes in months, along with bland steamed veg. The waitress was lovely, asked how our meal was, I was honest. She did say she'd let the "chef" know, and probably did as I saw them disappear from sight. He reappeared and started to simply clean up in the kitchen with only slightly more enthusiasm than he had cooking. It was obvious they just wanted to get out of there. And to be honest.... so did we! There are some fabulous restaurants in the Hunter with beautiful food cooked with passion and enthusiasm, so save yourself a very disappointing experience and for god's sake, don't eat here!

Jun 13, 2011