themolk and Michelle's blog
http://mcdonalds-review.blogspot.com/
Judgements aside on the quality of food from McDonalds, and in light of Morgan Spurlock's documentary, this guy has hit on a pretty good concept. Beat me to it. ;)
If it wasn't for me about to start a serious life-changing weight-reducing regime, I'd seriously consider doing the same for KFC... and then Hungry Jacks... and Red Rooster... and so on...
I'd like to drop in a review for all the places we (Alan and I) ate while I was in Melbourne, but too many... so a overview will do (all are located on Lygon Street, Carlton)...
Universal Pizza
It was relatively typical wood-fired pizza - althought the garlic pizza we ordered as a started came out almost floating on oil... and I didn't think it was from the cheese. The meat lovers I had was OK - really big portion (in that I couldn't finish it) - but nothing special. Service was a bit all over the place which was surprising as it wasn't that busy. Well, there was this table of about 16 kids aged 12-14, celebrating someone's birthday... I wouldn't want to sort out the bill at the end of THAT meal (there was food and half empty plates all over the table).
Lygon Charcoal Grill & Steakhouse
For a place that rates itself as "the best steak in Melbourne", they either only look at their restaurant as all of Melbourne or whoever wrote it is severely deluded. Steak size was pretty good (I had the porterhouse with mushroom sauce), but my 'medium' was a little too bloody. Alan's blue whatever-cut-it-was was OK, but a poor cut in the end... full of sinew and fat. In the end, not even an OK steak (and not even a patch on Cha Cha Char of Brisbane - winner of Australian best steak restaurant 2005). It's certainly no patch on Vlado's...
Locusta
An italian seafood place that George, Alan, Kim and I went to on the Friday night (before we kicked on and played pool and some people drank too much). Again, it was good - even George, who usually is super positive about most places he eats, thought it wasn't anything special. Certainly my seafood platter wasn't too interesting - the scallops were miniscule, the calamari was OK, the whiting fillet was over battered (and the batter was too heavy), the two king prawns were battered top to toe however the shell removed over the tail, and the battered whole garfish was less than appetising after eyeballing it when the plate arrived. At least the gelato we got from the gelato place down the street was nice...
Lemongrass Thai
Simply outstanding Thai food. The entrees were just right (especially the prawn spring rolls), the mains were awesome (I had the Penang Beef and Alan had an amazing steak dish - Tiger's Tears), the ambience was really nice, the place was extremely busy and yet the staff were attentive and ever-so-polite. Tops the list of places eaten in Melboure this trip by a country mile. Easy to have an intimate dinner for two or a 'louder' group meal, while not bothering others too much. Cannot recommend them highly enough (and certainly by comparison).
There are HEAPS more options on Lygon St... I hope to get to try some more of them. ;)
P.S. Have I mentioned lately how much I LOVE daylight saving! It's been great to have in while in Melbourne, although a little inconvenient when working out when to talk to Michelle!
SURPRISE!! Michelle and Luke took me out to lunch at Hogs Breath for my 32nd birthday (Luke paid), and as we pulled into the car park we saw a couple of friends from church arriving (Mark, Catherine and Chloe) - no coincidence, as they were there to have lunch with us (along with Ray and Kelly from next door and Sols and Cath too).
What a way to celebrate too, as let's face it, Hogs Breath do some pretty amazing steaks...
Ambience
HBC have their very definite own style of things... from collections of number plates, to mannequins dressed as whoever (in our case, we had Marylin standing over a permanetly blowing grate/fan), plus the obligatory papier mache HBC pink hog doing something.
I have to mention the plastic light up palm tree. Each section of the trunk was a different colour, and the leaves were essentially a mass of lights. It doesn't even fall into the kitsch category - it's just plain ugly (I am glad I had my back to it). It kinda looked like this, but not just one colour - ALL colours. There were also plasmas everywhere playing a mix of the cricket (Aus v Sth Africa) and 80's film clips.
No real view to speak of, but then you really go to HBC for the food and the social opportunity.
Food
Mmm... steak. HBC specialise in slow cooking their steaks (by slow, I mean 18 hours slow) and it makes for an amazing treat each time. I've never had a bad steak at HBC ever. We (Michelle and I) did try the new finger food combo from the new menu - salt & pepper calamari, crumbed chicken tenderloins, vege spring rolls and some meat skewers. Quite nice, although a bit over-priced. Michelle had the Chicken Caesar for main, and I had the steak/calamari combo with a Caesar side. Most people had a steak (and so they should).
The Caesar was pretty disappointing... no cos lettuce, only iceberg (although cos was listed in the ingredients in the menu), heaps of bacon (not so bad, but in the context of the salad you can have too much of a good thing), and Michelle had hardly any dressing whilst mine was swimming in it. There was no obvious cheese (probably masked by the dressing on mine), and the crutons has drowned long before my meal made it to the table. I forgot to ask Michelle what the chicken was like in it, but I think it was OK.
Dessert was a shared Mississippi mud cake (yummy) - standard two spoon deal.
Drinks included water, Carona, Dark & Stormy, LLBs, and an Apple juice.
Service
Not so bad, although considering there was hardly anyone in the place we just about had to tackle a staff member to serve us. Like most places they kept all mains until the entrees were cleared - but they were slow on the uptake on that. I clearly ordered fries for main, and got mashed potato instead. This was fixed, however it doesn't hurt to pay attention when taking orders. When it came to paying the bill (I personally HATE places that won't let you pay the bill separately - it's just laziness), we had to hunt a staff member down to give us the bill. No tip here today.
End Result
Ambience - 1.5/5
Would have been higher if not for the plastic palm tree.
Food - 3.5/5
I really like their steaks, but for mine, the Caesar salad really let them down (twice, for different reasons for Michelle and I).
Service - 1/5
Pay attention - you're in a service buisness. I don't care how interesting your conversation is with your workmates is...
Overall - 6/15
Great steak... I guess everything else comes depending where you are. For example, the Whitsundays and Mooloolaba HBC's are great places to go (at least when I last went there)... Perhaps because I'pilly is still young, they are still learning.
Hogs Breath Cafe
Everywhere in Australia, but we were at:
104 Coonan St, Indooroopilly
(07) 3378 5533
Christmas is a time... for realising that Christmas is December 25, not December 5. That said, all of December has become Christmas party season. Seeing as I couldn't make it to Melbourne for the IS Team Chrissy party, when my boss was up on Monday Dec 5 he took myself and Jason (IS HelpDesk guy up in Brisbane for the week) out to dinner and a movie.
Tonight, dinner was in a nice Cafe across the road and up a bit (he doesn't like travelling much outside SouthBank when he is up here).
Ambience
Nothing special - so I guess nothing really disgusting or horrible. Kinda squished inside, but on the whole some nice subtle oranges and browns with some original black and white photography on the walls. It was a pretty stinking hot day in Brissy, so we ate inside (much to my cigarette smoking boss's chagrin) but to be fair it didn't seem to make much difference - it was still just plain hot.
Food
The ordering was interesting enough - we ordered a pizetta and a calzone - and after the waitress checked they had the stuff for it, 10 minutes later she retured to tell us that the calzone was unavailable. Oh well, another pizetta for us.
George had the seafood platter (no oysters, but other things replaced that for him), Jason had the sirloin steak (he said it was good), and I had the Tandoori Chicken pizza. To be picky about my main, I expected the chicken to be tandoori cooked however it was only cooked chicken with some "tandoori spices" sprinkled all over the place. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't spectacular.
BTW, stupid me forgot to take photos of the mains before we ate... even after asking the other guys to remind me!
Drinks were a mix of Crownies, Bundaberg Ginger Beer, water (still and sparkling) and an iced coffee. No dessert - that was saved for the movie!
Service
One good, one average. Sadly, we never saw the good one enough. The main difference between the two of the ladies was their personality - one of them was almost phoning in her job that night, the other seemed interested or was at least applying herself to work.The chefs certainly aren't worked too hard... only because they spread out the cooking and delivery of the courses for that bit too long, and it wasn't because it was busy when we were there.
End Result
Ambience - 2/5
Nothing great, nothing disgusting, nothing outstanding. Just nice, I guess.
Food - 2.5/5
Again, nice, but pretty middle of the road. The menu wasn't overly spectacular for dinner - but if you turn up before 5pm they have a pretty good breakfast and lunch menu available until then.
Service - 1.5/5
All for the nice red-headed lady - at least she made us fee like we were customers and not an interruption.
Overall - 6/15
For a place that specialises in offering franchises of the Toscani's concept (there are already 9 across Qld & NSW), I think they need to spend a little time and look the little things again, and ensure that these things are played out across all the franchises... or be prepared for a lot of failures. Do the simple things good.
Team building. Why else would you subject 10 information services professionals on a mexican restaurant with 32 different types of margaritas and chocolate nachos?!?!
Ambience
Garish, at best. If this is the standard colours used on and in places in Mexcio, it is no wonder they need an afternoon siesta. It's just to let their eyes rest from the assault of colours that just do not go together.
Food
The food was plentiful - and it needed to be, as we all had built quite an appetite from such a crappy display of Ten Pin Bowling beforehand.
Entrees included a mix of different style nachos (of course), some baked potato skins and some chicken wings. I had one potato (loaded with seafood - it was OK - a bit too cheesy) and some of the chicken nachos (all that was near me at the time). Corn chips on a plate, heated with cheese and some other topping, with salsa, sour cream and guacamole is pretty hard to screw up - so it was OK.
Mains were all over the places - fajitas, combinations tacos/burritos/taquitos, lots of frijoles and rice. From the silence it obviously hit the spot. I had the "Tostada Grande" - a crips flour tortilla shell with (in my case) beef & frijoles, salad, cheese, guacamole and rice. It was a BIG meal... and quite enjoyable. Others were pretty happy with they had - no complaints anyway.
And then there was dessert... with the main focus being the chocolate nachos. Not as disgusting as it sounds - they created "chips" like a thin, flat donut coated in cinnamon sugar with LOTS of chocolate syrup, nuts and chocolate bits. Some chocolate and vanilla ice cream for good measure. I think I would have enjoyed it better if I hadn't enjoyed my Grande as much as I did! A bit weird to start with (this is nachos?!), but enjoyable enough.
There was Caesar Salad, although no one had the room or inclination to fit it in.
Drinks included: Margaritas, a variety of mexican beers (especially coronas), tequila sunrise, cascade lights and a chocolate milkshake and a crown lager (good work, Jason!).
Service
Pleasant enough. They dragged the chain on the meals, but then they were serving 10 at once. Desserts dragged out, however (possibly because the place was busier then). They pretty much knew the menu - enough to recommend stuff - but didn't seem too interested.
End Result
Ambience - 0.5/5
Purple and bright yellow do NOT go with blue. Not the shades they used, anyway...
Food - 3/5
Nothing spectacular, but good solid mexican food (mexican can't really be called 'cuisine', can it??).
Service - 2.5/5
They didn't spill anything on us, but they did have a hard time keeping up. A large group can be daunting, but service is still to be offered.
Overall - 6/15
I've had better mexican (there was this GREAT place in Newcastle in 1999...). Still, eat here and you are unlikely to go hungry, as the portion sizes on the mains are more than reasonable.
FINAL NOTE: Check out the website at your own risk. "The Chilli Man" who designed it obviously has a great grasp of Microsoft Publisher. Also, make sure your sound is turned down when you first load the page...
This is becoming a regular occurrence - not necessarily a bad one, but certainly a challenge to the waist line! My Boss (George) brought up two of our new staff to check out the Brisbane operations - so Chris and Ben got the tour and a better understanding of Brisbane's hot early summer. ;)
Ambience
We sat out on a covered terrace overlooking the Brisbane River - it was pretty sweet. Apart from the normally garish Chinese garb that graced us at reception on the way in, there wasn't heaps around the rest of the place. They did have a sizeable fish tank with fresh crabs, lobster and fish for 'selection' as a part of the menu. The view was excellent, and the company OK.
Food
Now, I have to say upfront that Michelle and I are extremely spoilt with the local Chinese we have in Forest Lake - The Red Door. I have not had better Chinese ANYWHERE (and in my travels, I have tried a few). So, going out to Chinese somewhere else was always going to be measured against this very high benchmark.
We started with a good selection of entrees - deep fried wontons, beef curry puffs, steamed dim sims, satay skewers, coconut encrusted prawns, etc. They were pretty good (especially the skewers), but nothing really stood out. Mains were shared, and these included Mongolian Lamb, a Green Curry (that was a remarkable shade of green!), some malaysian rice, some noodles, and a nice satay prawn dish among others. Again, they were nice and hot, but nothing that stood out in the taste stakes. Like mentioned above, the Green Curry was COLOURED very green (think lime milkshake), but tasted OK - had very little heat, though. Desert was a standard pre-packaged ice cream with some fruit and canned cream - no surprises there (should have tried the fried ice cream, but was trying to be good).
Drinks were the standard beer (XXXX Bitter, Hahn premium, etc) and I enjoyed soft drinks due to my impending drive home.
Please note, there was no Caesar Salad on offer.
Service
The staff were pretty prompt with serving (in that the food was well hot), and the wait wasn't too long between courses. They cleared quickly, and were around when we needed them but not annoying. That said, for a Thursday night, it was pretty quiet. The mains and entrees did come in dribs and drabs for some reason - maybe the kitchen wasn't keeping up (keeping up with what? There was 8 people in there apart from us!)? The staff were not able to recommend anything particularly, and had an average knowledge of the menu.
End Result
Ambience - 3/5
It was nice, but nothing special The view was killer, but the tables were pretty crowded together, so even though there wasn't many people there you often felt the wait staff bump into your chair as they passed.
Food - 3/5
Not bad, but nothing special. The entrees were probably the highlight, although the portion sizes were small and the cost was pretty high (by comparison) - you paid for a lot and didn't get much. Mains were enjoyable, no real highlights. Desert would have been better purchased from New Zealand Ice Cream store a short walk away.
Service - 2/5
They did OK, but again nothing special. More than anything the kitchen let them down in serving the collection of meals at once rather than with a (in one instance) 5 minute gap between plates arriving - 4 hungry blokes didn't want to have to wait that long (in fact, we thought something was missing, and then it arrived).
Overall - 8/15
Nowhere near the Red Door, but a pretty average/nice night out. Menu was pretty expansive (including Malaysian, Japanese and Aus-Chinese dishes - stir fried kangaroo, anyone?), but no real highlights. The view is a big help, so a more focused menu with a kitchen that can supply meals at the same time would be a big help.
This time, it was my boss (George) and the NZ IS Manager (Alan) up for nearly a week - so, again, another excuse to have a beer or two and enjoy a nice meal. So... this time at the selection of my boss... Turkish.
Ambience
Just across the road from Southbank, but still pretty nice. Inside was "standard" OTT turkish decor, outside was standard sidewalk cafe fair. We sat outside so that my boss could smoke (I keep telling him that smoking will kill him, but he never listens).
Food
Having never had turkish food before, I didn't know what to expect, other than a proper kebab and some pretty nice bread. We got all that and more...
Started with a shared plate of 6 dips with some hot turkish bread. The only stipulation on choice of dips: there had to be a hommus, other than that, surprise us. We ended up with hommus, carrot, beetroot, hot & spicy, zeytun (olive), & spinach - this kept the three of us busy for a decent period of time. Each dip was a surprise in itself. The zeytun, carrot and beetroor dips were the highlight for me... just plain yummy.
Mains were a varied affair (only in what was served, not in quality or quantity). I enjoyed completely the Osmanli Pide, with turkish salami, beef with sweet chili, spices and cheese. Oh, yum (my mouth is watering now just thinking about it). Alan really enjoyed the Sultan's Delight (marinated lamb, tomato & sweet chili served on eggplany puree), and George tucked into the Mixed Izgara (turkish mixed grill). By the complete lack of conversation during the meal, the mains were of a comparative quality to the entree.
Desert was turkish baklava & some real turkish delight. Both were yum, although I wasn't ready for the over the top sweetness of the baklava (VERY sweet - lots of honey).
We ended the night each with a shot of a turkish spirit (can't remember the name). It hit home pretty quick... just as well I hadn't drunk very much as I was driving!
Service
Probably the only thing that let it down in the end - the young gents that served us kinda new the menu, but kinda didn't, and weren't very helpful when it came to helping us three decide what to eat. They did OK, but nothing special.
End Result
Ambience - 3/5
Nothing special outside, inside maybe moreso. It was actually pretty interesting listening to the varying progress of the blind date going on behind me!... ;)
Food - 4/5
Best that I have had out since I started blogging on this. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but the menu will allow for that (in that you can easily avoid something spicy of you are not that way inclined). All food was hot, fresh and extremely tasty.
Service - 2.5/5
The wait staff could smile more, remebering that they aren't just there to collect a wage.
Overall - 9.5/15
Having never eaten turkish before, I did't know what to expect. I was very plesantly surprised. Would love to go back, if I can convince Michelle... although from the atmosphere inside, it would be best to go with a group on a Friday/Saturday night when they have belly dancing...
In what is becoming somewhat of a tradition, my boss was in Brisbane (in this instance with our new Business Analyst to introduce him to the business) and took us out for a meal. As seafood is is favourite... why not ensure the boss has a good time?!
Ambience
Nestled in the heart of Southbank, with a decent alfresco dining area (we ate outside), Decks has an enjoyable atmosphere, typified in its casual dining elegance. To boot, Brisbane turned on a pretty sweet evening to eat outside... not bad for winter!
Food
Food was great - entrees, mains and desserts enjoyed by all. I had the Pork Belly/Salt & Pepper Calamari entree (wonderful mix of flavours, prok belly was just right and a good opposite to the calamari), Local seafood platter for mains (a yummy mix of fish, prawns, scallops and calamari cooked in crumbs or beer batter, with a freshly cooked Moreton Bay bug, some smoked salmon and a couple of fresh scallops) and the Chocolate tart for desert (with vanilla bean ice cream - YUM).
I also enjoyed Decks's Caesar Salad as a side to my main. It was... interesting. I mean, it was a bog standard caesar with standard variants (cos lettuce, breadstick, oven dried prosciutto, dressing), and then there was green apple slices in it and roasted pine nuts??!! What's with that? Did the kitchen confuse it with a warped Waldorf salad or something? It just didn't sit right. It was OK, but the apple made it just that little bit weirder than it should have been.
Caronas were the beer of the evening, with a Bald Mountain 2002 Shiraz (from Wallangarra, Qld/NSW border) being our wine accompanying dinner.
Service
Honestly, the service was great. Not too intrusive, the waiter we had (Tom) knew the menu well, and was able to recommend a good wine to suit our taste buds and choices. The meals were delivered promptly and at a good temperature, and in no way did the staff interrupt or make themselves too unavailable for more drinks or a question or whatever.
End Result
Ambience - 4/5
A nice Southbank/alfresco dining experience, capped off with some unseasonably wonderful winter weather.
Food - 3/5
Apple in a Caesar Salad? What's with that? Everything else rocked, but this is the only thing that let it down.
Service - 4/5
Really good. Staff were available, excellent, knowledgeable, and prompt. You don't need too much more...
Overall - 11/15
If you want some great seafood and a pretty good steak (all at once, even), then Decks is a great place to have a meal, relax and enjoy yourself.
While in Melbourne, the ASSA ABLOY Asia Pacific IS Team went out for dinner, as planned by IS Manager George Apostolakos. This was simply a chance for the team to enjoy a meal together (well, most of the team... some were MIA...).
Ambience
When I think of malaysian cuisine, I do not think "Blues Bar". My thoughts were somehow corrected in this manner by a almost lifesize plaster model of (I think) Louis Armstrong greeting us as we entered the restaurant. There are framed prints of blues and jazz greats all over the walls, and blues/jazz music playing continuously in the background (I think we heard the latest Rod Stewart album at least twice completely during our meal). Almost tucked away in a box above the drinks/servery area is a small shrine that had some burning incense and some fresh fruit in front of a small statue of a Malay deity. Again, expected, but not in sync with the rest of the decor.
Admittedly, we weren't there for the decor. Most of it was ignored until it all connected (basically, when I realised we were being watched all night by 1/3 size plaster model of an african-american gent playing a warped double bass with the most maniacal look on his face... I thought initially that the "sculpture" that greeted us was maybe just to be a talking point - something the proprieter was proud of. Maybe I was wrong...
Food
There was nine of us, and we were hungry. The entrees vanished in almost record time - standard fare: curry puffs, spring rolls, malaysian sausage, prawn toast, etc. Not really too much could go wrong there (and let's face it, nothing that couldn't be purchased pre-made, deep-fried, whacked on a plate and served).
9 different mains were selected, and all shared. Selections included Beef Rendag, Chili Prawns, Garlic Prawns, Curry Chicken, etc. All were enjoyed with a mix of steamed rice and malaysian fried rice. Nothing stood out necessarily in the taste department, however. Everything was nice, but pretty bland in the taste department. No specific taste stood out, no spice or chili reared it's head and demanded attention (everything was almost too subtle, if they even tried). It was filling, it was nice, it wasn't that memorable...
There was no caesar salad on the menu to select.
Desert offered a unique conflict - a couple of people ordered 'ice cream and topping' for $3.50. A couple of others ordered the 'chocolate sundae' for $4.00. Both were identical, except for the fact that the chocolate sundae was served with chocolate topping, while the ice cream people had strawberry and caramel topping respectively. How does that work?!?! Since when is chocolate topping more expensive (and $0.50 more expensive at that!) than any other topping? Have we uncovered a great chocolate rort about to expose the dirty underbelly of the Victorian restaurant scene that deals in black market chocolate topping? Probably not, but it's as good a place as any to start with a conspiracy theory.
A Wolf Blass 2002 yellow label shiraz and Tiger beer were the mainstays of the evening in the drinks department.
Service
We had varied results. There was at least 3 waitstaff on for the evening, and at no time was the place more than half full, and we still had some problems trying to get their attention to order. Once we'd ordered, generally speaking the food arrived promptly, and our glasses were never empty for long (although all the wine had to be poured by us). I think they maybe got sick of us towards the end of the evening as we started to eye off their rubber band-bound collection of wine corks, and make jokes about how if we removed one that all would come asunder. We were promptly told not to play with the corks (we hadn't touched them, and had no plans to). Hmmm... perhaps the corks have been voilated before?
End Result
Ambience - 2/5
Let's face it... blues, jazz and malaysian. Something's just not right there...
Food - 3/5
Good food, good curry, good ghandi let's hurry... but nothing spectaular you wouldn't get anywhere else.
Service - 2.5/5
The food and drinks came and went simply enough. Again, nothing special, but for the price we weren't paying for silver service.
Overall - 7.5/15
I am sure there is better malaysian around, but it did alright on the night.
PJ Malaysian Cuisine
171 Coleman Parade Glen Waverley Vic 3150
(03) 9561 8337
Michelle, her mum (Grandma Alais), Luke and I dined at Gardenway Cafe & Restaurant on Saturday 28/05/2005, as a thank you to Maureen for all her help with Michelle coming home from the hospital with Luke, etc.
Ambience
The cafe itself is situated within the grounds of Gardenway Home & Garden Lifestyle Centre (c'mon, it's just a nursery with some homewares available, people), just off the Centenary Highway at Darra. Though pretty well sloped (they reclaimed some of the area plants used to be displayed in), the chairs and tables sit nicely under cover with a good view of their shaded and open nursery sections. It is pretty protected from the wind, so on a nearly-winter's day like we experienced it was a nice place with a nice view. Watching people walk around and literally smell the roses while you enjoy the wafting perfumes of various flowering plants and shrubs is pretty good. Just don't look up - the high-powered electricity towers from the next block over are pretty obvious, and is a distraction from the otherwise beacutiful surrounds - however, there is no real reason to look up!
Food
On the whole, I thought the food was pretty good. We shared the spicy pork spring rolls (not spicy at all) and the Lamb Kibbee balls for entree - although the spring rolls were forgotten somewhere and appeared, after prompting, about 15 minutes after the kibbee balls. Mains - Michelle had the Chicken Caesar Salad, Maureen had the Panfried Seafood Salad, and I had the Crispy Skin Atlantic Salmon. All appeared at the same time this course. For dessert - two serves of the Truffle cake and 1 serve Mud Cake (Michelle). Luke managed to sleep through most of it - what a trooper.
While the food was good, it was nothing spectacular and I wouldn't think it deserved the inflated prices it is offered at ($16-$20 for all mains). The salmon was OK, although not consistently cooked throughout the whole fillet. Maureen raved about the seafood salad (what a gracious guest!), and Michelle couldn't finish the caesar salad - besides, she only got the egg on it so I could have it (what a lovely one!). Michelle's caesar was also inconsistent - too little dressing, too much cheese, egg was coddled correctly, crutons were a little stale, the cos lettuce was too wet going into the dish, and the chicken was not prepared too well before it was cooked (I am sure I got a bit of bone or gristle on one of my mouthfuls of chicken from the salad). Bacon is bacon - you almost can't go wrong there. While this may seem picky, the caesar salad is almost a salad at restaurants and cafes, and it seems the best marker to use when comparing food (at least).
Service
Hmm... Table not completed being cleared when we were seated (although it was apologised for when staff were prompted to finish cleaning the table), an entree went missing and we had to ask for it - making it late to the table, and trying to catch the eye of any of the wait staff to order a drink was near impossible. They weren't even that busy - only half the tables were being used. The staff were attentive when they were serving you, but you just about needed to tackle them if they weren't bringing you something just so you could ask them a question or whatever.
A high point(?) was the service when paying the bill. Of course. While I am not usually a tipper, but in this instance, there was no way the gratuities jar was going to be even hovered over by this patron.
End Result
Ambience - 4/5
Not too many places boast such beautiful surrounds to host a meal in.
Food - 2.5/5
A pass, mainly due to the enjoyment of my fellow diners (particularly the mother-in-law). Cafe fare at best. Prices inflated for what is on offer.
Service - 1.5/5
Sigh. I hope this is not a premonition of service standard to come for all future-molk dining.
Overall - 8/15
A nice view, let down a little by overpriced meals, but eroded by less than average service.
Gardenway Cafe & Restaurant
269 Monier Road Darra Q 4076
(07) 3279 3100
(* = Valuable Geek Tools)