Tuscan Terrace — Restaurant in Greater Brisbane

Save your money and go to your local. A three-star rating for a three-star experience—completely average from start to finish.

We visited Sirromet for the Harry Potter Forbidden Forest experience on a wet and rainy night, and thought at least dinner at the Tuscan Terrace would redeem the evening. Sadly, it only added to the disappointment.

For the level of pretence and the steep menu prices, I expected something far more refined. Instead, what we got wouldn’t hold a candle to our local tavern—on any day of the week.

My wife ordered the striploin (read: sirloin) steak, which, while the advertised size, was bafflingly thin. For a venue calling itself “Tuscan,” I’d expect a thick, well-cut piece of meat—especially at this price. Worse, it had far more than the expected sinew for a sirloin, not just near the fat, making parts of it unpleasant to chew. Our local pub serves cheaper steaks that are better quality than this, at half the price and twice the taste.

As if that wasn’t enough, the steak was smothered in a bland tomato and onion sauce that made no sense as a pairing. Any South African will know what I mean when I say it tasted like Koo Braai Relish—straight from the tin. If someone served me the Koo next to this sauce, I honestly wouldn’t have tasted a difference. In fact, I think the tinned stuff has more seasoning. My wife scraped the sauce off, only to find the steak itself was just as unseasoned and flavourless. There was no salt in sight. To be fair, it was seared nicely and cooked to a solid medium (which is impressive given how thin it was, so kudos to the chef on that), and the parts without sinew were tender—but overall, it was just a bland, forgettable dish that no Tuscan Nonna would claim.

The duck ragu gnocchi was the stronger of the two meals, but still fell short. The duck was soft and flavourful, but the sauce leaned far too sweet, and the gnocchi clearly wasn’t fresh—chewy instead of pillowy-soft like fresh handmade gnocchi should be. Any half-decent Italian/Tuscan restaurant would run circles around this dish. Portion size was also a let-down. If I hadn’t picked at my wife’s unfinished steak, I would have left hungry.

The side we ordered of rosemary and truffle potatoes were flavourful (I mean, truffle. Hello?), but again a bizarrely mixed bag. Some potatoes were deliciously crispy and fluffy inside, while others had the skin barely a shade darker than the floury inside. Like everything we had, they felt like a complete afterthought.

Staff were friendly and professional, but service was slow. After the usual initial flurry of activity, we sat with empty plates in front of us for ages while our waitress served the table right beside us and wandered off. We considered ordering a second glass of wine before our scheduled experience, but by the time we got her attention again, it was far too late. The restaurant was maybe two-thirds full, at a stretch.

The overall atmosphere was soulless, with two-seater tables crammed next to each other in a row, and very little mood lighting. Everything feels like someone read in a book what a restaurant should look like, but has never experienced the real thing.

The one standout of the evening was the wine, recommended on the menu, which came from—wait for it—the Granite Belt.

I’m sure the surrounding hills are beautiful in sunny weather and on starry nights, and we did see some wallabies in the twilight upon arrival. But a stunning view and friendly staff sadly can’t make up for overpriced, underwhelming food and inattentive service. You’re better off sampling the local wine before heading to a nearby restaurant that makes you feel like they actually enjoy what...

I want to preface this review by saying that I sent an email to Tuscan Terrace over a week ago prior to writing this review, and no one even had the courtesy to get back to me.

We took my dad for his birthday to Tuscan Terrace Sunday 29th Oct. There were 10 of us and the experience we had was pretty awful! We ordered 3 of the lamb pappardelle... all of which were cold, the portion sizes quite small and the pasta too thick in density!

We ordered 1 of the market fish, the seasonal greens on the plate were like they had just come out of the fridge and had been forgotten to be heated - they were that cold!

Then we asked if we could order the Pork Belly and the Scallop Risotto as mains and were told we would have to pay a bit more for them (which of course we expected) - and so ordered 1 of the pork belly and 2 risottos.

The pork belly was nice, but there were only 2 small bits of pork belly on the plate, and the risotto was okay at best and the scallops were noticeably frozen NOT fresh! However, what we were charged for these 3 plates was nothing short of robbery. We were literally charged double the small plate size which meant ONE plate of risotto with a few frozen scallops on top was $50! And a plate with 2 small pieces of pork belly and some salad was also $50.

Now, I expected these dishes to perhaps cost the same amount as what we paid for the lamb pappardelle (which at $35) for the small, cold portion that came out was already way overpriced - but NOT in my wildest dreams did I think you would charge $50 for a plate of risotto!

We had to wait quite a while for the food to begin with, were sat on very uncomfortable metal tables and chairs, with ants crawling all over us, and were then charged fine dining prices for both a restaurant and food quality that doesn't even compare to our local pub!

Seriously disappointed and with a bill that came close to $600 - feeling incredibly ripped off! I did bring the situation up with the manager about the exorbitant price for the risottos and pork belly and all she said was that it was a bigger portion.

At this stage, I would NEVER eat at Tuscan Terrace again, nor would I recommend anyone to come and would go out of my way to advise people to avoid it!

As a winery, and food destination here in QLD - you should be ashamed at the level you are...

We arrived today for a 1230 booking for my wife's birthday with a group of 5, however it had been raining and all the outside tables could not be used until they had been dried by the staff. I was very understanding of their situation. The main issue I have was that we were asked to wait at the bar until they could clean tables and would accommodate us in the next 5 minutes. Multiple groups of people arrived at the restaurant after us and were asked to wait at the bar with us. However, the wait staff came over and asked 4 groups that arrived after us to come and take their seats as they had prepared their outside tables. I then spoke with a waiter about this issue and he apologised and stated he would find us a table within 5 minutes. This was after being at the bar for roughly 25 minutes. We were then approached by another staff member and asked to leave and return back 30 minutes later as tables could not be dried. I mentioned to him that they had already sat 4 large groups ahead of us, however they had arrived after us. He stated that they were tables that were eating when it was raining outside and had returned to finish their meal once the rain had stopped. I know this was a lie as I was talking with all of these groups at the small bar area discussing the seating dillema and wondering how long they would have to wait.. I mentioned this to him, however he dismissed me. He asked us to leave and come back in 30 minutes and pointed out an area to wait. We relocated to a table just outside the restaurant and were planning to wait the 30 minutes, however within 5 minutes multiple groups arrived and were soon being seated. I watched these groups being seated outside from the table I was asked to wait at. I don't appreciate being lied to by anyone and have never written a review for any restaurant previously. However, the customer service provided here is the worst I have ever seen in my life. None of our group will ever return to this venue which is a shame because it was my wifes favorite restaurant, however I cannot except being lied to and treated like an idiot. 0...