missbeckykate

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  10      Service  8      Value  6     

This is the ideal Yum Cha restaurant for those with money! It's in a beautiful location, light-filled, large and overlooking the Yarra river and city. The food is perfect, I have never encountered a bad or average dish, everything is cooked to perfection and served attractively. The service is prompt and very polite, although quite rushed. If you plan to eat to be full here, expect to pay hundreds but it's worth it for the quality. Highly recommended.

Jun 23, 2009

2.8 Not Recommended

Food  2      Drinks  2      Ambience  8      Service  1      Value  1     

The only nice thing I have to say about this place is that it is a cosy, warm and relaxed venue, cool during the summer and warm during the winter with open fires. I live near this place, so I go here for a few drinks sometimes. However, the food is terrible value. Expensive and not very tasty. The parmas are like fake chicken, the steaks are always overcooked although I order mine medium-rare, the salads are poor, a few scraps of what looks like grass and maybe a piece of cucumber and capsicum.

I ordered $25 fish dish one night, to be presented with a tiny morsel of fish and a pathetic salad. I complained politely about the dish, only to have the chef come out, angry and completely unapologetic, I asked for a better salad and he snatched my dish, went away with it in a huff and returned with more grass leaves and an extra piece of cucumber and capsicum, poor! As for the other menu options, extremely limited.

The staff are extremely rude! Never smile and tend to speak down to you. I asked for a glass of Moscato wine the other night and the bar girl looked confused and asked what it was (aren't bar staff meant to be trained on this?), when I informed her, she shrugged and said she didn't think they had it, shoved a wine list in my face and stared at me until I made a decision.

Definitely not recommended if you enjoy good food and service, pretty good for after work drinks though if you push the staff rudeness aside.

Jun 23, 2009

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  7      Value  9     

Have visited this place many times and still continue to return! The food is delicious and bursting with flavour. I usually stick to the lamb souvlakis and dips, YUM! It's got a nice atmosphere to it, the service is prompt and it's good food quality and quantity for value of money. Definitely recommended!

Jun 23, 2009

3.8 Below Average

Food  8      Ambience  5      Service  1      Value  1     

I've visited this place twice with my family, and the service was terrible both times. The waitress handed out menus, but did not offer a smile of any hospitality whatsoever. We decided on a banquet, as there were a fair few of us and we were all ravenous. We waited hours for the food, without any exaggeration. The first course came out within half an hour, but the others took at least an hour or so, it took over two hours in total for us to receive our meals. Ridiculous.

We complained to the waiter, and he did not apologise, just advised that the food is worth it. The food was good, nothing to rave about though, and our final course, a platter of meat was presented poorly, I felt like we were being served a plate of animal they shaved in the kitchen and just whacked on a plate. The whole thing was a waste of time and money.

Jun 23, 2009

9.5 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  10      Service  8      Value  10     

I absolutely adore this place! I've visited on many occasions and have never once been disappointed. The staff are overall friendly, and the service is quite prompt, unless it's a busy night, then it can take a little wait to be served. I love the place so much I had my 21st here, and the staff were great, although there were a few little mistakes with drink orders but then, they were catering to 20 or so people plus a full house. We were also awarded with free sombreros!

Food is always delicious, very satisfying and excellent value, around $15-$25.
Atmosphere is great, nice surroundings, but pretty laid-back. Definitely recommended!

Jun 23, 2009

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  10      Service  8      Value  6     

This is the ideal Yum Cha restaurant for those with money! It's in a beautiful location, light-filled, large and overlooking the Yarra river and city. The food is perfect, I have never encountered a bad or average dish, everything is cooked to perfection and served attractively. The service is prompt and very polite, although quite rushed. If you plan to eat to be full here, expect to pay hundreds but it's worth it for the quality. Highly recommended.

Jun 23, 2009

2.8 Not Recommended

Food  2      Drinks  2      Ambience  8      Service  1      Value  1     

The only nice thing I have to say about this place is that it is a cosy, warm and relaxed venue, cool during the summer and warm during the winter with open fires. I live near this place, so I go here for a few drinks sometimes. However, the food is terrible value. Expensive and not very tasty. The parmas are like fake chicken, the steaks are always overcooked although I order mine medium-rare, the salads are poor, a few scraps of what looks like grass and maybe a piece of cucumber and capsicum.

I ordered $25 fish dish one night, to be presented with a tiny morsel of fish and a pathetic salad. I complained politely about the dish, only to have the chef come out, angry and completely unapologetic, I asked for a better salad and he snatched my dish, went away with it in a huff and returned with more grass leaves and an extra piece of cucumber and capsicum, poor! As for the other menu options, extremely limited.

The staff are extremely rude! Never smile and tend to speak down to you. I asked for a glass of Moscato wine the other night and the bar girl looked confused and asked what it was (aren't bar staff meant to be trained on this?), when I informed her, she shrugged and said she didn't think they had it, shoved a wine list in my face and stared at me until I made a decision.

Definitely not recommended if you enjoy good food and service, pretty good for after work drinks though if you push the staff rudeness aside.

Jun 23, 2009

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  7      Value  9     

Have visited this place many times and still continue to return! The food is delicious and bursting with flavour. I usually stick to the lamb souvlakis and dips, YUM! It's got a nice atmosphere to it, the service is prompt and it's good food quality and quantity for value of money. Definitely recommended!

Jun 23, 2009

3.8 Below Average

Food  8      Ambience  5      Service  1      Value  1     

I've visited this place twice with my family, and the service was terrible both times. The waitress handed out menus, but did not offer a smile of any hospitality whatsoever. We decided on a banquet, as there were a fair few of us and we were all ravenous. We waited hours for the food, without any exaggeration. The first course came out within half an hour, but the others took at least an hour or so, it took over two hours in total for us to receive our meals. Ridiculous.

We complained to the waiter, and he did not apologise, just advised that the food is worth it. The food was good, nothing to rave about though, and our final course, a platter of meat was presented poorly, I felt like we were being served a plate of animal they shaved in the kitchen and just whacked on a plate. The whole thing was a waste of time and money.

Jun 23, 2009

9.5 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  10      Service  8      Value  10     

I absolutely adore this place! I've visited on many occasions and have never once been disappointed. The staff are overall friendly, and the service is quite prompt, unless it's a busy night, then it can take a little wait to be served. I love the place so much I had my 21st here, and the staff were great, although there were a few little mistakes with drink orders but then, they were catering to 20 or so people plus a full house. We were also awarded with free sombreros!

Food is always delicious, very satisfying and excellent value, around $15-$25.
Atmosphere is great, nice surroundings, but pretty laid-back. Definitely recommended!

Jun 23, 2009

7.5 Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  3     

Food is delicious! Atmosphere is great! Staff are friendly! Service is fantastic!
However, value is quite poor, you need to spend at least $150 at this place (for two people), and even then, you don't receive much food for what you're paying. The owners of this place would be raking it in and laughing! Fun experience, I might revisit if I'm rolling in money anytime soon.

Jun 23, 2009

9 Highly Recommended

Drinks  7      Ambience  10      Service  10      Value  9     

I'd definitely rate this as one of my personal favourites. It's ideal for a romantic dining experience, it's quite small and intimate with peaceful lighting. The food is absolutely amazing, bursting with flavour, and comes out gradually in small portions, so you get full gradually and comfortably.

The churros are delicious and their hot chocolate is a must for all chocolate lovers, a totally different experience! Staff are helpful and friendly, although very busy which is understandable with the amount of customers they get. This place is very pricey, but definitely worth it for the experience. Will return when I have the money again!

Jun 23, 2009

1.8 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  3      Service  2      Value  1     

I've visited Sofia's twice over this year with friends. It is an attractive venue as it is located on the waterfront. The first time I visited I ordered a chicken and avocado dish which tasted absolutely awful, also had a side of oysters kilpatrick which, as any kilpatrick fan would know should be at least slightly cooked, but tasted raw with a bit of wocestershire sauce and bacon chucked on top. I thought, perhaps, I'd ordered the wrong thing.

Last visit was a couple of weeks ago, this visit just proved Sofia's is never anywhere I want to waste my money on again. Ordered garlic bread, which was a massive platter of dry-tasting sugarless cake with chunks of garlic chucked on top, dripping in oil - ugh.. tried the oysters which were just as terrible and fish of the day, which was more like catch of the sewer, it tasted inedible and more like a fish which had been swimming around a sewer for the past three years.

The waitress we had was nice, yet it took a long while to get served. The food came out so quickly though that I'm sure they just cook everything in bulk at the start of the day and have it sitting there waiting until someone orders it. Will never come back!

Jun 23, 2009