Fun restaurant with very friendly staff with great decor for a Pub. Wood sticky tables and mostly…read morestools for seats. Both of us had the ribeye steak and both thought the steaks were just ok, lots of gristle and not super flavorful.

My wife and I found this place during a weeklong stay in Canberra. It is near the Central Bus Stop…read moreand City Central, surrounded by many other eateries, shops, etc. This is your typical Irish bar, featuring Giuness beer, but they have plenty of other beers on tap including our favorite: BentSpoke Crankshaft. Food is good and the seating, inside and out, is pleasant. One thing to watch for are the homeless and beggers. During one afternoon we saw several people trying to beg for money; one woman was brazen enough to ask specifically for A$2, then proceeded to walk throughout the outside eating area, drinking what was left in abandoned glasses and eating what food was left behind. This is a minor annoyance but something to be aware of and expect. If we ever make it back to Canberra you can expect us to visit this pub again.

The food at Blu Ginger is consistently amazing. Lunch or dinner there is always a happy crowd-…read morerecommend booking in. They feature a large vegetarian selection as well as seafood, chicken and lamb.

It's really busy and hot spot local restaurant for the Canberrians to carve indian restaurant I…read morehave been there around 6 pm I don't had reservations but they accommodate in both. we order palak chat and chapali kebba its delicious our main course was tandoori chicken it's average but our chettanadi chicken was too spicy for us usually i can prefer spicy but its too spicy, chef should rethink about the level of spicy he used and other thing was top notch due too busy service was okay !

Pelagic is a nice, tiny, slightly upscale casual seafood dining place in Civic. Located next to the…read moreTed's Camera in Bailey's arcade, it has a small menu and looks quite unassuming (in fact, it looks like an incomplete workspace) from the outside. Disclaimer: I visited this place with a discounted coupon from LivingSocials. Food: Fantastically fresh seafood that melts in your mouth, be it the sashimi or the cooked fish. Rightly portioned (so you can have a full 3 course if you so wish, but we were full by desserts), not a touch of ingredient on the whole plate was out of place. The sauces tasted well with each other, as were the vegetables. Desserts were beautiful. Had a strawberry liquer ice cream "thing" (can't remember the name off hand) that was just absolutely beautiful. It has a full bar with a friend bartender who was attending to everyone efficiently and willingly (COURAGEOUSLY) mixing new things to allow customers to try. I am unfortunately allergic to alcohol so... Service: attentive, friendly, knowledgeable, efficient and prompt. Loved our waitress who did everything within her abilities to help us when we were unsure what to order. Very patient as well. Atmosphere: Decor is underwhelming, so it's deceptively casual in that sense. Tables are set for upperclass casual dining and the waitresses were dressed towards the same theme, but we were never made to feel out of place in our jeans and T-shirt. Great music, not too loud, and good ambient lighting. Conclusion: we loved that place and wanted to visit it again but we have been putting it off as we were often busy. WE HAVE HEARD NEWS THAT IT MIGHT BE CLOSE, SO WE RECOMMEND THAT YOU MAKE CALLS BEFORE ATTEMPTING TO GO THERE. if it is definitely closed, I will be terribly upset T_T

We visited Raku in 2018 and it made our list of best restaurants for that year. When our foodie…read morecrew opted to go to Canberra, our only request was that we wanted to return to Raku. It is a sleek and contemporary fine dining Japanese restaurant with an extensive ala carte menu, as well as a tasting menu. The restaurant is located in the main CBD precinct near the Civic shopping centre and thus was easy to locate. The space is large with table seating or right up at the chefs kitchen as well private dining spaces. You can watch the chefs prepare the meats on the grill over the flame and it is mesmerising. Otherwise there's small tables or booths, it is dimly lit and has a romantic feel to it. The ambience is cool and sophisticated, but not at all arrogant and you can certainly feel comfortable dining here. We learn that Raku is named after a Japanese style of pottery (fired in open flames), which is apt for a Robata style restaurant. Secondly, the ceramics here were absolutely beautiful and demonstrated different designs and techniques. Cooking wise, the robata method enables the flavour of the flame to shine through the meat, seafood and vegetables and the blue eyed cod has to be one of the best things we've ever ordered. The Gindara saikyo yaki Alaskan black cod came with a saikyo miso w pickled cauliflower. The Smokey flavour was beautiful and it was so soft and melted in your mouth. The Ala Carte menu has so many options; from raw seafood to salads, hot dishes, tempura, maki rolls, sushi nigiri, signature dishes and robatayaki seafood, meat and veg, there is sure to be something to take your fancy. We opted for the picture perfect Hotate truffle Hokkaido scallop flavoured with truffle and ponzu as well as a beautiful maki roll filled with Spicy maguro South Australian raw tuna, Sriracha, tenkatsu, chives, takuan, cabbage. The tenkatsu crisp provided a nice crunch to the sushi. For the other two in our dining party, they ate the Hao san's tasting menu, which for $80 each is super reasonable since the ala carte diners ended up spending more than this. We do like that the restaurant enabled our dining party to have ala carte or the tasting menu (though tasting menu needs to be at least 2 people). A tasting menu is great way to do things for it enables you to experience a good range of their signature dishes. It begins with their signature Merimbula rock oysters topped with cucumber, tosazu. A light and refreshing start to the tasting. One of the favourites was the Tasmanian salmon tartar w yuzu miso & squid ink cracker that was simply stunning in both flavour and presentation. Followed up by some of the best Sashimi around; salmon, kingfish and scallop as well as 2 pieces each of the Chef's selection nigiri; Aburi salmon and tuna. Then came the lightly fried Tempura Zucchini flowers, which were beautifully done, filled with feta, goma, tofu paste and a side of dashi broth. For the main part of the tasting menu, it was an 150-day grain fed Scotch fillet, perfectly cooked medium and sliced thinly served with wasabi sour cream and a rhubarb salt. This came with a nice cup of white miso dashi w tofu, wakame & spring onion. To also accompany the main was a light Heirloom tomato salad, fried quinoa, honey soy, spicy tofu creme. We were keen for the Wagyu gyoza w truffle oil, white ponzu, mustard seed and had been talking about this well before our visit l. So when the dessert arrived we were disappointed the gyoza hadn't come. When enquiring, they had simply forgotten, so lucky we knew the menu. They were worth the wait. The tasting menu comes with a Toasted sesame ice cream w caramelised almonds sticky miso caramel, matcha wafer which did sound delightful, though being at whisky fans, we asked your we could swap out the desert for their whisky option. We are so happy they obliged. The dessert was a Japanese whisky chocolate fondant oozing with chocolate and a sticky miso caramel paired with Nikka 'from the barrel' ice cream. This is a whiskey lovers dream. Drinks wise, they have some solid cocktails with Japanese flavours, sake, beers and wines and ask for the waiters suggestion to match your meal. They also have an express $40 lunch option which sounds like a good deal too. We love Raku restaurant and this is enough of a reason to plan a visit to Canberra.

Such a bummer to write a one-star review but gutted after our experience at RAKU yesterday. In…read morealmost 15 years on Yelp, I don't think I've written more than one or two one-star reviews, but this was really awful. Had a weekday birthday and I work across the street, so my sweet partner booked us in for a 6pm dinner reservation on a Wednesday evening. Arrived a couple of minutes early and was greeted by the hostess. She asked if we had a resy and checked it in the system, then walked us saying that we had 2 seating options: - The first spot offered was at the middle of a communal table sitting closer to strangers than each other, right by the door, with the associated extra light and unwelcome chill from the opening and closing of the door. Not very nice but figured the second option would be better. - Second was two seats side by side facing the sushi bar. I know people sometimes prefer and specifically book this to watch the artistry of the sushi masters, or would be happy with these seats as walk-ins without reservations, but it was not appropriate for a celebratory dinner date. (Booked online and reconfirmed on request twice by the venue, once the Saturday before and once earlier the same day.) - We saw a couple of open two-tops at the window, so my partner asked if one of those would be an option. Instead the hostess frowned at us and said that they were booked. - I don't have a great poker face and must have visibly balked, so after frowning at us some more, the hostess then relented and said we could sit at one of the available two-tops. - Which was odd because she said less than two minutes before that they were booked (presumably by people who had specifically booked and reconfirmed those two particular tables? Not sure what the issue was but it was appalling to experience.) We weighed the idea of sitting down for a dinner at a place where the team had been so unprofessional with two people who arrived on time, looking appropriate, for a (doubly) confirmed pre-booked reservation, and opted to leave rather than put the rest of our night into the hands of this venue. Super sad as we had already picked out our favourite options from the Hao San tasting menu and were very much looking forward to the food and wine pairings. A ruined night thanks to bad service at RAKU. Such a shame as otherwise this could have been such a nice option in Canberra.

Experiences here vary from 5 star to 1 star. Basement bar is a good place for a secluded drink but…read morethe impressive decor is reflected in the price of drinks, even allowing for the overpriced nature of Canberra.. A plus is that the stock of Australian spirits. Last visit the bar was not open at 4pm (as advertised) forcing us to sit upstairs, where the service is slow and somewhat disinterested. A.Baker may have changed since I first drafted this review a few years ago, but if the name is the same.... :)

Go at your own risk- heard mixed reviews and I can see why. If u want a sure thing amazing…read moreexperience I'd recommend going somewhere else. However if you're a gambler and want to throw caution to the wind and laugh in the face of bad service and the chance for a rather disappointing experience than strap on your Indiana Jones costume and come on down! I had been recommended A.Baker by a mate in Sydney however my local contact had received mixed reviews. She'd never been and so we thought we'd give it a try. We came here for brunch so I can't really comment on the dinner/wine bar side of things (maybe that is their saving grace?). A.Baker looks pretty suave and funky. The layout and design inside is madhot and I always give extra points to a place that has invested time in decorating. It's honestly worth coming here just to check out the decor. The food was quite nice, but I think they were trying too hard to be avant-garde and different. I understand that the chefs want to do something new and different but it all just seemed a little bit pretentious for my simple tastes. I got the toad in the hole- which sounds weird considering my previous sentence- however it had lardo (cured pig fat) on it and some other thing I couldn't even name. Nevertheless it was rather pleasant. The coffee was alight- nothing special but definitely a good bean nonetheless. The biggest issue was the service and the treatment of the staff. They were just inattentive and did not care at all. We ordered a round of bloody marys which kind of never came. We eventually asked the waitress when we were 1/2 way through our meals and her response was that no one was in the bar... After all of us staring blankly at her for a few seconds she said that she guessed she could go ask her manager and walked off. After we'd all finished our meals and were about to give up and head off the manager came out with the bloody Mary's, put them down and hurried off. No apology for the delay or smile or anything.. This would have been fine- I'm not precious about service- however the drinks were undrinkable. I love chilli and can handle my heat, however this was like drinking Tabasco sauce. We spoke to another waiter and asked if they could be taken off the bill- which they did. Another group sat at the table next us and no waiter have them menus or anything for the 20 minutes they were there. Might also point out it wasn't busy at all. This seems to be the biggest critique of this place (the service not the Bloody Mary's) and I've heard several stories of this since going. Normally this wouldn't get in the way of good food for me. I'd be comfortable paying to eat in a gutter of a highway with the waiter spitting in my face if the food was worth it, however the overall experience just wasn't really worth it. I'm giving it two stars as the whole experience was simply disappointing. I always look for the best in a place but there were too many factors working against this place for me to ignore. The next time I come to Canberra I think I might just make my toad in a hole at home- or try and come here for a wine at night,

This is all about good food…read more It is a restaurant which is street level in Canberra city within a large retail precinct. There is indoor and out door seating available; it is set up to be functional with little emphasis on the ambience. Dishes we enjoyed were: - pepper salted chilli calamari - honey king prawns - chicken w macadamia nuts and button mushrooms - shan tung lamb - english spinach w garlic sauce The chicken was a beautiful dish, lovely even taste and good flavours. Shan tung lamb is always good here too. Looking for a casual meal on the go, with some friends or passing through. This place serves consistent food which is well priced with efficient service.

Had this recommended by a work colleague and avoided it the first night due to underwhelming Yelp…read morereviews. I am SO sorry I read them Yelp reviews because this place deserves so much better than Yelp has them rated. The food is excellent -- some of the best I had in Canberra -- and served in generous portions. You have your choice of dining inside or outside. The wait staff is omnipresent without being overbearing. I'm puzzled by the lower reviews, they don't fit my impression of the place at all. I look forward to eating here again the next time I'm in Canberra.

During Summer the Yacht Club opens Snapper their take out fish n chip shop. Its open 8-8 with lunch…read morefrom 12. Lonsdale Roasters do coffee and cake from 8am. Menu is moderately expensive arpund $20 for meal and a drink. They have a couple of kiddie options and some salads as well. Nice sittong area outside qith great views. Parking was a little chaotic but tge yachts were racing which probably made it worse.