Pompette — Restaurant in Brisbane City

Why are you reading this review? Are you on the fence about whether to dine at Pompette? Are you expecting me to conquer your doubts or fears about making this your dining option for the afternoon or evening? Well, let me tell you my story and you can decide for yourself.

I saw Pompette when the Star Casino first opened, but it was the recurring IG reel that roped me in. The ad featured the Ooh La La Banquet, which at the time of our visit cost a mere $54PP (minimum 2 persons).

My family and I love French cuisine and figured we couldn't go wrong by giving them a try. We arrived for our 12:30 reservation and found the restaurant to be a hive of activity, both inside and out. Some of this activity may have been due to the Fire River celebrations, so it it difficult to predict the level of patronage on another day and time. We were checked in for our reservation, then quickly escorted to our table. The clientele were all smartly dressed and seemingly enjoying their meals and conversations. The volume was at a nice level. You could hear people talking, but their works were not discernible.

Our waitress, Lucy, soon came to our table and welcomed us to the restaurant and took our drink orders. I had a question about the Crab and Frite, to which she replied that King Prawn Crumpet may be a better choice for my Wife and me. I ordered two, to accompany our Ooh La Lah Banquets.

Our baguettes and salted butter arrived shortly after placing our order. The bread was warm, crispy, and yeast. The butter was light, and savory. This was a great start to our meal. The prawn crumpets came out next. The dish was a feast for the eyes. Delicately chopped prawns mixed with a dash or mayo, lemon, and caviar. It simply tasted like the sea. I was really pleased that we ordered it!

As we were taking our time with the selection ond dish, the scallops were bought out to us. The serving looked like jewels of the sea dotted on our plate. The sauce was made with pumpkin. I don't like pumpkin... so much so that I won't even carve a jack-o'latern for Halloween, but you should know that the scallop was amazing! I have found that when a chef can reinterpret an ingredient and make it delicious for picky eaters, you have found a true artisan!

Our salmon course was fantastic. My MIL commented that she can never cook her salmon correctly. It will normally be overcooked, and the remainder of times undercooked. This dish was cooked perfectly. The sauce, wilted leeks, and caviar were a wonderful pairing with the fish. It was delicious. The green salad with Dijon dressing was also a welcome companion. The dressing was balanced and lip-smackingly tasty!

Our beef dish was another feast for the eyes! The eye filet had a pink center and was succulent to the point of almost melting in our mouths. The buttery puff pastry and jus combined to create such a gustatory delight. Excellent!

Our final dish was the chocolate mousse layered on top of a berry compote. The mousse was topped with whipped cream, chocolate shavings and a Maraschino cherry. Again, excellent.

I know that I have been very positive about my experience, but this is a reflection of our satisfaction. Were there little piddly things that I could complain about? Of course, but sometimes our energy can taint our experiences.

Pompette reminds me of other top tier brasseries that we have frequented the world over. It was a great meal, but wasn't pretentious or overly complex. I will definitely be coming back. In fact, we were planning our next visit before we had even paid our bill.

After reading this, are you still on the fence? If so, hop down and five...

Thankfully my friend and I ordered the $88 banquet & not the more expensive ones, because it wouldn't have been worth it.

Long story short I wouldn't recommend Pompette to anyone. It doesn't feel or taste French, particularly either. Service & atmosphere 2 stars. Food 3 stars because it's average.

First, the good things: the bar staff at the champagne bar end of the restaurant were lovely, helpful & knew exactly what they were doing. They made great recommendations & were the best part of the evening. The food is fine. Nothing to write home about.

The bad things: when we arrived, we tried to get any staff's attention to see if the outdoor seating was available to the bar or just the restaurant, and the lady who finally deigned to talk to us spoke to us like we're idiots, & we had to drag every detail out of her. Instead of actually answering our questions, she just kept saying "there's the bar, sit at the bar". It was full, otherwise we would have. Very rude & condescending.

We were in the restaurant for two hours & had 5 wait staff! None of whom communicated with each other or the kitchen. We ordered a banquet & the dishes were coming out SO FAST, most of them moments after a previous dish arrived. Nobody was waiting for us to finish a course to then let the kitchen know to send out the next course. They were just running them out like it was 10 minutes to close. One of the courses came out for one person instead of the two of us. The wait staff should have picked up on at, instead we had to ask for them to find the order for the second person.

Finally, once the last savoury course was hurriedly served, they just forgot about us entirely & we had to ask for dessert after 15 minutes, which was a shared chocolate mousse. Considering how fast every other course came out & how difficult it was to get any staff to make eye contact with our table, we knew they'd just forgotten us. A shared dessert isn't great at this price point either. To have two people digging around in a cup banging spoons at a restaurant that's so expensive felt ridiculous. There was a lot of staff on, but none were coming near our table or making any attempts to see if anyone needed assistance. We practically had to start waving a flag & caling out for someone, in order to enquire about our dessert. We just wanted to get out of there by then.

The restaurant was a din. SO LOUD. The atmosphere is very much like an expensive cafeteria.

The toilets are a packed lunch away, outside & around the corner. Not what I would expect at these prices.

The 10% weekend surcharge is a joke as well. It adds insult to injury that we paid the base price for mediocre service & middling dishes, letalone a surcharge. Just add it into the cost of the dishes.

The seats are very low & very hard. I'm average height but my knees were raised like I was on a kiddy chair lol. I was so uncomfortable by the end of my dinner, having to sit bunched up on a plank of a chair at a weird angle. The tables themselves look like outdoor tables.

I would genuinely never recommend anyone I know to go here, because it just isn't worth the money, is uncomfortable, extremely loud & they don't know how to run a banquet. The food is fine but it's not better than fine. We spent $600 there with the surcharge & including the $200+ bottle of champagne it felt like a $300 experience.

Try a different...

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 “A Whisper of Paris in the Middle of Brisbane — If You Don’t Get It, You Probably Eat at Airports”

From the moment we stepped into Pompette, I felt like I had been swept out of Brisbane and dropped into a velvet-curtained bistro in 1920s Montmartre — the kind of place where the lighting is soft, the laughter is low, and the champagne never stops singing.

Let’s start with the mussels. Oh, the mussels. They arrived swimming (with dignity) in a white wine and cream sauce so delicate it could have written poetry. Balanced like a ballerina between the ocean’s whisper and the deep comfort of French countryside cream. The accompanying French fries were the kind that made me suspicious someone’s grand-mère was secretly working in the back.

Next? Saucisson sec. Perfectly sliced rounds. Mild yet bold, as if they’d been cured by a retired French philosopher living in a vineyard who only speaks in metaphors. France in a salami, truly. Paired with pickles — crisp, sharp, and unapologetic — the whole thing danced on the tongue like a chanson.

And then — the crab roll. Nestled in a soft brioche bun, kissed by Espelette mayo, and washed down with flutes of champagne and a Chardonnay that made me feel like I’d just inherited a vineyard in Burgundy (which, let’s be honest, I almost did — had that court case gone differently).

Special thanks to Munir, who didn’t just serve us — he read our souls. He recommended a bar special so divine, so uncannily perfect, I momentarily suspected he’d been eavesdropping on our dreams. And Luca — charming, clever, and knowledgeable — spun stories around every glass he poured. A true bar craftsman. I’d follow him into battle (or at least to the next round of cocktails).

The vibe? Relaxed luxury. The decor? Plush and evocative, as if Coco Chanel hosted a speakeasy. This place doesn’t try to be cool — it just is.

To those who have dared give this place a low rating: I imagine you season your steak with despair and still ask for “house wine” unironically. Honestly, your opinion is as useful as decaf in a Parisian café.

If, however, you get it — if you know the difference between butter and beurre — Pompette will be your new obsession.

⸻

TL;DR: Come for the mussels, stay for the Parisian illusion, fall in love with the staff, and leave wondering if you’ve just had the best meal in Brisbane — or if you accidentally wandered into a dream someone once had about elegance.

💫 Merci, Pompette. Don’t tell my accountant, but I’m coming...