Magic Mountain Saloon — Restaurant in Melbourne

15/08/2018 I had dinner here before and I was very impressed with the service and the dishes. That's why I want to come back and try out other dishes.

The night started out fantastic. The waiter was very friendly. We mentioned that we would like to have the $65 banquet and we want to try other different dishes from last time. We told him what we ordered last time and we mentioned that we wanted to try their chicken wings. We also asked does the banquet come with dessert? And he said YES. So everything seems to be in good hands.

We were enjoying the food and we realised our eyes were definitely bigger than our tummy. We couldn't finished the three mains, so we asked for the take away containers. We also have to constantly request for the water to be refilled. At one point, I walked up and get the jar and served myself.

We thought we still have dessert for the night. Until we got the bill and we mentioned that we had the banquet and we were waiting for dessert. The other waiter said there is no dessert as part of the banquet. I told him that the waiter (Clinton) said that there is dessert and I'm not sure where is Clinton. The waiter replied "I know where is Clinton, he is behind the bar. Im not tge one who took the order. Let me go and check". He came back and said there is no dessert but you can order dessert." He handed us the menu and I was rather pissed. We didn't order the dessert and we went somewhere else for dessert.

It was a very disappointing night. The dishes chosen for us by Clinton were below our expectations and we didn't even have the dessert and the chicken wings. The other waiter was not friendly too. Understand that he wasn't the one who took the order, but he could show some customer service.

If I'm going to be back here again, I will make sure I do not go with banquet. I'm going to choose all the dishes myself and make sure I have the dessert to end the meal.

13/05/2018

This place really does have the magic factor. Their foods are awesomely delicious.

It's my first visit to this place. There are lots and lots of drinks. Their menu also looks very interesting. We try to look for Chef Selection but couldn't find it on the menu, so we just have to do the hard work ourselves then.

Green papaya, yard beans, tomatoes avocado and peanut salad. It's good that they don't name this Papaya Salads because then my expectations will be that it gotta look and taste like the Thai Papaya Salad. It basically is the Papaya Salad but with the clever twist. It's very nicely done. The flavour is very well balanced with just a bit of the hit from the chillies. YUM.

Snapper sandwich - 2 fillets, red curry, dill and wild ginger wrapped in banana leaf. It's basically a Haw Mok Pla. Again they cook this dish with a twist. It's has the right amount of the red curry sauce. Not like the traditional one where it could be too much of it which makes the dish very spicy. This one the flavour is just right. YUM.

Kale & crispy pork belly. Another clever twist to the Stir Fry Chinese Boccolli with Crispy Pork. It's a very clever way to make people eat kale. The pork belly is very tender. YUM.

Pumpkin and coconut creme brulee. I can absolutely taste the coconut. If you love coconut you will love this dessert. It nicely done. Not too sweet. YUM.

Thai tea crepe cake with honeycomb. This is the best Thai Tea Crepe I ever had. Not too sweet and it goes really well with the honeycomb. Magical. YUM.

Overall it's great night with great food and very happy tummy. Later my friend suggested to the very pretty and friendly waitress that they should have the chef selection. Apparently they do, just need to ask. Here you go.

Oh. We also wanna try their pork ribs. It is great that the pretty friendly waitress told us that it could be too much, so we listened. Thank you very much for advising us. As we usually have our eyes bigger than our stomach.

Can't wait to come back and try out all of the...

This is a hard review for me to write. I’m from Melbourne and I don’t think I’ve received the type of rudeness and passive aggressiveness that I did last night ever. I was there early with my 12 year old daughter. Initially the service was good. We had a male ( I think the manager) who took us to our table and gave us the menus. Then a lovely young lady took our orders. She told us that it was a slow night so they were doing happy hour. She said it was $11 wines and $5 dumplings. We were wrapped. We enquired what the chive and garlic dumplings were and she explained. Over the dinner we ordered two of them as they were yummy. We ordered calamari, which was too battened and deep fried for my liking and the spiced Peking duck pancakes. At no point were we told that the duck was very spicy. My daughter definitely couldn’t eat them, and even myself, who had lived in India and Thailand, struggled. We couldn’t eat it and told the waitress it was way too spicy. She apologized and they gave us some cucumbers and coconut. We also order padthai. When I got the bill of $156 I was a bit shocked. I checked the bill and saw that we were charged $18 each for the chive dumplings. I told the waitress that there must be a mistake as they were $5 on the happy hour menu. She apologized for the miscommunication and said those particular dumplings were excluded from happy hour. She said she would speak to her manager. She said he couldn’t do anything but could offer a pre show discount of 10%. When I went to pay I decided to let the manager know that things hadn’t been communicated well. His reaction shocked me. He was extremely passive aggressive and asked me if I expected them for free. At no time was i rude or implied I wanted anything for free I just wanted them to know I was misled. He continued to be very condescending and said it was very clear on the menu. I mentioned to him that we were not given a happy hour menú as it was told verbally. He turned his back on me and walked away. I wasnt sure what was happening. He returned with a revised bill without the dumplings. He shoved it me and said nothing. I paid and left. He was so rude and left me shaking, especially as it was all in front of my daughter and it was supposed to be a special night out. I used to love this place but obviously things have changed . It was empty for a Saturday and I found it very expensive. Communication definitely needs to improve , even just to let you known that a $28 small dish was very spicy would have really helped our choices...

I arrived one the bottom level and was instructed to take the stairs up to the to bar. Where I was greeted and sat on a awkward table right near the stairs. The night was busy but there was plenty of space around the bar for one person. I was given a menu and told one of waiters would be around soon to take my order. This never happened so walked up the bar to order after waiting 20 minutes but still couldn't get the bartenders attention. It was at this moment when I noticed the waitress that was running food proceed to place the used pates from another table on the bar space I was sitting. So I walked back over ask if she could take my order. She asked where I was sitting and I replied right there where the used plates are! I was finally able to order and she brought back some cutlery and forgot the water but indicated she'd bring one over. She apologised for the wait and i thoyght she was going to offer a drink on the house. However this was not the case and in her hand was the credit card machine so I she could fix me up and leave me alone. I was a little perplexed by this and taken back. I was dressed in a suit and walked over straight from work. Not a teenager in a hoody that was looking for free food.

The first item I ordered, the Potted Duck, Spiced Pineapple Relish & Sweet Onion Roti turned up around 7 minutes later. The duck as cooked well but didn't have much flavour, the pineapple relish was outstanding while the roti was cooked well but I noticed half of the bread was still covered in oil. Half way through the meal one of the bartenders noticed I was missing a glass of water and handed me one from the bar. As I was finishing the duck the second meal turned up and with it a glass of water from the same waitress I ordered the meal from. She thought it was funny that now I had two glasses of water on the table lamp. Clearly she has had to many magic mushrooms in her young life. The second dish was Grilled Pineapple, Pork & Peanut Egg Net Salad. The dish looked amazing but that was the height of the experience. There was only one slice of pineapple and considering that was on of the key elements of the dish it was disappointing. The amount of heat was a little overbearing and definitely took away the flavour of the dish.

This place is more like a house of cards. The only thing saving this horrendous dining experience was the pineapple chutney - which I would climb a...