Repeat Offender — Restaurant in Melbourne

The short version: raw garlic. Pungent burning raw garlic is all we can taste in our mouths, over an hour later. No amount of toothpaste is going to mask this flavour.

We started out with some cocktails: spicy margarita and a smoked orange sour. Both were very meh, they both lacked any zing or intrigue. Very forgettable.

For food we both got the vegan tasting menu which started out with a plate of corn chips and two mediocre dips and guacamole: some kind of reduced tomato paste and a black bean puree. All of them could have used some spices, salt and acid. Quite bland.

Next came the charred corn with chimichurri and saffron corn puree. The first bite we both recoiled due the the salt. We had to send it back as it was inedible, but the replacement was incredible. Amazing flavours.

Next came the paella rice bombs. Not sure where they came up with the name, but these are just mushroom arrancini. They were quite tasty. Soft and fluffy inside, crispy outside. We got the truffle mayo on the side and didn't touch it, far too overpowering. Not at all Mexican flavours however.

Next was the tomato salad with aji amarillo, basil and olive crumble. This one was ok, the flavour was almost good, just lacked some salt and acid... And some freshness. It tasted quite mellow and polite, and there was no texture at all: just soft on soft on puree.

After that we got some bizarre dish of zucchinis stuffed with vegan mince, sitting on red sauce, topped with a strange salad and all drowned in the most potent garlic aioli I've ever had the displeasure to eat. From here on out, we could taste nothing but raw garlic.

Next we had a patatas bravas which was functional but forgettable, then dessert of upsidedown mango torta with some kind of ice cream. Neither of us took more than two bites of the dessert, the texture was grainy and it tasted bland, the ice cream was awful and sickly sweet.

Overall very disappointing, we live within walking distance so it's a shame the food was so underwhelming. Service was very attentive and friendly, I just feel the (vegan) menu needs a little love and attention. I doubt we'll be back.

There are far better options in the area close by for Mexican inspired cuisine...

I came here with my friend who is coeliac, due to their coeliac-friendly menu. I can’t complain about the food, but once the food was taken away we got zero service, and I mean ZERO. We weren’t offered any dessert options or any further drinks. Yes, we could have asked for service but it got to the point that it was so long that we were curious about how long it would take someone to offer ANY service, even a simple “can I get you anything” wasn’t even offered, it wasn’t that busy, a handful or so of people, so it wasn’t like they didn’t get opportunity.

After an hour and a half, we had one staff finally come to our table, then proceeded to fill up our water glasses and we waited for him to ask if we wanted any further drinks or food (we had hope that he would redeem their service), nope, nothing…..he then just walked off.

We observed staff members sitting at other tables with customers (which we assume they knew), eating food, two other staff sitting at the bar just chatting with each other, another one just walking around trying to look busy….still no service.

We got to the point where we were going to just walk up to the bar ourselves to ask for dessert prior to leaving, however my friend observed a staff member blow his nose in a tissue, look at it then throw it in the bin and continue on touching cutlery etc without washing his hands etc, which really put us off….so we decided to just leave.

Upon paying the staff says “how was everything” I said “the service was pretty crap” all he responded with was “sorry about that” smiled and then said thanks after providing us with our receipt.

First and last time coming here, the service was ridiculous, considering everyone around us were being provided service and we were just ignored and left waiting…..the only drink we got was the one we ordered with dinner… won’t return, had high hopes and they...

Partner and I went to Repeat Offender on 03/01/2024. We are vegan and were excited by the prominently advertised "Vegan Friendly" options. We had read the reviews (especially the 1 star ones consistently highlighting poor service) prior to attending so were a bit concerned about what we might get, service wise. We were pleasantly surprised. Our waitress was Courtney and she was sensational. We had a booking and were seated immediately. Within 5 minutes of being seated we had water and menus. 5 minutes later we were ordering, our drinks arrived not long after that and our first course was on the table in about 10 minutes. So from arrival to our first course was about 20 minutes. We both ordered the Vegan Banquet (6 courses + dessert) which for $65 each we thought was really good value. We don't often get a lot of options at restaurants that are not exclusively vegan so we thought the banquet would allow us to try most of the options offered. Every dish was flavoursome, well presented and it was evident that much thought had gone into the blending of flavours. The wait staff were always attentive and quickly came to clear our plates in preparation for the next course. The venue was pretty busy when we arrived at 8pm (this was the day before Midsumma Pride March) so St Kilda precinct was buzzing! There was only one unoccupied table that we could see and we were very impressed with how the staff managed the whole evening. All staff were friendly and efficient. Absolutely loved it and will...