Yarri Restaurant + Bar — Restaurant in Dunsborough

We had high hopes of this place but were severely let down.

2 people, $300+ for the following:

Bread: A fist sized bit of sourdough with one half sardine on a cracker and some olives.

Entrees: Half a marron: literally half a tiny marron (it was very small) drenched in a sauce which extinguished the taste of the marron. Chargrilled Lettuce with a dressing and nuts. Literally that’s it. A thumb-sized piece of kangaroo on a sauce toadstool. No exaggeration: rather odd given the limited supply of roo in Australia (terrible sarcasm).

Mains: Sirloin 650g shared - this was tasty and very enjoyable but we had to pay an $$$ and an extra salad side as it came with nothing. Was beautiful though.

Desert: Some strange biscuit base with cardamom chocolate ice cream (hard to tell)? ‘Fromage’ which was literally a 50cent bit of something french, a teaspoons worth of marmalade and some terrible crackers.

Right. Now the review:

SERVICE: Patchy. One waitress was attentive and warm . The other was dismal. No character or warmth or hospitality. Didn’t know the different between a pint or a schooner when I asked what the draft beer was served in. Didn’t even get a “how was your meal” when we went to pay.

FOOD: Mediocre. No self respecting chef would be proud of this and go home beaming with pride. The servings are small with minimal ingredients - inexcusable at the prices being levied. We love the fact the ingredients are sourced locally - fantastic - but the presentation was not up to scratch either. Where’s the art? The desserts were dismal: presentation a joke.

ESTABLISHMENT: charging customers card fees: bit rich at your prices to be charged $4 to actually pay. Charging customers for tap-sparkling water: bit cheeky.

LAST WORD: we love fine dining, celebrate great food and magnificent dishes, having worked in hospitality we understand what good waiting looks like etc… honestly team it’s a miracle you’ve got 4.8 stars on here - I’ve no idea how you’ve been awarded it. Either you had a ‘bad night’ or your clientele have low expectations. Wouldn’t be writing this here if I did not have ‘good faith’ intentions - we are simply very disappointed that for the price what we got was not what we paid for.

If you’re gonna do a set menu it has to truely knock your socks off right - otherwise get off your high horse and do a 6/6/4 menu.

The set menu confines with the sloppy service and LONG WAIT TIMES - we waited an hour before our entrees came. Literally. No embellishment.

So be warned people - this place has a reputation that may not be merited and may be ‘all optics’ - like a European label piece of clothing where under the collar it says ‘made in china’ - it’s that kinda disappointment. If you’re a half decent cook...

How great is it when high expectations are exceeded?!! This is our experience at Yarri’s. I’m the sort of guy that (time permitting) will research a lot before committing to a special meal out. And a month ago when looking for fine dining experiences in the Margaret River region, Yarri’s popped up. Aaron Carr has impeccable credentials, and we’ve eaten at Vasse Felix quite a few years ago and were well impressed, so when we couldn’t get a confirmed booking at Miki’s in Margs River, I was very pleased to get a lunch booking at Yarri’s. Decor, ambience, crockery, glassware 5/5. Very relaxed, casual and classy. Our hostess, Sal, (give yourself a well deserved pat on the back - or treat yourself to your favourite cocktail 😉) - as a business partner, was warm, welcoming and instantly put you at ease, making us feel like good friends. My family still think I’m a bit queer, but I love using people’s names when I’m out dining, and I applaud the way you made a point of using our names when addressing us ☺️ - it’s the little things! When I book a fine dining experience, as a passionate chef, I tend to have high expectations, and it’s very seldom that I’m disappointed. What I hope for is an experience that surpasses my own skill levels, and today Yarri’s did that for me. Upon reading the menu several days ago, my wife - bless her - was a little sceptical. “I’m not a fan of beef. Peanut butter and jelly??!!” Relax, I assure her, ‘trust the chef’ I say. And sure enough, you guys came through and well and truly delivered the goods. Sal, thank you so much for taking the time to share some of your history, and struggles through these Covid times. It must be a truly harrowing journey and my heart goes out to all business people doing the hard yards in these unprecedented times. Every course was a mini journey in impeccable taste sensations. Undoubtedly, you know what it’s like introducing someone new to a degustation experience and we had the pleasure of doing that today, including the well thought out wine matching option. From the sourdough starter to the dessert, each course was truly a delight! Creative textures, flavour combos and first rate presentation, with professional yet personable service. You guys are truly nailing it, and deserve all the success, and hopefully prosperity and rewards that come with the challenges of doing your own business. Thank you for a truly memorable experience that we will treasure for many years, and will tout loud and long to anyone coming down south for a break away. God bless...

Our experience was dramatically different to most of the reviews here, which is kind of eyebrow raising...

Service-wise: It took a good twenty minutes for our waiter to initially come over and then just ask "has anyone been through the menu with you yet", we had different staff members top up with a different water every time (still, sparkling) and were asked if we wanted our wine topping up as we go, wanted to wait until our glasses were empty or have the bottle to do it ourselves, which we found very odd. In essence, the service was messy, there was no communication between the abundance of staff members on hand and for the price you pay to dine in this place, it needs some drastic improvement.

Food-wise: we had the three course dinner set menu, which as pretty good overall. The fish was perfectly cooked, the cured scallop starter was great and the dessert was perfect, but the $12 side of duck fat potatoes? TERRIBLE - chewy, flavourless, lukewarm and clearly not freshly made.

Everything else: at the beginning of the evening a few of the kitchen staff were pretty much lined up commenting on every group that was coming through and chuckling, we found this very uncomfortable and were tempted to just leave before our waiter came. When heading up to pay some arrogant guy who was stood at the till point just said "hey" and after we asked to pay, just slid backwards on silence to continue picking at his fingernails while we waited for another staff member to make her way around to actually take our payment - not even an attempt to say "staff name will be with you in a sec" and even from the one who took our money, there was no final "how was everything" or even a thank you, just a "do you need a receipt?"

So... It's safe to say we won't be back...