Lene — Restaurant in Melbourne

Overall: very disappointing experience. Not recommended for this seasonal menu Environment: 4/5 Service: 3/5 Food: 1/5 !!!!!!!

Firstly, I had high expectations for the evening as your restaurant had a remarkable 4.8 rating on Google Maps. However, my visit turned out to be rather disappointing, particularly in regard to the food. I believe the season menu may not have been thoroughly tested, as the small dishes and entrees we ordered left much to be desired.

The oysters were the only dish that stood out positively; they were good and above average. However, the rest of the experience was marred by issues. The beef tartare was far too salty, overpowering any other flavors. The chips and beef were heavily seasoned, leaving no room to appreciate the essence of the meat. When I raised my concern about the excessive saltiness, I was surprised to receive a response that suggested it was meant to be that way. I must disagree, as the dish should allow the beef to shine with a balanced blend of seasonings, not just an overwhelming salty taste.

Similarly, the Pappardelle dish was also excessively salty, both in the sauce and the pasta itself. It lacked the expected layers of flavors, and my group of four could not finish a single serving due to the overpowering saltiness.

On a positive note, the goats cheese and mussels were decent, falling into the average range. However, they were overshadowed by the unsatisfactory experiences with the other dishes.

Regarding the service, I understand that it was the waitress's first day, and I appreciate her efforts. However, I felt that my comments and concerns were not adequately acknowledged or addressed.

I would like to mention that this review is not entirely negative because the free ice cream and sourdough provided some consolation. The salted peanut butter on the ice cream was a delightful combination.

It's disheartening, considering how much I had looked forward to dining at your establishment, especially after seeing the mouthwatering photos of the king prawn...

Had an amazing experience at Lene. Yes they are short staffed, it felt like one of the staff members is a friend who is just helping out cos it’s crazy busy. Totally understand it’s a nightmare to find staff at the moment and respected them for soldiering on.

Really great cocktails, all house made, even the garnishes and the syrups(?). Got the french martini and then the lavender gin sour… apparently the lavender gin (or was it the syrup) was made from the chef’s lavender patch 💜

Ordered all the specials, including v creamy, shucked to order oysters, seaweed with Japanese peppers, flatbreads w eggplant dip, all amazing.

Two of us ordered the deviled eggs w caviar- it was soooo good.

Mains we have got iceberg lettuce with buttermilk ranch and lovage. The half roasted Chook, which apparently it’s GOAT (greatest of all time) according to social media. Now I am not sure if it’s really GOAT, but its defo 10/10!

We ordered the ravioli Al uovo which is a ravioli with raw egg yolk inside and house made goat cheese and sage. Now, in all honesty, goats cheese lover might be very disappointed because I can’t taste the goat cheese, but for me, who is a goat cheese hater, I loved this dish 😜

I don’t know what made me order this triple Brie cheese toast w hot sauce as a dessert to share with a friend, as well as a lemon tart, but it really tipped me over the Edge as far as savoury food goes, even tho it was so so so good.

The lemon tart was a wonderful way to finish a meal, highly recommended and very...

We absolutely loved the food with the exception of burnt ‘toast’ that cost $3 additional to the delicious $25 tartare. Odd that tartare doesn’t come as a complete dish including toast or crackers, but a small issue in the scheme of things. The devilled egg with Caviar was equally delicious although quite modest in size. Nonetheless worth every penny. The Flounder with the butter sauce was an absolute rockstar. An entire fish baked to perfection exceeded expectations and was nothing short of fine dining quality. Astoundingly however, the chicken was my favourite. Succulent, juicy and glazed with a sauce that I wanted to slurp right off the plate. Well done 👏 is all I can say to that. Now to the not so amazing stuff. In no world should anyone have to pay $8 for a slice of homemade bread. I honestly don’t care if it comes from the peak of Everest. It’s simply wrong. Yes it was ‘nice’ and accompanied by the in house churned butter, elevated it to ‘very nice’. TBH with the quality of fresh bread in Melbourne these days, this is just not justified. We were greeted by a young lady calling out to us from behind bar to the front door. Some 15 metres away 🤦🏽. The staff although lovely, we’re not upto the task. This slightly confused concept of fine dining quality accompanied with service which failed to meet the same culinary standards, just lowered the experience. Without being specific, that’s all I’ll say about that because I honestly feel the food was right up amongst Melbournes best. So close to a...