Muse Restaurant — Restaurant in Pokolbin

Please note - my rating is meant to represent a comparison against the world-class restaurants that Muse attempts to compete with. This would be 5 stars vs. a Domino's Pizza, but 1-2 stars vs. the likes of Michelin restaurants in London, Paris, Copenhagen etc.

Here's why.

The Meal - 3/5: Set menu format. Generally uninventive. More complex than what you'd make at home, but nothing earth shattering in comparison to what the chef is clearly capable of. Presentation was probably closer to 4/5. Highlights include the Wagyu steak being cooked to perfection. One of their most popular dishes is a coconut dessert, which while being a bit gimmicky, is surely a crowd pleaser taste-wise. A handful of "surprise" micro-dishes from the chef sprinkled in between courses.

The Wine - 4/5: Large selection of wines, many quite unusual and well priced. Local wines are a bit overpriced for the quality. There is a pairing option available with the set meal. In-house sommelier is on-hand, though we didn't interact with him/her. Our waitress, however, was caught off-guard with our wine being a non-screw-top and actually needed to get the sommelier to open it for her.

Service - 3/5: Generally attentive, but inconsistent between servers. Our particular waitress was very friendly and pleasant, but we can't say the same for the food runners who gave a general aura of stress. This detracted from what I assume was meant to be a calm experience.

Cleanliness - 1/5: There are cobwebs everywhere on the ceiling. This is an immediate red flag indicative of larger problems within the restaurant.

In general it is worthwhile to give this restaurant a try if you're in the area, but I wouldn't take a weekend away from Sydney strictly with the intention of tasting the Muse menu.

Expect ~$200/pp for a well...

From the moment the staff deliberately came to open the door till the end of the evening when staff walked us out, it was 2.5hrs of professional hospitality customer service. Just as other reviewers have commented, service was attentive & unobtrusive. My glass was refilled without asking all night . We were going to order distilled water but waiter explained tap water is twice filtered, and it did taste just fine. We had 7.30pm booking on a Wed during school holiday, when there weren't too many diners. The timing and execution of service was just right. It was our first visit to Muse so we did have an expectation after reading the rave reviews beforehand. Thankfully, unlike some other high end restaurants, this one did deliver. Can tell a lot of thoughts had gone into the balance of flavours and textures as well as presentation. I was a bit greedy and ordered the coconut muse when I was already full, so I left feeling extremely full, while the meal portion was just right for my husband. The only recommendation is brighter lighting for reading the menu and to appreciate the food presentation. I only realised some food details when I looked at the pictures the next day. The toilet is a bit rundown but as this is shared with the cellar door, it is probably beyond the restauranteur's control. Be aware that it is possible for a table to be louder than expected at a fine dining restaurant, which might bother some ppl, but we were fine with it. It's good to see more fine dining restaurants that aren't pretentious unlike a decade ago. Some diners were dressed for special occasion, while others were in casual holiday attire, but all were able to enjoy the...

I should have turned around when I walked in and notice no one smiling, the staff and guest looked depressed. From the amuse bouche until the very end, every bite was mediocre or so below anything I’ve willing paid for before. I don’t understand the stellar reviews. Maybe it use to be better, You know, you can study to become a chef but if you don’t have a good palette or the natural talent and creativity to be an amazing chef how can you make a dish that is sublime. That isn’t taught. It’s instinctive. What is your story? What is the food trying to say? Every dish was trying so hard to be somthing, but every dish flopped. I’ve never had so much cream cheese in my life with the tuna ceviche, with the pumpkin mini donuts amuse bouche and even with the roast pork. I didn’t even bother tasting the dishes after the third dish, it just wasn’t getting better and by that time the damage had been done, the chef could not redeem himself after so many failures. I didn’t want to waste my taste buds nor calories.

I don’t want to ruin anyone’s business but this is a wake up call. Please simplify your menu, make it simple, make it amazing. Stop trying so hard to impress. The only decent thing and I can tell you still not worth coming back for was the scallop toast which was really a take on the Vietnamese prawn toast, which I prefer the original than this version. What a waste of good scallops, you could barely taste it.

I’m sorry to be so brutal, but you did take my hard earnt money and it was highway robbery. Felt like a slap in the face after such an...