Hellenika at The Calile — Restaurant in Brisbane City

What a terrible, underwhelming experience. We had a 7pm reservation on a Sunday night. As it took them 20 minutes and 3 attempts to finally got the wine bottle order right we hadn’t even started to think about main meals. We ordered some starters and the waiter returned to tell us that they had run out of the oysters so we ordered something else. At 7:25 we were told that the kitchen closes at 7:30pm so we had five minutes to get our food orders in. After we complained we were advised that we had until 7:45 to place the order which we did. At 7:49pm we wanted to order more food but we were told the kitchen wouldn’t accept it. At the same time the waiter returns to tell us that they found the oysters and will bring them to the table? When we asked why they would take a 7pm reservation if the kitchen closes 30 minutes later and not pre warn guests we were advised about the long day they have had and how early they have to start and work without breaks. Should I really care? Especially when we pay the Sunday surcharge. Plus they were still seating tables close to 7:30pm. The food was okay but definitely nothing like the reviews I have read and the fish wasn’t even descaled properly. We dine out at premium restaurants at least a couple of times a week and I wouldn’t rank this restaurant near any of them, not nationally nor anything else we have experienced in Brisbane or the James St area. Sadly, the most attention we received was when we stood up at the end of the night and a waiter rushed over to ask if we had paid the bill. I told him no and I’m walking over to pay it as this matches the terrible service we have had for the rest of the night and he didn’t even care. I actually hate publicly giving any company a negative review and would normally communicate directly with the restaurant but on this occasion I don’t think they would even care. I actually can’t believe they were this bad and how rushed we were. Definitely would not return, the worst dining experience I’ve had in...

We literally just got home from this experience. We were so very much looking forward to Fathers Day, a birthday and a celebration of a life just passed today but we have left wishing we had chosen somewhere else. I need to express why… I don’t write a lot of reviews usually but this time I feel I needed to as the treatment we received in an establishment that is an average of $50 a plate should be better than what we had. We were a large table of 9+child and we were seated on a large table in the side corner. We waited 30 minutes before our server took our drinks order, and we had to call him over even after 30 minutes. We ordered starters and our server suggested we eat that first and then see if we wanted mains so we took his advice. Food came out and I have to say it was lovely. There has not been anything wrong with the food. Overpriced but definitely delicious. Our server then came up to us half way through our starters and said we were to order mains quickly as they had another table coming in at a certain time. This is where it went pear shaped. The server wasted 30 minutes of our 2 hour time limit in the beginning by not coming over to us and now we had to rush. We were made to feel unwelcome and rushed and the female manager on duty was not trained or experienced enough to have a sensible discussion with us. We did not want anything free, we just didn’t want to be made to feel watched or unwelcome … after all, there were 9 of us our bill was high. We had to ask for plates to be cleared or for drinks constantly. Service was very very bad and no care was given. Our lunch ruined on a day that was to be special. We just wanted out so we left and didn’t even have dessert there. Overall, this restaurant needs further staff training for larger tables and training on etiquette on how to talk to guests. I hope that no one else has to have an experience...

The high prices here allow them to choose to use excellent quality produce, have a good drinks list, numerous staff, a professionally run kitchen, and lovely decor (at least in the main part of the restaurant). And nice of them to let us in , dressed like tourists, with no booking , on a busy night. We had entrees and mains and a drink each and that ran to just over $200 for the two of us. The Barramundi was a good serving size, perfectly cooked, at just the right level of hint-of-char flavour I love. The cooked red pepper with it, a revelation.The simple Greek salad, just excellent. But if you want to play at this price point, everything, every thing, needs to be good. The Moreton Bay bug spaghetti was a huge disappointment. Plenty of bug pieces, but an absence of any flavour. The bug itself tasted 'wet', and there was no real base flavour in the pasta. Like the fish, served on a share dish, which was great, but it meant that it lost heat into one plate, then into your plate, making it too cold. The taramasalata also lacked flavour, and to add injury to insult, did not come with pita bread. Who serves dip without complimentary bread ? Do you expect me to eat it with a spoon ? We of course ordered pita to go with it, but really... Anchovies very nice, in a quality oil, but tbh not as good as those we get from our gourmet deli. Glass of wine tasted like it was from yesterdays bottle but might just have been the style. We ate out back and minor point, but compared to the rest of the restaurant, the decor was like eating in a nice shopping centre cafe. It detracted from the 'lux' experience. Staff, service, timing all excellent, and we really enjoyed the dishes we, uh, enjoyed. But in the finish, we both summed up our experience as feeling underwhelmed. 4 stars rather than the 5 the pricing would indicate. Not likely to go back, but if we did it would be...