Nieuw Ruin — Restaurant in Fremantle

I really don't like leaving one star reviews, however our disappointing experience at Nieuw Ruin warrants it.

My husband and I were visiting Perth from Sydney and had arranged a last minute babysitter for our one year old. After a quick Google search, Nieuw Ruin popped up as a common recommendation for restaurants in Fremantle. Their online menu had a tomahawk listed, so my husband was sold.

When we arrived at 6:30pm, we were told they were fully booked and were offered a seat at the bar which we excitedly accepted. The bartender that was serving us was lovely and helpful, but that's about the only positive thing I have to say about our experience. We ordered shortly after we were seated – some bread to start, two small dishes and one large dish, but the tomahawk we were after was not available. Our two small dishes took a long time to arrive, and were thoroughly disappointing. We were told after one of the dishes was placed in front of us that they accidentally ordered the wrong meal for us (I can't recall what one it was) and we weren't offered for it to be fixed. The food was below average – it lacked flavour and was very pricey for the serving size. It was near 8:00pm and our last dish still hadn't arrived, when our babysitter called as our baby was unwell. When I flagged this with our waiter, she said they were plating it up now, but we said we had to leave and asked whether the item could be removed from the bill due to the circumstances and wait time. Our waiter suggested that we take it home instead, which we accepted. After a few minutes with no waiter in sight, we decided to leave to get home to our baby, and honestly we couldn't have left fast enough.

We will never be returning to Nieuw Ruin. The kitchen was in shambles, as we weren't the only patrons left waiting an absurd amount of time for our food to arrive, and when it finally did arrive (or should I say when some of it arrived), we were left disappointed and...

It’s 2022 - please learn to cater for dietary requirements. I came for a birthday celebration which was a set menu lunch. As a vegetarian the host had pre-arranged this with the venue. Unfortunately 75% of the dishes that came were not vegetarian and I was not given any vegetarian alternatives. None of the first 5 dishes that came were vegetarian so for the first 45 minutes while everyone was enjoying their food I was sitting waiting patiently. Everyone who I was with who did eat meat/seafood were quite surprised by this service. We asked on 3 occasions when something vegetarian would come out they said the vegetarian food was towards the end. Basically if you’re a vegetarian just don’t eat the stuff that is meat/seafood and eventually something will come out. When the vegetarian friendly food did come out it was nice. However when you’re paying the same as everyone else ($70 per person) it’s a pretty disappointing experience to not be offered any alternatives for the first 5 courses while everyone is indulging in oysters, bresola, duck parfait, cuttlefish, etc. and you are paying the same! Even some bread and olive oil or olives would be fine. Definitely felt ripped off as the food I was able to eat was a fraction of what I paid based on the à la carte menu. In this day and age I would honestly expect better. I would hate to think of what the options would be as a vegan. In 20+ years of being a vegetarian this has been one of the most disappointing restaurant experiences I’ve had - particularly at a...

I'm incredibly disappointed with the experience at this restaurant. We selected the $105 chef set menu, expecting a delightful array of dishes. However, what we received for two people was far from satisfactory:

2 Rosé pickled mussels ($3 ea) 2 smoke bay oysters ($4.5 ea) - Salty and fishy, no difference with the supermarket ones. 1 Amberjack crudo, kumquat, eschalot, orange ($18) - The only good dish; the fish is fresh. Black pig bitterballen, prune mustard ($12) - We waited over 30 minutes for this very normal patty, not even as good as any deli shop. 'Paté en croute' pork, chicken, fig ($24) - Accompanied the last one, the sauce was overly salty with no layers. Local swordfish steak, sauce grenobloise ($45) - Another 30-minute wait; normal good fish steak, not worth the wait. Charcoal octopus, caponata, romesco ($34) - The roast was too much, making it dark and bitter, overly sweet, and not enjoyable. Cauliflower pie, French onion gravy ($38) - Overwhelmingly salty, couldn't finish after two bites. Curried fries ($11) - Served soft and excessively salty. Cheesecake ($15) - Overly sweet with a too-dark top layer, cheesecake factory can do a better job.

For a bill totaling $210, the value of what we received seemed closer to $188 at best. This slow service combined with subpar dishes makes me regret even stepping foot in this establishment. I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone—it's truly...