Box Seafood Restaurant — Restaurant in Melbourne

Outrageously poor!

I don’t even know where to start. Let’s start with the WAITING.Reservation was at 7.30, entrees arrived at 9.05. Mains were served 9.35 for 3 out of 5 of us and the other two got their food 15 minutes after us. No food is good enough to wait this long.

THE FOOD. Overall the food is probably a 3/5. But the inconsistency of everything makes it impossible to even judge if the food is good or not. Pic no1, saucy was to overpowering, taking over everything on the plate. Pic no3, on the specials menu and very rich in crayfish which was awesome. But it was supposed to have saffron in it and there was not even a hint of it. Pic no7, was not even cooked, it was just warmed and did not taste anything like it has previously done (according to the guest that ordered them and been there twice before). At this point I stopped taking pictures of the rest of the food due to my patients running out with this place which I will explain in a bit. The last plates to come out were prawn dishes. We asked how many prawns came with the Main size, as suppose to entree size and we were told that is was 10 prawns. 6 prawns were on each plate and one of the plates was served without rice. apparently they ran out of rice in the kitchen. We had to notice and figure that out ourself and no compensation was even offered for the lack of rice... not even bread was offered. That is enough about the food, average.

THE SERVICE. This is we’re it gets really bad. The waitress was kind and polite, nothing bad to say about her. The manager though, is rude and could not care less about its customers unless they are his friends. 5 other tables were seated after us and they all had food and payed before we had even received all our food. But the only ones to leave with a smile and without complains were the couple that seemed to be friend with the manager. We asked about our food twice before asking for the manager and when he came to us he was brushing it of and offered us a bottle of champagne, even though 2 of us were not even drinking alcohol. We were offered to have olives as we wait, assuming that they were complimentary due to waiting for SO LONG but we were charged for those. After receiving half the mains and still waiting for the rest (with the restaurant half empty) we asked to speak to him again and I was furious about how rude he is and not apologetic at all about anything that was going on with our visit there. We didn’t know what to say to him to realise that this experience needs some sort of compensation or complimentary SOMETHING to at least feel like it was worth the wait. So we proposed to have our entrees deducted from the bill and his response was “I like your style” with a smirk on his face that not even bleach could get rid off. Instead of managing the situation, he was only making it worse and he could not care less.

In all honestly I would go back to give the food another chance, due to what I have heard. But I will never recommend anyone to go there or go back there again due to the service we received from the manager and the lack of even remedying an escalated situation from patrons that were willing to be understanding due to...

So I'm not sure what happened but our experience was in no way consistent with the reviews that I've read here.

It's a nice room with an amazing location right next to the Regent Theatre. The gentleman who appeared to be the owner seemed very nice & accommodating too.

From there, things all went downhill though...

Drinks were ok but inexpert. Struggled to make a vodka martini & the olives were substandard.

Not sure if our expectations have been skewed as we have had some amazing dining experiences this trip (Gimlet, Apollo Inn, Soi 38, etc.). After some of the other cocktails we had, just couldn't bring ourselves to order another.

We were actually trying to go light too so we ordered a couple of the crab & scallop risotto and the linguini pasta. They were all pretty flavourless and the consistency of the risotto was gluggy & and thick. I also ordered the crab & seafood chowder. Again, this was thick & gluggy as well.

The strange thing is that our mains & soup came out almost immediately...literally.

There was definitely not time to make a risotto from scratch. I'm guessing they had big pots of this for theatre-goers and just labeled it out?

Then the service was a bit awkward and stilted as well.

Was really looking forward to this but just couldn't really enjoy this at all after some of the great dining experiences we had...

Great location in the CBD on Collins, with a very small front that’s easy to miss. The atmosphere in the narrow but deep dining room is simple and pleasant. The menu is extensive, not surprisingly focusing on seafood.

The service was good, but not remarkable. The food, however, was a bit hit-and-miss. I tried oysters served 3 ways: thermidor, kilpatrick, and beer battered. All were excellent. Unfortunately, the next course of ‘crispy soft shell crabs’ was disappointing. They were not crispy, but a bit doughy, and tasteless. It seemed as if the oil they were fried in wasn’t hot enough, and then they sat too long before being served. The main of Morton bay bugs was better. The bugs were well prepared and delicious. However, I’d suggest a preparation other than pan seared with garlic, ginger chilli and spring onion. It was very tasty, but the flavour of the bugs was lost.

Overall recommended if you are in the neighbourhood looking for some...