Thirty Eight Chairs — Restaurant in Melbourne

Simply superb! Everything from the food to the service, Thirty Eight Chairs did not disappoint!

The moscato wasn’t too sweet and went beautifully with all the food we got! It was smooth and easy to drink.

For entrees, we ordered the grilled octopus and beef carpaccio. Octopus was perfectly cooked, so tender and cut so easily. Wasn’t rubbery at all. Very well seasoned and all the flavours paired amazing together. Potatoes were on the more bland side though. The beef carpaccio melted in your mouth! As soon as it hits your tongue, you get that smooth, buttery/oily feel. The lemon olive oil cut through the oiliness, and those croutons gave a very nice touch. The Parmesan gave the dish a little bit of tang, was the perfect bite!

For mains, we decided to get 2 pastas - the lobster spaghetti and the duck ragu pappardelle. Both pastas were cooked to perfection, very al dente and chewy, exactly how pasta should be! The lobster spaghetti really was the star of the show! This dish is RAVED about in the reviews and i simply could not pass the opportunity to try it for myself. It sure lived up to the standards! That Bisque sauce 🤤 my goodness i have not stopped thinking about it. Seafood was also very fresh, prawns were so sweet and flesh so succulent. Easily one of the best seafood spaghettis i’ve ever had!

The duck ragu pappardelle was awesome too! The duck itself was super flavourful and the pasta sauce was infused with duck rendered fat i believe! You can smell and taste the duck in the pasta sauce - mouth watering goodness! I was very impressed by this dish.

We were so full by the end of the night we had no room left for dessert which was such a shame. Will definitely be back to try out the other mains and pastas, and we will ensure there’s room for some dessert 😆

🥂 Moscatto 🐙 Grilled Octopus, kipfler potato, nduja, black olive crumble 🥩 Beef Carpaccio, watercress, parmesan, croutons, lemon infused olive oil 🍝 Spaghetti, lobster & Royal prawn meat, bisque sauce 🥘 Pappardelle, duck ragù, Napoli...

Overall Service: Accommodating/ Satisfactory Overall Food Product: Most Items not available/ Bearable

Came in on Valentines Day and had made a booking. Reception was quick and welcoming. Had a seat available for us inside which wad lovely as we had a booked prior. Only Valentines Day set menu available.

Things weren’t that bad at first as they ran out of one or two dish from the main and entree section which was fine at first. But things went south when they had told me and my partner that they only have one out of the three entree available for us to choose. Both of us were saying why should we bare the burden of the business’s mistake where we have already booked a week prior and left without any options.

There is more to the story but I will cut it. In short. Please plan out to make sure you are able to accommodate booked in customers. I feel bad for the wait staff who had to be at the front to deal with someone’s bad planning of should be a one of the wonderful day of the year.

Need to bargain a couple of time to be able to receive a decent replacement of the missing menu items.

Reason why I gave their service is accommodating is because their supervisor/manager on shift is keeping track on our needs and making sure everything is fine.

Food quality wise: Entree Tuna Carpaccio is a great start Other 2 Entree not available Main Scotch fillet steak was cook perfectly Lobster and prawn ravioli was well cooked but the bisque is bitter, crustacean shell might be over roasted. Sword fish main, fish is cooked too dry. Side Pear, rocket and spinach salad is simple, cant say much as its depends on a person’s liking Dessert Roche - got it as a substitute for the missing item in the set menu. Strawberry trifle-...

One waiter in a black shirt told us the bread was homemade sourdough when it was a mini square piece of factory made ciabatta (the ones that you get in plastic on airplanes), please make sure you don’t lie. The egg plant parmigiana came out luke warm and not hot. They told us their seafood pasta is the best on the menu followed by the duck ragu. The seafood pasta had not a single ounce of flavour on it, it was beyond bland and inedible therefore I sent it back. When confronted, what must have been the manager as he had a different uniform to everyone else said “I don’t know what to say, this is how the chefs make it, they said it’s not bland” instead of “I’m so sorry about that, let me check this with the chef, can I offer you an alternative”. It’s just simple customer service 101. Left a very sour taste in our mouths. I had to argue to not pay for the $50 dish in the end when I had 1 bite out of it. My godfather who I was with tried to pay the whole bill but I refused so they offered us a refund on that particular dish. The duck itself in the ragu was tough and my godfather had to use salt to season. He left 75% of the dish.

The only good thing about the restaurant was the decor and ambience is nice. The older waiter we had at first was also attentive.

Overall, I know kitchens have bad days and sometimes the food isn’t up to standard but it’s how the staff deal with the situation. I was made out to feel like it was my fault and maybe I had a bad palette which was outrageous. I had to go up and speak to them as they did not check on us after we complained. The manager also walked away with the plate when I complained and smirked as if it was funny I found it bland. That is...