Gusti Restaurant — Restaurant in East Perth

If you’ve ever wanted to dine at the restaurant at Fawlty Towers but been unable to climb inside your television, visiting Gusti is a reasonable substitute to experience a restaurant delivering that type of experience.

Other restaurants tend to limit themselves by using arcane methods such as ‘processes’ and ‘table numbers’ but at Gusti we found a more free-spirit service approach. Their technique of guessing who ordered what allows meals to be brought out from the kitchen and walked from table to table slowly by a waiter trying to find the person who ordered the meal. Sometimes they were successful. Sometimes they were not, and the meal returned to the kitchen before reappearing a few minutes later in the hands of a different waiter who used the same method of ‘seek and ye shall find’ to eventually locate where it needed to be. Some of those meals went on this journey up to three times, and appeared to eventually travel a similar number of food miles to a basket of strawberries found at a wintery Norwegian supermarket.

For one delivery, the waiter walked to a table of four diners and offered them the steak meal. They had the right table (after they had attempted multiple deliveries of the wrong food so eventually got it right), but when the diners asked them to confirm which of the three steak types and cooking level (rare, medium, well done), the waiter was lost and could conclude only that it was a steak. The meal returned once more to the kitchen and then reappeared a few minutes later after having been identified, whereupon it was handed to a diner that had no cutlery, involving another trip by the waiter. It is doubtful the steak was in top condition by the time they eventually got to eat it. The meal that I ate was a luke-warm and dried-out parmi but it’s impossible to know whether that was the fault of the chef, or the likely subsequent scenic tours taken by the waiters before it reached my table.

Drinks were similarly chaotic – the employees walking from table to table trying to figure out who had ordered each drink rather than using any form of table numbers or even sections of restaurant to help reduce the amount of unsuccessful deliveries. Insufficient drinks were delivered to our table and when queried, we were told that we had not ordered them, despite the receipt showing we had paid for them.

There’s no doubt that Basil would...

Italian restaurant inside the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Indoor and outdoor seating. Beer, wine, cocktails available. Prices seem on par for Perth as a whole. Service can be a bit slow if it's busy but the staff is extremely friendly. Cash, credit card and probably e-wallet payments accepted.

Located on the first floor of the Crowne Plaza Hotel. For lunch and dinner the options are solidly Italian, but they also provide both a continental breakfast option as well as to-order menu options for guests of the hotel as well as for walk-in customers. Spent a week at the hotel and so had the opportunity to most of the breakfast menu. Ordered one regular menu item and was not impressed.

Ordered the carnivora pizza one night and was perplexed. The pizza seemed slightly undercooked as a whole, and most of the meat was added after cooking, so it wasn't warm and it fell off the pizza as you tried to pick up a slice and as you bit into it. Frustrating. Flavor was all right, but the mechanics of the pizza left a lot to be desired.

On the breakfast front they offer a variety of both vegetarian and animal-based menu items. The chai porridge is very mild but fine with added honey and salt. The sauteed mushrooms with poached eggs on toast is good. Personally, I think their eggs Benedict is their best (most flavorful) option. The waffles are not very crisp and pre-sweetened with a crusty, cinnamon sugar coating. The basic breakfast of eggs, toast and bacon is definitely a reliable option.

On the continental breakfast side there's a nice buffet setup with a variety of different breads, croissants, bagels, and sometimes English muffins. Cheeses & meats (including smoked salmon). Juices, two coffee machines for self-service espresso drinks, and a good selection of teas. Unfortunately the water for the teas is kept in a carafe and is never hot enough.

Again, the staff is pleasant and the atmosphere is light and bright. Unfortunately the food is rather basic. Not bad, but definitely...

We paid $180 per person for a christmas lunch. We arrived 5 mins early for our booking and were hearded into the hotel fouyer area with a 100 other people and advised to get a drink. The bar only had 3 people stood their but we were advised it will take 20 mins to get a drink. We then queued for giving our name to be seated. Ushered to a table wich was then joined with another table we were about to sit down when another guest arrived with his drinks, pulled the table apart again and said these are our tables. I let the usher know and we were found another table in the corner to be facing a wall. Food was average in taste. Lack of it for so man people. The start and finish for the queue was confusing and plates were hard to find. When after waiting 20 mins in a line for a plate i went to sit down thinking to return later when its wuiet. I did so and found no food, roast veg was soft and cold. beef fillet was pink on the inside and under cooked. Advised staff to replenish some food and this took ages. After an hour waiting, and having had some food although poor quality and cold, deserts were nice. No personable service and lack of atmosphere. Expected a view over the river tbh not shoved in the rear of a cafeteria-like room facing a wall. Disgusting main meals tbh, lack of service, organising of tables were lacking. Funny as we arrived their was a team meeting where everyone could hear and the main guy was saying have fun and asking everyone to enjoy their day. The staff looked bored and didnt want to be there. Poor execution for a christmas day lunch guys. But great marketing dept for what you sold and under...