Karan-An : Asian Boutique Restaurant — Restaurant in Queensland

In the name of all that is good, even things mildly palatable, DO NOT eat the food here. I'm starting to think that maybe i just haven't properly developed an appreciation for Filipino food yet. We got the soggy pork belly, pork gyoza dim sums and special fried rice. 3 dishes, 3 bites at the proverbial apple, 3 strikes - out. The prawns in our special fried rice, whilst large, were the most frozen tasting prawns I've ever had. That said, while the flavour of prawns was absent, the unmistakeable prawnish bouquet was not. The pork was like salted caramel less the caramel, as if the swine from which it came spent it's whole life in the dead sea - also the furthest thing from crispy one could possibly be. Cast your mind back to 1968 with me momentarily, specifically to the film adaptation of the stage show, 'Oliver!'. If you can visualise the grey, porridge-like 'gruel' from the orphanage - that is basically what the rice was like. Maybe I'm wrong about all this, since the average rating here is pretty high. Perhaps some horrific tragedy occurred during transit since we did get this delivered. Perhaps that is also where the hair in the rice came...

I seldom leave bad reviews as it is always better to highlight good food that other people can expect and enjoy. However, I had the unfortunate experience of dining at Karan-An after a few years when I last visited.

It was a relatively busy Friday night, and it seems that the place was well-staffed.

The food that was served to us varied from cold Sisig with a raw egg on top that barely cooked on its own from Beef Short Rib Nilaga, which was surprising and quite a treat. This tells me that they can make good, albeit inconsistent food.

Customer service is basically a write-off. As much as you want to be patient with junior wait staff or by setting low expectations, it is quite disappointing to see when plates are not provided when asked or when orders are missed and given the wrong food. This stems mainly from bad communication between wait staff and kitchen.

In conclusion, Karan-An is a place where I would go to for a relatively decent food at the expense of a mediocre experience.

I personally would...

We were excited to try a filipino restaurant in Toowoomba as we recently moved here few months ago. We went out to celebrate but we end up being disappointed. I was taken a back when one of the staff cursed after we asked about the table we reserved and the same guy continues to disrespect us. We understand that it could be busy but they couldve been nicer and have a different approach. They were friendlier and served other people that they know. Didn't even bother giving us Menu, Plate and Water compare to the couple who came at the same time with us (they know personally). We can feel the discrimination and we felt humilated. My partner and I have decided to ask them to put our food in a take away container instead, than sit there in that kind of environment. It was the worst experience ever. We are not planning to come back and will let the people we know about...