Perth Food Review

M y wife and I booked a table for two for 7.30 - 8.00pm to celebrate both our wedding anniversary and my recent job promotion. We felt that we would make an occasion of the evening, go somewhere different, and really make a night of it.

We arrived at 7.35pm and were greeted by Sophie. The table we were taken to was dim, in an access way to the kitchen, and up against a pillar. I asked if another table was available, and was told that the restaurant was fully booked. Since individuals don't book specific tables, I can't really see how this was supposed to answer my question. I felt that I was being fobbed off, as moving to another table was going to be inconvenient.

We sat down and were given menus. Sophie returned and said 'we don't usually do this, but we can move you to another table'. Now, it's nice that this could be done, but I don't really care if you do it all the time or if I was the first ever person to receive this treatment.

After moving, we ordered drinks and entrees. We both selected the prawn and scallop ravioli, it sounded good. What we received were two stone-cold plates artfully decorated with four sad-looking pieces of tough, grey pasta. Neither of us could discern any trace of either prawn or scallop within the filling, only some textureless mush consisting mostly of chives and some other ingredient. We were both highly disappointed with this, and communicated as such. We were met with excuses instead of any kind of apology, and no mention of maybe letting the chef know about this.

We ordered mains, and wines to accompany them. After our entrée experience we thought we'd play it safe and go for straightforward dishes. I ordered a Harvey beef fillet, my wife ordered Snapper.
The meals arrived, once again mine was on a cold plate. We waited and waited for our wines to arrive, as our meals grew steadily colder. We had apparently become invisible to wait staff at this time, but eventually managed to flag someone down to re-order our wines.

Our mains were good, as I would expect any chef to be able to prepare a fillet of prime beef and quality fish.

Around this time I noticed the cold breeze coming through the restaurant every time the front glass doors opened. I also noticed the hard, sterile environment, totally lacking in either warmth or atmosphere. We pretty much decided to skip desserts altogether and leave as soon as my wife had finished her coffee, as we certainly didn't want to linger in such an uninviting environment. Usually my wife enjoys something special for dessert when we go out, usually accompanied with a liqueur.

On paying the bill, Sophie said she would take off one of the entrees. I thought that this was a reasonably generous gesture, and probably as much as we could expect. We left and got home around 2 hours earlier than expected, feeling flat and disappointed. Some big night out.

All in all, hardly the fine dining experience that I had expected of a restaurant attached to a global hotel chain.

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