Essa Restaurant — Restaurant in Brisbane City

Wow. Just wow. I had an incredible dining experience at Essa and it is easily in my top 5 experiences. From the wait staff and restaurant manager, to the bartender and sommelier, and the kitchen and ambience, everything was phenomenal. Although dining alone, I never once picked up my phone as the sounds, sights, smells, and food had me completely enthralled. It was such a wonderfully relaxing experience in every way. An experience like this one would have easily coat me two or three times more in Sydney. As a comparison, I've been to Fire door in Sydney and

I sat at the bar and ordered the set menu. It looked intriguing, but I was really sold on the duck, which is why I chose it. Although I have to say that the duck was my favourite - it was cooked perfectly with wonderfully crispy skin - each dish had its own joy. In fact, every single dish that came was better than the prior dish - which is a near impossible feat. Yet, when I finished and thought back through the courses, each of them had something wonderful that I enjoyed which made picking a favourite very difficult.

From the light cheese curds with vegetables prepared in a variety of ways (I loved the pickled flavour), to the deeply umami tomato tart, to the light and crunchy chick pea beignets, the start was a wonderful experience The induja sausage and fire toasted sourdough was wonderfully spicy and lingered slightly nto the mackerel dish which was superb - just cooked perfectly. And the duck was just plainly awesome. I watched the kitchen as they prepared every dish and their teamwork was like clockwork. Such a small team, yet dishes were coming steadily and with no stress. They enjoyed being in that kitchen together and you could taste it in the food. Thanking them at the end of the night resulted in shy smiles. They let their food speak for them.

The food alone deserves 5 stars. But the staff take it to the next level. I have never seen a group of people work so hard and so in sync. For example, several times the sommelier came back for wine and the bartender was one step ahead of him, ensuring he had everything he needed. Wait staff always hurried one way or the next, but always ensured to give each other space and support. They all joked together and you could tell that despite working incredibly hard, that they enjoyed their time there. Such an environment makes food so enjoyable to consume. It feels like they are sharing in your experience. My hats off to the staff and the restaurant manager who clearly cares for his folks. What an environment!

And finally, I would like to end by saying that I had some of the most wonderful wines I've ever had. The sommelier was a joy to chat with and he suggested wines I've never tasted. Despite running around and having customers that were much more important than me, he ensured my wine experience was very unique - I ended up drinking much more than I set out to! The dessert wine was incredibly unique and delicious - I'm so glad that I had the opportunity to try it. But my favourite was the Cabernet Franc. It was so wonderfully smooth. Funny how they were both from France, just like the sommelier.

My only two regrets: (1) that Essa is in Brisbane, so I don't know when I will return next, and (2) I wish I asked the sommelier his name as when he returns to France and starts his winery with his family, I want to be able to follow their success.

If you got this far and haven't decided yet, I suggest you make a reservation immediately. And don't be shy to come alone. You will not be...

I was in a party of 13 with a 5pm booking. We arrived 10 minutes early to a locked door. We waited outside for a few minutes and then it started to rain. We knocked on the door and when the person answered I mentioned that we had a 5pm booking and that we were a few minutes early, that it was starting to rain, and that we were hoping to wait inside. The person that answered the door said we weren't allowed in and it took a few back and forths with me finally saying 'so, just to be clear what you're saying is that you want us to wait outside in the rain' before he finally reconsidered the ridiculousness of what he was saying to me. Telling us to stay in the doorway he huffed off, returning shortly to point at our already set up area adjacent to the main entrance and told us to have a seat.

I feel this could have been handled various ways ranging from noting they were still setting up and asking us to wait in the entry corridor to offering to let us sit at the bar and order our drinks while the final items were being set up at our table.

Luckily the rest of the service was not provided by that person and the server and runners were all very helpful and welcoming. Unfortunately the first impression left a bad stain on the overall experience. Whomever that person is should really reconsider their role in the hospitality industry. We were 5 minutes early to a booking. That's not grossly out of line. It was raining. We understood that we may have been a slight inconvenience and led off with an apology and we were met with an abrupt and rude introduction to the establishment.

I understand that they were setting up for the night and that we were one of their first bookings. But it's a service industry and at this price point service is very much a part of the package.

I DM'd the restaurant after the dinner and got no response; not even an acknowledgment. Extremely...

We dined at Essa on Friday night for my birthday with high expectations from seeing all the positive reviews.

We arrived early for our reservation and was seated promptly and shown the menu. We ordered our drinks and food together with drinks coming out 20 minutes after the entrees were brought out.

The food was tasty especially the potato beignet, tuna and prawns, however the poor service that accompanied the food diminished the overall experience for us.

The ambience of the restaurant was nice, music wasn't too loud and it lighting was not too dim. However, the lights above continued to flicker the whole night which was distracting.

We were seated on the booth seat and when the table next to us finished dining, the staff did not clear the dirty napkin left on the booth seat right next to us and was left there for the entire duration of our meal.

We were not given proper cutlery for our entrees (only tiny fork and spoon) until we asked halfway through our second round of entrees (prawns and tomato w stracciatella). Our plates (which had sauce/shell) were not replaced after our first round of entrees either before being served the next round of entrees.

The waitress who brought our dishes seemed disinterested and rushed as she would place the dish down, explain the dishes without making any eye contact and quickly rush off before we could say anything.

We were also brought an alcoholic drink instead of the mocktail we ordered and did not realise until we were paying. The cocktails were quite weak especially for the price of $20-26 which is why we did not realise it was a cocktail instead of a mocktail.

Overall the experience was quite underwhelming due to the poor service we received. Individually these issues could be overlooked but collectively it really took away from our experience. I expected more attentive service for the price we paid...