Don't bother with this restaurant. Here's why.
Friday night, 6pm, and the place is full with a queue for tables. This was what made Hubby and me (with our 1yo in tow) decide to join the queue to wait for a table. We usually pick places to eat based on the number of people inside the restaurant, so we took a number and waited patiently for our seats. 45 minutes later, with numerous other people who arrived after us being ushered through before us, we were finally shown to our table in a private room, which we shared with 4 other diners (2 couples).
The table sharing was fine - we were hungry and by this point, really just wanted to eat and go back to the hotel to put our son to bed. Having already perused the menu, we had decided on the dishes we wanted. We had to wait until the other diners were seated before we could order. The other diners weren't quite ready to order, so the waitress went away. And didn't come back.
We brought a bottle of wine with us, and asked another waitress what the cost of corkage was. The reply was "$15 per bottle". I thought I heard wrong, so I asked her to repeat it. The reply was "Yes, $15 per bottle, but if you drink a lot, then I discount you to $10 per bottle". Clearly, she had mistaken Hubby and I to be 1) alcoholics and 2) irresponsible parents who would drink a lot whilst dining with a 1yo. Needless to say, we drank tap water, which thankfully was free.
After waiting another 10 minutes, we were finally allowed to order food, as did the other diners. One of other diners ordered a Coke, and the waitress brought him a can of Coke and a straw. No glass. He didn't think much of the arrangement, but opened the can and took a sip from the can, leaving the straw on the table. The same waitress came back with our tap water, saw the Coke drinker was drinking out of the can, and told him that he shouldn't drink the Coke straight from the can and he should use the straw to drink the Coke. Stunned silence from all of us in the private room, before the Coke drinker asked if he had done something wrong. Apparently, yes, he was drinking his beverage incorrectly, according to the waitress.
Just after we placed our orders, a bossy waitress dragged EVERY waitstaff into our room to point out that there were 3 separate orders in the room - Coke drinker and his wife (Bill 1), the other couple (Bill 2), and us (Bill 3). The bossy waitress explained this to all the waitstaff, individually, in great detail, over and over again. When the food was served, none of the waitstaff remembered who had ordered what.
The only redeeming feature was the food - it was OK, but really nothing to write home about, and definitely not value for money.
All in all, the staff was hopeless bordering on rude, the whole place lacked ambience, and if this restaurant thinks it can charge $15 corkage per bottle of BYO wine, then the owners must be dreaming. Seriously, there are better places to eat in Canberra. Give this one a miss. read more
