Pialligo Estate By Create Catering — Restaurant in District of Majura

On the last Saturday night in February we ordered the new $95 per person Grazing menu which was four entrees, one main, one side all to share and one dessert. And like all the other recent reviews we were shocked at how small the portions were and how bad the food was. Firstly our waitress was attentive and lovely. She offered for us to taste a couple of wines before we settled on a bottle. The wine list had changed since we were there a month ago. The wine was good and that was nice of her. The music was too loud but someone must have complained cause they turned it down. Our table was in a side room and my husband had a view of the machinery shed. Others behind us moved from their tables but we stayed put. We probably could have moved but we didn’t ask. The entrees were a portent of what was to come - clams which had about seven empty shells and about five clams the size of swallow tongues underneath a pile of either zucchini or eggplant (not sure cause the dark, oily, unpleasant sauce made things unrecognisable), some sliced tomato with black garlic, some raw zucchini flowers and gherkin with basil oil, two lamb riblets the size of half a toothbrush and simultaneously fatty and dry. These took an hour to come out. The complementary bread rolls were better than any of the entrees. The best part of the entrees was the basil oil. We did mention the clams were very unpleasant and to the credit of the waitress she did come back and say she’d spoken to the kitchen and they had offered for us to have something else, but we indicated we were in a hurry and just wanted the main brought out. At this point we were hoping the main would be outstanding. It was described as Berkshire rare pork with sugarloaf. Another forty five minutes later (we’d finished a bottle of wine by this time) three bits of pork approx 10cm x 3cm with a wedge of cabbage came out. All charred to bits. Again, simultaneously fatty and dry. We each had a bite of one rib and tried the cabbage (that’s the sugarloaf). An insult. A shared main for two people at $95/head? We left the table. At the cashier the gentleman there was very nice and kind and calm and offered for the dinner to be free, but we had a gift voucher and we didn’t want to come back. It was that bad. And look, if it was a once-off maybe we would try it again but we have been here about five times for various occasions and three times in the last three months and it’s never been good. If you’re going to do the paddock to plate thing, I think that’s great, but the simple things have to be done well and the protein (the expensive part) needs to be a substantial serving size and needs to be great. What we had was quite frankly insulting. My husband went home and had sardines on toast. We joked that we could open a food truck just outside the gates called “Still Hungry?” and sell pies and make a fortune. I’m writing this because $200 plus just for the food is a lot of money for a lot of people and by the time you add drinks, the experience better be very good especially if you are celebrating a special occasion. If you are in any doubt then err on the side of caution and go somewhere else, cause we wouldn’t even go...

I can't understand why people rate this place so highly, overall the whole experience was average food with really slow and disorganised service and a poor attitude to customer satisfaction.

We tried to make a booking through the website, but for larger groups (We wanted 12) you have to phone them, so we did. Booked for 12 on a Saturday night. Then we got a confirmation message the day before the booking to confirm our booking for 2 people. Called them to correct and they said that to fit us in we'd need to take a later time slot so we needed to reorganise that with our whole group.

We arrived at 10 to 8 and had trouble finding a staff member to ask about our booking, but once we found someone we were seated straight away. from that point everything was just so slow. It was 30 minutes before getting a drinks order taken or water for the table or our food orders taken. It was over an hour before getting the entrees, and they came out at very different times because they mixed the tables up and gave some of us someone else's order.

The serving staff won't make eye-contact and prefer to stand in groups near the pass, so you can't order more drinks, you even get ignored while waving at them as they walk past. Nobody came to check on us the whole meal, we had to wave like madmen to get the attention of anyone.

After 90+ minutes we got our mains. The food was OK, really average steak (for $10 extra on the set menu) and we wish that the staff had told us that we should be ordering sides. The meal felt really incomplete because it's essentially just a steak on a plate. It would have been nice to be told that we should order something to go with it.

The desserts were nice, but really slow. Overall the whole meal took very close to 3 hours for 3 very small courses. I left hungry.

We asked for the bill and we knew that they didn't take cash (We had been told this when we booked) but we were also told that we couldn't pay individually for our meals on cards, the best we could do is split it evenly amongst the 12 people, so we found it easier for one person to pay nearly $1000 on a credit card and for everyone else to transfer cash afterwards.

This place just seems disorganised and immature as a restaurant. The technology for booking and payment is obviously inadequate, the wait staff are lazy and disengaged and the food is nice, but not worth the price because it's average quality and far too small portions.

It was such a waste of time and money to choose this place for our first gathering in months. I really wish we'd gone elsewhere with our money. We won't be back.

Hopefully this feedback helps them focus on the areas that need improvement to make it better for others...

I was delighted to hear Pialligo Estate, and The Pavilion Restaurant, had once again opened their doors under new management. The restaurant has undergone a few small changes to its decor but it is still bright, airy and has plenty of seating.

I booked in for lunch and had an excellent meal and the service was impeccable. Roy and Anthony were engaging and were able to answer my menu queries - they even made some suggestions which were well received.

I had a few of the starters as samplers. The Sydney rock oyster with finger lime mignonette was fresh and tart and the burst of lime from the finger lime jewels was refreshing. The scallop with tangerine vinegar and burnt orange was well balanced and the scallop itself was generous in size and meaty. The citrus notes were subtle enough not to overpower the delicate scallop flesh.

On Anthony's suggestion I tried the sourdough with lemon myrtle butter. Now I should point out I am a fan of lemon myrtle and my next comment is not swayed by this fact in any way, I LOVED IT! I wish they sild the butter it was a perfect accompaniment.

I then ordered the kangaroo striploin with cashews and pepperberry mayo. The kangaroo was cooked perfectly and the cashews were shaved on top like truffle. The cashew gave a hint of woodiness to the meat and the pepperberry mayo was a nice touch. You have to use the .mayo sparingly or it will smoother the flavour of the kangaroo.

I sampled one of the cocktails, a vodka, Elderflower and Prosecco spritzer which I found refreshing with a hint of sweetness.

For dessert I couldn't go past the Nostalgic hundreds and thousands with sweet butter anglaise. Memories of fairy bread as a child came to mind and this dessert is a play on this. I was delighted when the head chef delivered the dessert to my table. She explained that the 100s & 1000s are hand rolled from coloured icing and set atop a buttercream covered vanilla sponge surrounded by a warm anglaise. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was sweet but not sickly and I was disappointed when my empty spoon signalled it was finished.

I will now return with friends to sample more of the menu. I'd encouraged you to make a booking and see...