kobayashi

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  6      Service  9      Value  10     

We went here at 2 pm on a weekday for lunch, it was largely full at the beginning but we were at the end of the lunchtime crowd. Decor is Asian, cheap and practical, condiments on the table and menus on the walls. Food came out quickly and was delicious. We had a fresh beef pho (stock was much better than from George St, noodles were a bit breaky but ok) and a chilli beef noodle soup (very tasty!), both came in massive bowls and were amazingly filling, brilliant value and much less greasy than the Thai down the road. Definitely returning for salt and pepper squid!

Nov 29, 2010

7.5 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  9      Service  7      Value  6     

Came for yum cha on a Sunday morning. We went in at 10:30 and it was about 3/4 full, but it filled up quite quickly. The service was standard yum cha (several waitstaff ignored us, we had to get the manager to help), the same three carts went past us most of the time, but the food was on the tasty end of average. The bill was a bit pricier than expected.

Nov 29, 2010

8.8 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  7      Service  8      Value  10     

This place is brilliant, I try to go there at least once a month for their chewy noodles and juicy pork and cabbage dumplings. Service is not exactly friendly but incredibly efficient - even though there's a 20 person queue I've never had to wait more than 15 minutes, and they sometimes take your order while you're in line so your food arrives at your table when you do. The food is delicious and filling (and cheap!), and the condiments (chingkiang vinegar, chilli) are great if you're in the mood for tears of painful, delicious joy. The decor is not the best but who has time to care when you're cramming as much flavour in your mouth as humanly possible?

Nov 21, 2010

1.5 Not Recommended

Food  2      Ambience  2      Service  1      Value  1     

This place was terrible. I went there with three friends for dinner at about 8:30 pm. My friend asked the waitress for a table - she yanked him by the arm down to her ear to hear him better (I presume). She then rudely told us to sit at the table "in the corner", by which she apparently meant the table in the middle of the room. Many of the other tables hadn't been cleared, and ours was not even set. When we asked for cutlery, the waitress acted like we'd offended her family. Apparently they were really busy although only half the tables were occupied. One of my friends tried to order a pizza, but we were told that there would be at least a 45 minute wait for pizza, and the other dishes would be much faster, so she ordered a pasta instead. This didn't help, since all the dishes came out after 50 minutes of waiting except three of the four orders were wrong. The medium rare steak was well done, the diane sauce smelt rank, and the two pastas were not the two pastas we ordered. The only thing that was correct was the lasagne - this tasted and looked terrible, just like a microwaved store-bought frozen lasagne. We waited another 15 minutes for our other orders, but they didn't come, so at this point we left in disgust. It was a terrible night out and we ended up eating takeaway pizza instead, which was excellent in comparison.

Nov 21, 2010

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  6      Service  9      Value  10     

We went here at 2 pm on a weekday for lunch, it was largely full at the beginning but we were at the end of the lunchtime crowd. Decor is Asian, cheap and practical, condiments on the table and menus on the walls. Food came out quickly and was delicious. We had a fresh beef pho (stock was much better than from George St, noodles were a bit breaky but ok) and a chilli beef noodle soup (very tasty!), both came in massive bowls and were amazingly filling, brilliant value and much less greasy than the Thai down the road. Definitely returning for salt and pepper squid!

Nov 29, 2010

7.5 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  9      Service  7      Value  6     

Came for yum cha on a Sunday morning. We went in at 10:30 and it was about 3/4 full, but it filled up quite quickly. The service was standard yum cha (several waitstaff ignored us, we had to get the manager to help), the same three carts went past us most of the time, but the food was on the tasty end of average. The bill was a bit pricier than expected.

Nov 29, 2010

8.8 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  7      Service  8      Value  10     

This place is brilliant, I try to go there at least once a month for their chewy noodles and juicy pork and cabbage dumplings. Service is not exactly friendly but incredibly efficient - even though there's a 20 person queue I've never had to wait more than 15 minutes, and they sometimes take your order while you're in line so your food arrives at your table when you do. The food is delicious and filling (and cheap!), and the condiments (chingkiang vinegar, chilli) are great if you're in the mood for tears of painful, delicious joy. The decor is not the best but who has time to care when you're cramming as much flavour in your mouth as humanly possible?

Nov 21, 2010

1.5 Not Recommended

Food  2      Ambience  2      Service  1      Value  1     

This place was terrible. I went there with three friends for dinner at about 8:30 pm. My friend asked the waitress for a table - she yanked him by the arm down to her ear to hear him better (I presume). She then rudely told us to sit at the table "in the corner", by which she apparently meant the table in the middle of the room. Many of the other tables hadn't been cleared, and ours was not even set. When we asked for cutlery, the waitress acted like we'd offended her family. Apparently they were really busy although only half the tables were occupied. One of my friends tried to order a pizza, but we were told that there would be at least a 45 minute wait for pizza, and the other dishes would be much faster, so she ordered a pasta instead. This didn't help, since all the dishes came out after 50 minutes of waiting except three of the four orders were wrong. The medium rare steak was well done, the diane sauce smelt rank, and the two pastas were not the two pastas we ordered. The only thing that was correct was the lasagne - this tasted and looked terrible, just like a microwaved store-bought frozen lasagne. We waited another 15 minutes for our other orders, but they didn't come, so at this point we left in disgust. It was a terrible night out and we ended up eating takeaway pizza instead, which was excellent in comparison.

Nov 21, 2010