maggiec48

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  7      Service  9      Value  8     

Went for an early Valentine's Day dinner for the first time last night. Firstly, they're a cafe and they don't pretend to be anything else. They're not a restaurant nor a fine-dining experience. Bare tables, hard plastic chairs on a tilt on rough paving. Having said that - the place was jumping! It was a balmy Saturday night and it was packed with a mixture of casual and formally dressed patrons. The staff were attentive, knowledgeable and friendly (more about them later).

We chose not to go for the meze plate but went for the traditional option of entree and main. Our almond chicken and stuffed squid were excellent. For mains we had the seafood tagine and the lamb shank tagine. Beautifully fresh with delicate flavours and hubby reported his lamb was melt-in-the mouth delicious.

Just one little itsy bitsy thought. It might have been nice to have a specials board. I often think, when I see a commercially done printed menu, that the chefs must get bored cooking the same thing every day. I'm a jazzercise instructor and if I had to teach the same class every day, at the end of the year both I and my customers would be topping ourselves. You'd think that they might like to take advantage of seasonal produce and do something different for a change. Again, I tell myself, it's a cafe. And it has only been open for a year.

Service was timely with a nice gap between courses. My only complaint was that the staff whipped my husband's entree plate out from under him before I'd finished mine. That made me feel a little rushed. Not a big issue and better than sitting round for ages with empty plates uncollected. And, we weren't forgotten at coffee time (one of my big beefs with restaurants where service is great right up to the time you'd like a coffee and then you become invisible)!

In regard to value the prices are about what you'd pay for a good pub meal these days. If we'd gone the meze plate option it would have been cheaper.

We peeked at the breakfast menu which had a lot of unusual mediterranean dishes which beats the usual pancake, raisin toast, eggs and bacon type options so we're definitely giving that a go next time.

They've started with a bang and I really hope they can maintain their excellent standards of service and food which is sorely needed in this area.

Feb 10, 2013

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  7      Service  9      Value  9     

We went here on a Sunday night on a whim. I'm not an expert on Vietnamese cuisine so all I can say is that to my palate it was excellent, fresh, unusual, different!

We tried out the 333 Vietnamese beer which was a pale ale. Very nice. We had stuffed chicken wings and quail for entree and we shared the diy rice paper with the beef cooked in a lemongrass broth.

The decor is soothing maroon walls with carpet, which was nice, no hard surfaces for the sound to bounce off. My only complaint (and its not really a complaint) was the piano musak. What about some traditional Vietnamese music?

They had paper over the tablecloths (my pet hate) but after I saw the mess we made, understandable.

I agree with previous reviewers about the service which was just right and very helpful. We're definitely going back.

Nov 19, 2012

8.8 Highly Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  9      Service  10      Value  9     

I've lived in the area for twenty or more years and this is the first time we've been to this restaurant. To be fair, in this area you could go to a different one every day for a year and still not cover every one. How do restaurants survive?

It was Saturday night and there were only a few tables occupied although there were plenty of take-away orders. I loved the interior. The decor was bright and the atmosphere was warm and welcoming, with Real tableclothes and, even better, Real napkins. Big Tick. The service was prompt and friendly. In regard to the food what can I say? It was very nice Indian food but it didn't blow my socks off.

The pastry was a bit thick on the samosas. We had a goat curry which was delicious, Prawns in a coconut curry and the paneer with spinach. It was extremely good value with the BYO and $80 covered entree, 3 mains, raita, chai tea and Kulfi dessert. The owner came and chatted with us, which was nice, but nobody could tell us the story of the picture on the wall depicting half naked women getting water from a well. This restaurant deserves to be better patronised.

Oct 14, 2012

9.2 Highly Recommended

Food  8      Drinks  10      Ambience  9      Service  10      Value  9     

Met my sisters for a high tea. At $16 per person it was great value and we couldn't finish the food. Hubby appreciated the doggy bag. I love T2 tea and they had all the great flavours. We were given a large pot each. The crockery is lovely and quirky and the carved wood chairs were novel. Although its in a shopping centre it does its best to creat atmosphere. The staff were lovely. I'd recommend it to anyone.

Jun 28, 2012

6.8 Recommended

Food  4      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  5     

Has this restaurant changed hands? We've been here a few times and love it. However, I confess to a feeling of slight disappointment this time. We went for breakfast and, for once, didn't need to line up.

Firstly, the breakfast menu appears to have shrunk. Could be my imagination, however, there were no pancakes and we had particularly been looking forward to pancakes. My husband ordered the french toast as an alternative. It was supposedly served with berries. And it was, about 6 very small berries. I ordered the Ripples breakfast (eggs bacon beans mushrooms etc) which was nice but "tinned" champignons?

My husband was unable to order the multi fruit juice he'd enjoyed last time as it was no longer on the menu. Being unable to order a large coffee is also a bit of a downer but I can cope. Everything else was great, view, ambience, service, all good.

Jun 28, 2012

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  7      Service  9      Value  8     

Went for an early Valentine's Day dinner for the first time last night. Firstly, they're a cafe and they don't pretend to be anything else. They're not a restaurant nor a fine-dining experience. Bare tables, hard plastic chairs on a tilt on rough paving. Having said that - the place was jumping! It was a balmy Saturday night and it was packed with a mixture of casual and formally dressed patrons. The staff were attentive, knowledgeable and friendly (more about them later).

We chose not to go for the meze plate but went for the traditional option of entree and main. Our almond chicken and stuffed squid were excellent. For mains we had the seafood tagine and the lamb shank tagine. Beautifully fresh with delicate flavours and hubby reported his lamb was melt-in-the mouth delicious.

Just one little itsy bitsy thought. It might have been nice to have a specials board. I often think, when I see a commercially done printed menu, that the chefs must get bored cooking the same thing every day. I'm a jazzercise instructor and if I had to teach the same class every day, at the end of the year both I and my customers would be topping ourselves. You'd think that they might like to take advantage of seasonal produce and do something different for a change. Again, I tell myself, it's a cafe. And it has only been open for a year.

Service was timely with a nice gap between courses. My only complaint was that the staff whipped my husband's entree plate out from under him before I'd finished mine. That made me feel a little rushed. Not a big issue and better than sitting round for ages with empty plates uncollected. And, we weren't forgotten at coffee time (one of my big beefs with restaurants where service is great right up to the time you'd like a coffee and then you become invisible)!

In regard to value the prices are about what you'd pay for a good pub meal these days. If we'd gone the meze plate option it would have been cheaper.

We peeked at the breakfast menu which had a lot of unusual mediterranean dishes which beats the usual pancake, raisin toast, eggs and bacon type options so we're definitely giving that a go next time.

They've started with a bang and I really hope they can maintain their excellent standards of service and food which is sorely needed in this area.

Feb 10, 2013

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  7      Service  9      Value  9     

We went here on a Sunday night on a whim. I'm not an expert on Vietnamese cuisine so all I can say is that to my palate it was excellent, fresh, unusual, different!

We tried out the 333 Vietnamese beer which was a pale ale. Very nice. We had stuffed chicken wings and quail for entree and we shared the diy rice paper with the beef cooked in a lemongrass broth.

The decor is soothing maroon walls with carpet, which was nice, no hard surfaces for the sound to bounce off. My only complaint (and its not really a complaint) was the piano musak. What about some traditional Vietnamese music?

They had paper over the tablecloths (my pet hate) but after I saw the mess we made, understandable.

I agree with previous reviewers about the service which was just right and very helpful. We're definitely going back.

Nov 19, 2012

8.8 Highly Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  9      Service  10      Value  9     

I've lived in the area for twenty or more years and this is the first time we've been to this restaurant. To be fair, in this area you could go to a different one every day for a year and still not cover every one. How do restaurants survive?

It was Saturday night and there were only a few tables occupied although there were plenty of take-away orders. I loved the interior. The decor was bright and the atmosphere was warm and welcoming, with Real tableclothes and, even better, Real napkins. Big Tick. The service was prompt and friendly. In regard to the food what can I say? It was very nice Indian food but it didn't blow my socks off.

The pastry was a bit thick on the samosas. We had a goat curry which was delicious, Prawns in a coconut curry and the paneer with spinach. It was extremely good value with the BYO and $80 covered entree, 3 mains, raita, chai tea and Kulfi dessert. The owner came and chatted with us, which was nice, but nobody could tell us the story of the picture on the wall depicting half naked women getting water from a well. This restaurant deserves to be better patronised.

Oct 14, 2012

9.2 Highly Recommended

Food  8      Drinks  10      Ambience  9      Service  10      Value  9     

Met my sisters for a high tea. At $16 per person it was great value and we couldn't finish the food. Hubby appreciated the doggy bag. I love T2 tea and they had all the great flavours. We were given a large pot each. The crockery is lovely and quirky and the carved wood chairs were novel. Although its in a shopping centre it does its best to creat atmosphere. The staff were lovely. I'd recommend it to anyone.

Jun 28, 2012

6.8 Recommended

Food  4      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  5     

Has this restaurant changed hands? We've been here a few times and love it. However, I confess to a feeling of slight disappointment this time. We went for breakfast and, for once, didn't need to line up.

Firstly, the breakfast menu appears to have shrunk. Could be my imagination, however, there were no pancakes and we had particularly been looking forward to pancakes. My husband ordered the french toast as an alternative. It was supposedly served with berries. And it was, about 6 very small berries. I ordered the Ripples breakfast (eggs bacon beans mushrooms etc) which was nice but "tinned" champignons?

My husband was unable to order the multi fruit juice he'd enjoyed last time as it was no longer on the menu. Being unable to order a large coffee is also a bit of a downer but I can cope. Everything else was great, view, ambience, service, all good.

Jun 28, 2012

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  9      Value  8     

We went there on a Monday night and it was quite busy which is surprising for a Monday.

The service was very good with the food being on the table within minutes of ordering. There was a small mistake in the order and it was swiftly rectified. I thought the prices were a bit high. There were six of us and we ordered 4 dishes to share and there was plenty to go around. In the end we only paid $22 each including drinks (although only one of us had wine, the rest drank soft drinks).

The food was lovely. I recommend the chilli jam soft shell crab. I loved the decor and the high backed chairs although they were a bit low for the table (we're all short women). Not really a problem. I'll go back with friends anytime.

Jun 22, 2012

9 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  9     

We stayed at the attached Guest House and it was lovely to just wander downstairs to a beautiful French restaurant. There were the usual suspects on the menu, snails, brains and duck in orange sauce (I won't attempt to write it in the French way as my pathetic attempt to say it was corrected by the waiter).

The special was braised ox cheeks which we didn't try. I had the brains for entree and they melted in my mouth. Then I had the duck which was to mind a little undercooked and it was a bit chewy, I definitely needed a sharper knife. As I'm an ignoramus it's probably supposed to be like that. It was still delicious. The nice thing about this restaurant is veggies come with the meal and you don't have to order them separately at great expense.

Also it was BYO which we did (although the waiter didn't seem totally impressed with our choice). And (my hobby horse) it had real tablecloths with No paper on top. The set menu provides great value and the service was excellent (although just a tad haughty but maybe that comes with the turf in a French restaurant). On a cold Autumn night it was a very pleasant experience and I highly recommend it.

May 31, 2012

9.8 Highly Recommended

Quality  10      Food  10      Ambience  10      Service  10      Value  9     

We had dinner here last night (Mothers Day). We were very rude in that we hadn't booked but just dropped in on spec to see if they had a table. They didn't treat us with the comtempt which we deserved but were extremely accommodating.

Luckily it was early and they could give us an hour which was perfect! We went with the staff's suggestions which were the slow cooked lamb (cooked all day) and the gnocchi. I didn't try the gnocchi but reports were good. The lamb was melt in the mouth and the pasta perfect. I'll be back and next time I'll book, and I'll bring wine.

May 14, 2012

8.8 Highly Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  9      Service  8      Value  10     

I went with 3 friends last night (Saturday) on the recommendation of a local. We arrived quite early and the restaurant was quickly filling up. My first impression was very positive. The place is stylishly decorated, very fresh and inviting.

The staff were accommodating and didn't blink when presented with a bottle of champagne stopped up with builders tape (long story), although they did charge a small fee for "corkage". The extensive menu worries me. The question is "how can they do everything well?" particularly in a kitchen the size of a shoebox. Judging from the reviews below the answer is, "they can't". Also, they appeared a bit confused as to who (or is that whom) they are, with items such as "swiss style hash browns" and duck.

To all intents and purposes it seemed to be an Italian restaurant with a nice picture of Positano over the kitchen but one of our party, who is Italian, says duck (as one example) would be unlikely on an italian menu.

After reading the reviews below we steered clear of the pickled onions. The crumbed brains for entree were well presented and were lovely and crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. Beautiful. The entree sized gorgonzola risotto was everything a good risotto should be. One friend intrepidly tried the prawn and barramundi sausages (maybe I don't get out enough but that was a novel combination to me) and she reported they were delicious.

Dessert was the highlight. The honey pudding with chocolate hazelnut sauce would be at home in a much more upmarket restaurant and at only $8 its definite value for money. Melt in the mouth delicious. The others loved their sticky date pudding and strawberry crepes. One thing though – “Tira-mi-su”? Is that some sort of inside joke? Our Italian friend confirmed that the dashes were... well... odd.

To finish, service was prompt and polite, presentation of dishes was above average, value for money was excellent and even though the restaurant was full, we didn’t have to shout to hear each other. Top marks.

Oct 23, 2011

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

9 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  8      Service  10      Value  8     

I took hubby there last night for his birthday. It's a perfect place for a celebration. Real tableclothes and no paper :)! Service - knowledgable and efficient. Food, what there was of it, was superb. I think the chef is of the "big plate with artistically arranged tiny portion" school. That's fine. We eat too much anyway I guess. Ambience - great seaside feel but hard surfaces made it very noisy (it was a Saturday and packed). My only complaint was dessert. Oh Man! Not enough of it! I ordered the panacotta with almond tart and I got 2 teaspoons of panacotta and less than a quarter of a tart which, if whole, would have measured 6cm in diameter. I promise I am not exaggerating. It wasn't cheap and, really, why couldn't I have had the whole tart? My husband did get a whole, beautifully cooked creme brulee. I was very envious of his choice. Apart from that small down note I highly recommend this restaurant for special occasions.

Mar 13, 2011