Woodsmistress

3.5 Below Average

Food  5      Ambience  2      Service  4      Value  3     

Don't bother going unless you really like the smell of smoke. The draw of this place appears to be the water pipes (I think people are smoking apple-scented tobacco, from the smell), and the outside tables are packed even on nights when the rest of the restaurants in Parramatta are nearly empty. In fact it's a bit annoying to thread your way through the tables as you walk past, due to the number of waiters going back and forth with smoking implements.

When my friend suggested we eat there I asked her particularly if we could not sit near the smoke. We did sit inside, but, unfortunately, they have French doors leading out to the sidewalk, and the smoke wafts through periodically. Although the outside smoking areas look comfortable enough (particularly the seating area under the awning), the tables inside are pretty utilitarian, there are more interesting places you could spend your night.

Some other oddities: they don't serve tap water (maybe they want you to buy an overpriced drink?). Most of the "light meals" are served with a side of garlic bread, which I'm not sure really goes with what you're getting. The prices seem a little high for the neighbourhood, and the food was fine but unremarkable. (I had the mussels, there was certainly nothing wrong with them, but nothing to write home about).

The service was a little weird. I showed up a few minutes late, and the waitress presented herself to take our orders about 2 minutes after I sat down. After we finished we waited a long time for the bill, and the wait staff seemed to be ignoring our attempts to signal them.

Apr 25, 2012

6.3 Average

Quality  8      Ambience  5      Service  6      Value  6     

I stopped here before a play last night. My friends were all late, so I sat at the bar. This place gets really busy on play nights, but they made every effort to accommodate people, offering them a choice of sitting at the bar or outside once the tables were full. The bar staff were knowledgeable and able to recommend an appropriate beer for me (as I'm not familiar with Italian beer), and it was exactly what I wanted.

The risotto was delicious (I think it was caramelised onion, raddichio, and parmesan). It's a bit annoying to have to go and read the blackboard to see what's on offer (I'd rather sit and read a menu), while servers brush past you. The place isn't cheap, but the prices are pretty much in line with the other restaurants in the area.

It's probably one of the better venues if you're heading for a play at the STC and don't want to stop in the Rocks first. However, I have a feeling that conversation might be difficult if you're not alone!

Apr 25, 2012

5 Average

Food  6      Drinks  5      Ambience  3      Service  6      Value  5     

We went to this restaurant for a friend's birthday party. I haven't watched Masterchef, but several of my friends have and were aware of Hux's status. First I need to compliment him on his personal attention to our tables, it's not often that the head chef comes and personally takes your orders, serves your food, and clears your plate.

As far as value is concerned, you can print a voucher from his website to receive 3 courses for $30. That's probably a good offer if you want to eat all that food, and you like meat (I don't!). Otherwise you're looking at slightly pricy meals for a pub. I had a vodka and soda and then drank water for the rest of the night, so I'm not really qualified to comment on the drinks.

On to the food. There were a number of choices for mains, many of which consisted of a giant hunk of meat. For instance, there was a pork shoulder, which was to be shared by 2. This was quite a lot of food, and one set of 3 friends shared this and still had left-overs to take home, another pair shared it and demolished at least the meat portion.

Bizarrely, all of the meat dishes (including the offerings which came with gravy) were served on bread boards (thankfully this was not true for the fish and the salads). Even those who shared meat plates were given smaller cutting boards to eat off. Everyone seemed a bit put off by this, and were concerned about the graving spilling over the side of the cutting boards, or whether the cutting boards were really hygienic.

From what I gather, the fish offerings were a little bit disappointing. One friend got the fish of the day, which was a smallish piece of dory, and was supposed to have herb butter, there was no sauce to be seen, and no vegetables on her plate, only chips (although the people who got the pork shoulder did have some nice Dutch carrots on their plate).

Otherwise, there were fish and chips, calamari, and the like, none of which were remarkable. I did not want to eat any of the fish options because none of the offerings seemed more interesting than what I could make at home. However, there were no vegetarian mains, which is a serious failing. This place is in Leichhardt, not Dubbo. How hard would it be to add some ravioli or a vegetable stack to the menu? This is the only restaurant I've been to in Sydney that doesn't have at least one vegetarian option.

Instead, I ate a starter salad, which had beetroot, goat's cheese, watercress, little violets on it, and a pistachio dressing. It was absolutely divine, particularly the dressing, and both my friend and I who ordered it couldn't stop talking about how much we liked it. However, I'd wager few people would be able to manage with such a small portion to eat (I shared the 3 courses with a friend, so I also had 1/2 an appetizer and 1/2 a dessert, so that was Ok).

Our appetizer was a bleu cheese and caramelized onion tart, which was Ok, but there was something distinctly missing. The pastry was fine, but onions were too soft, and didn't have the character that I expect from caramelized onions. Were they overcooked? Cooked sous-vide instead of in a frying pan? Who knows, I don't expect to be back to ask.

The dessert was a deep-fried brownie, which was a very fudgy dark brownie coated in panko and coconut, served with berry coulis and caramel ice cream. It was nice, and I had no trouble finishing it, but I don't think frying the brownie adds anything to it. I was more impressed with the quality of the coulis and the ice cream, frankly.

Lastly, the ambience was Ok at first, but as the night grew later, the crowds grew in the TV area, and the game seemed to get louder and louder. Some people sat in view of the screen so they could watch the football. I guess if you are a football nut that's a plus, but if you don't particularly care for sports, and don't want your dinner partners focused on the TV it's a serious drawback.

Not long after we sat down the noise was so loud that we couldn't hear normal conversations and ended up shouting at each other. Not really what I pictured. Look, there are lots of pubs that serve decent food, but they allow you to eat in a spot in which you don't have to shout to be heard.

Overall, colour me fairly unimpressed. I won't rule out returning in the afternoon, when it doesn't look busy, and when I feel like eating some fried food, but I don't see it happening soon.

Apr 23, 2012

6.5 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  7      Value  3     

We came here with an overseas visitor, mostly because of the view. The view was certainly delivered, and most of the food was quite good, in fact the salads were absolutely perfect.

However, the restaurant is bitterly cold on a winter evening, and we had to eat with our coats on. Additionally, the lights were so dim that we could barely read the menus and my mother's partner needed a torch to make out what was on the wine list. Disappointingly, my mother's food was cold when she got it. Also, we ordered lollies to eat with our coffee, and they were delivered a full 15-20 minutes after the coffee. I won't be eating here again in a hurry, considering the prices.

Aug 06, 2010

6 Average

Food  8      Ambience  4      Service  5      Value  7     

I have eaten here a few times recently and am pretty happy overall with the value and variety of food available. They have started asking if you want extra vegetables in your dish (although they don't tell you it costs $1.50 extra) and this makes the meal a bit nicer. Nice selection of meats, seafood, and tofu or vegetable dishes with varying Asian fusion sauces and either rice or noodles.

The service is pretty quick, and it can be quite busy on a weekend night. The main problem in winter is that it can be very cold, and the atmosphere is pretty plain. If you want to eat in a prettier restaurant, you'd probably pay more.

Aug 06, 2010

3.5 Below Average

Food  5      Ambience  2      Service  4      Value  3     

Don't bother going unless you really like the smell of smoke. The draw of this place appears to be the water pipes (I think people are smoking apple-scented tobacco, from the smell), and the outside tables are packed even on nights when the rest of the restaurants in Parramatta are nearly empty. In fact it's a bit annoying to thread your way through the tables as you walk past, due to the number of waiters going back and forth with smoking implements.

When my friend suggested we eat there I asked her particularly if we could not sit near the smoke. We did sit inside, but, unfortunately, they have French doors leading out to the sidewalk, and the smoke wafts through periodically. Although the outside smoking areas look comfortable enough (particularly the seating area under the awning), the tables inside are pretty utilitarian, there are more interesting places you could spend your night.

Some other oddities: they don't serve tap water (maybe they want you to buy an overpriced drink?). Most of the "light meals" are served with a side of garlic bread, which I'm not sure really goes with what you're getting. The prices seem a little high for the neighbourhood, and the food was fine but unremarkable. (I had the mussels, there was certainly nothing wrong with them, but nothing to write home about).

The service was a little weird. I showed up a few minutes late, and the waitress presented herself to take our orders about 2 minutes after I sat down. After we finished we waited a long time for the bill, and the wait staff seemed to be ignoring our attempts to signal them.

Apr 25, 2012

6.3 Average

Quality  8      Ambience  5      Service  6      Value  6     

I stopped here before a play last night. My friends were all late, so I sat at the bar. This place gets really busy on play nights, but they made every effort to accommodate people, offering them a choice of sitting at the bar or outside once the tables were full. The bar staff were knowledgeable and able to recommend an appropriate beer for me (as I'm not familiar with Italian beer), and it was exactly what I wanted.

The risotto was delicious (I think it was caramelised onion, raddichio, and parmesan). It's a bit annoying to have to go and read the blackboard to see what's on offer (I'd rather sit and read a menu), while servers brush past you. The place isn't cheap, but the prices are pretty much in line with the other restaurants in the area.

It's probably one of the better venues if you're heading for a play at the STC and don't want to stop in the Rocks first. However, I have a feeling that conversation might be difficult if you're not alone!

Apr 25, 2012

5 Average

Food  6      Drinks  5      Ambience  3      Service  6      Value  5     

We went to this restaurant for a friend's birthday party. I haven't watched Masterchef, but several of my friends have and were aware of Hux's status. First I need to compliment him on his personal attention to our tables, it's not often that the head chef comes and personally takes your orders, serves your food, and clears your plate.

As far as value is concerned, you can print a voucher from his website to receive 3 courses for $30. That's probably a good offer if you want to eat all that food, and you like meat (I don't!). Otherwise you're looking at slightly pricy meals for a pub. I had a vodka and soda and then drank water for the rest of the night, so I'm not really qualified to comment on the drinks.

On to the food. There were a number of choices for mains, many of which consisted of a giant hunk of meat. For instance, there was a pork shoulder, which was to be shared by 2. This was quite a lot of food, and one set of 3 friends shared this and still had left-overs to take home, another pair shared it and demolished at least the meat portion.

Bizarrely, all of the meat dishes (including the offerings which came with gravy) were served on bread boards (thankfully this was not true for the fish and the salads). Even those who shared meat plates were given smaller cutting boards to eat off. Everyone seemed a bit put off by this, and were concerned about the graving spilling over the side of the cutting boards, or whether the cutting boards were really hygienic.

From what I gather, the fish offerings were a little bit disappointing. One friend got the fish of the day, which was a smallish piece of dory, and was supposed to have herb butter, there was no sauce to be seen, and no vegetables on her plate, only chips (although the people who got the pork shoulder did have some nice Dutch carrots on their plate).

Otherwise, there were fish and chips, calamari, and the like, none of which were remarkable. I did not want to eat any of the fish options because none of the offerings seemed more interesting than what I could make at home. However, there were no vegetarian mains, which is a serious failing. This place is in Leichhardt, not Dubbo. How hard would it be to add some ravioli or a vegetable stack to the menu? This is the only restaurant I've been to in Sydney that doesn't have at least one vegetarian option.

Instead, I ate a starter salad, which had beetroot, goat's cheese, watercress, little violets on it, and a pistachio dressing. It was absolutely divine, particularly the dressing, and both my friend and I who ordered it couldn't stop talking about how much we liked it. However, I'd wager few people would be able to manage with such a small portion to eat (I shared the 3 courses with a friend, so I also had 1/2 an appetizer and 1/2 a dessert, so that was Ok).

Our appetizer was a bleu cheese and caramelized onion tart, which was Ok, but there was something distinctly missing. The pastry was fine, but onions were too soft, and didn't have the character that I expect from caramelized onions. Were they overcooked? Cooked sous-vide instead of in a frying pan? Who knows, I don't expect to be back to ask.

The dessert was a deep-fried brownie, which was a very fudgy dark brownie coated in panko and coconut, served with berry coulis and caramel ice cream. It was nice, and I had no trouble finishing it, but I don't think frying the brownie adds anything to it. I was more impressed with the quality of the coulis and the ice cream, frankly.

Lastly, the ambience was Ok at first, but as the night grew later, the crowds grew in the TV area, and the game seemed to get louder and louder. Some people sat in view of the screen so they could watch the football. I guess if you are a football nut that's a plus, but if you don't particularly care for sports, and don't want your dinner partners focused on the TV it's a serious drawback.

Not long after we sat down the noise was so loud that we couldn't hear normal conversations and ended up shouting at each other. Not really what I pictured. Look, there are lots of pubs that serve decent food, but they allow you to eat in a spot in which you don't have to shout to be heard.

Overall, colour me fairly unimpressed. I won't rule out returning in the afternoon, when it doesn't look busy, and when I feel like eating some fried food, but I don't see it happening soon.

Apr 23, 2012

6.5 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  7      Value  3     

We came here with an overseas visitor, mostly because of the view. The view was certainly delivered, and most of the food was quite good, in fact the salads were absolutely perfect.

However, the restaurant is bitterly cold on a winter evening, and we had to eat with our coats on. Additionally, the lights were so dim that we could barely read the menus and my mother's partner needed a torch to make out what was on the wine list. Disappointingly, my mother's food was cold when she got it. Also, we ordered lollies to eat with our coffee, and they were delivered a full 15-20 minutes after the coffee. I won't be eating here again in a hurry, considering the prices.

Aug 06, 2010

6 Average

Food  8      Ambience  4      Service  5      Value  7     

I have eaten here a few times recently and am pretty happy overall with the value and variety of food available. They have started asking if you want extra vegetables in your dish (although they don't tell you it costs $1.50 extra) and this makes the meal a bit nicer. Nice selection of meats, seafood, and tofu or vegetable dishes with varying Asian fusion sauces and either rice or noodles.

The service is pretty quick, and it can be quite busy on a weekend night. The main problem in winter is that it can be very cold, and the atmosphere is pretty plain. If you want to eat in a prettier restaurant, you'd probably pay more.

Aug 06, 2010

8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  8     

We had a lovely dinner last night at Royal Cuisine Thai. My partner had a peanut chicken dish and I had the Samsahay prawns, both off the chef's special choice menu. The waitress was happy to help us pick out which dishes to order, and her recommendations were perfect, my prawns were absolutely delicious, and my partner really enjoyed his chicken as well. As it was winter, the outside area was closed and the inside is pleasant, even if you really feel that you're in the mall. The value was fantastic, even if we hadn't use the Entertainment card.

May 17, 2009

5.5 Average

Food  8      Ambience  3      Service  6      Value  5     

We went here on a Friday night, when the bars in the neighbourhood had people spilling out onto the pavement. It was completely empty for the entire meal, except for two people who wandered in from the hotel for drinks. The decor and ambiance are about what you'd expect for a restaurant attached to a hotel - a bit bland and commercial-looking.

The service was OK, if a bit listless. The menu was slightly disappointing. I felt there were not very many options that didn't involve meat, and many of the appetizers sounded much nicer than the mains. We ordered the salmon with soy/mirin sauce and lamb cutlets with cajun spice and beetroot sauce. Both were quite nice, and the potatoes that came with the lamb were lovely (the ones with the salmon were a bit limp). We enjoyed our dinner, and at least it was quiet!

However, they could benefit from serving appetizers in main portion sizes, to give people a bit more of a choice. With the entertainment book, the value was just OK. I wouldn't bother going there to pay full price, unless you were going for the Friday lunch special (all you can eat pasta). Even if you were on an expense account there are better places to eat in Chatswood for the money.

Feb 15, 2009

6.8 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  9      Service  8      Value  3     

We were taken out for breakfast on Australia day and it was packed. There were a few children eating there and it actually got pretty noisy (a little noisier than to my taste). The cafe is in a nice location overlooking Balmoral beach and if you can get a window seat it is fantastic, you feel a bit special. I don't think I would choose to pay these prices if it were up to me, even if I did win money on the greyhounds!

The breakfasts were all quite nice and seem designed to be slightly different from the ordinary, with special touches. However, I'm glad that another person at my table didn't want their toast, because my breakfast (spring vegetable tart) didn't really have quite enough food in it. I have been here before and the service has really nice on both occasions. However, I think it needs to be saved for a special occasion, and maybe when you're not that hungry! There is a gallery and balcony upstairs which you can visit whether or not you are eating there.

Feb 12, 2009

8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  9      Service  8      Value  7     

We ate dinner here on a Friday night. The setting is lovely with lakeside views and the restaurant is open to the air and lake. Our food was well prepared, and different. My partner had the Moroccan-spiced chicken, which he really enjoyed, and they were happy to prepare the accompanying risotto without mushrooms as he requested it.

I had salmon with hollandaise sauce, pasta and broccolini, which was a nice combination. We both thoroughly enjoyed our dinner, and the service was fine. However, there was some problem with the credit card machine and probably not enough communication between the servers and manager (owner?) who was trying to run it through. Despite these problems, it was a nice experience and well worth it when using the Entertainment card.

Feb 12, 2009

6.3 Average

Food  8      Ambience  5      Service  6      Value  6     

I had a birthday lunch here with a large group. I'd be very careful about booking here in the summer as they had no air conditioning!

Feb 12, 2009