Underbar — Restaurant in Victoria

Forget flowers, this is how you taste romance on a plate A date night to remember @restaurantunderbar Ballarat with my partner that felt like stepping into a private culinary theatre. With only a handful of seats, the magic unfolded right in front of us as the chef @derekboath cooked each course before our eyes—an intimate performance of skill, precision, and creativity. The journey began with a playful parfait served as an everything bagel donut, followed by delicate cauliflower with truffle and rosemary. Each dish felt like a story, from trout with roe, radish, and apple to the silken chawanmushi with calamari, preserved lemon, and cucumber. Heartier flavours arrived with pork, garlic, and a cassoulet of beans, then beef with potato, smoked eggplant, comfort elevated to art. Desserts were no less extraordinary: strawberry with verjus, crème fraiche, and kefir, a bold balance of sweet and tangy, leading into a rich plate of dark chocolate with blood orange, mandarin, and tangelo. To finish, delicate touches of raspberry and rose and a dreamy hibiscus ‘all things sleepy’ left us lingering in quiet bliss. Every plate was plated with elegance, every flavour purposeful, and watching it all come together in front of us made the experience even more special. A night of fine dining, intimacy, and connection—one we’ll remember for years.

Open only on weekends. Reservations required. We booked two weeks before our visit.

🏷️ thanks to my partner for this amazing dinner for my birthday.

Ballarat,...

We had booked for Saturday 2nd of November. Less than 12 hours after booking and paying deposit, we received an email saying there had been a lot of cancellations and that they would not be opening the restaurant for Saturday.

It has since been 5 Business days since I responded to the email with some questions with no response from management. The Booking says it is still there and has not been changed.

There is a lack of clarity regarding if the restaurant is actually open or not.

$100 deposit is in limbo also as if I cancel the booking I will get charged a further fee of $175 per person for cancellation within a week of the booking. Yet the restaurant can’t tell me if they are open. I have also tried calling a number of times but the line either does not ring or rings out.

Extremely disappointing considering my wife and I are only in town for the weekend and wanted to try somewhere special. The reviews were good, but so far the service we have received (just with the booking side) has been one of the worst experiences as a customer I’ve had.

Cant give a rating for food or atmosphere but I can tell you the service has been garbage.

Edit after owners response: I sent a follow up email on Wednesday, no response to that email.

Edit 2: According to the owner they were planning on comping the Pasta. At no point had this been mentioned until they replied...

We were so excited to try underbar in its new surrounds for our anniversary. For $220 pp it was an amazing meal but the service let it down overall. In our booking details it prompted us to note if we were celebrating a special occasion. We were but there was no acknowledgment made on arrival or during our dinner. We were seated at the chef kitchen island which was such a fun experience but it would have been appreciated to have been given the option on booking for standard seating vs bar stools. The stools were quite tall, uncomfortable and heavy. To try get out to the toilet was so awkward and my husband had to pull my stool out as I "jumped" off. They have a sommelier but he didn't introduce himself or offer us the opportunity to ask questions/recommendations prior to our order being taken by the server. Our first meeting was when he brought us our bottle of wine and explained its characteristics and background. On first sip it was quite tight and unpleasant in which he responded "oh yes it needs some time to open". To offer a bottle aerator or a decanter would have enhanced the drinking experience. Other small things such as a bag hook for the bench seating would have been a great help. All in all a beautiful place that could make a few small adjustments to service to go from a nice dinner to a...